Brendan LaMotte was put in the care of neurologists at Children’s Hospital. When he had visited Rachel last weekend, he seemed to be doing much better and was back in school. To the delight of his grandfather, he was talking about going to college next year.
A burst of applause brought Rachel back to the moment. The conductor had entered the stage.
Shortly the program began, and Rachel took Greg Zakarian’s hand and settled back.
She had, of course, gone through the Kubler-Ross stages of dealing with Martin’s death—denial, anger, a sense of sadness and grief. She even still harbored guilt for the loss of him. And, yet, with Greg’s help she had come to believe that what she had done was necessary to save her son’s life.
Of course, Dylan missed Martin. He sometimes spoke of him, recalling some of the things they had done together. And for a few weeks, he wore his father’s college ring on a chain around his neck. But that soon ended up in a bureau drawer. And that sometimes-miraculous healing process possessed by children had begun to take over.
It helped that Greg was beginning to fill the void in Dylan’s life. He came up every weekend from the Cape, or they went down there. He was back on the police force and had been promoted to detective sergeant. During Sagamore’s Town Day celebration in September, his superior officer, Lieutenant T.J. Gelford had presented Greg with a medal of commendation for his actions that night in July. Rachel and Dylan attended the ceremony. Rachel cried, and Dylan gave Greg a standing O.
After weeks of cross-checking Malenko’s files with those of missing children, Greg had determined the identity of the Sagamore Boy. His name was Emilio Cruz from Clayton, Alabama. His father was a farm worker, his mother cleaned other people’s homes. The boy, who was kidnapped just a week before his sixth birthday, had tested brilliantly.
Greg had accompanied Emilio’s remains to his parents. A private funeral was held at a local Catholic church, attended by Emilio’s family and many classmates from the local elementary school that Emilio had attended. With the aid of local residents and business people, Greg established the Emilio Cruz Scholarship Fund for rural Alabama children. Even from afar, he continued to raise money, and not just to help bring emotional closure for himself, but to keep alive the memory of that little boy.
About forty minutes into the program, Rachel felt a flutter of anxiety. They had reached the last vocal number before the intermission: “What Child Is This?” And, as written in the program, the piece featured a solo by Dylan Whitman.
Rachel squeezed Greg’s hand as she naturally tensed up. But there really was no cause for apprehension. Dylan sang like an angel.
Other Novels by Gary Braver
WRITING AS GARY GOSHGARIAN
