Ellen rounded the corner onto Surfside and eyed the Bravermans" green cast-iron mailbox. It was at the end of their driveway, but the red flag wasn"t up, so there was no letter inside.
Rats.
She drove slowly past the house, reconnoitering. All the lights in the house were off, its modern oblong windows gone dark, and the only movement was the gentle whirring of its automatic sprinklers, watering the thick gra.s.s like so many mechanical whirligigs. Flowers bloomed at the foot of the HELP US FIND OUR SON HELP US FIND OUR SON sign, and the larger-than-life face of Timothy, or Will, floated ghostly in the dark. sign, and the larger-than-life face of Timothy, or Will, floated ghostly in the dark.
Maybe not tonight.
Ellen was about to leave for the hotel when a light from the Bravermans" first floor went on from on the far right. She slowed to a stop, just past the house. The window had no curtains, and she could see Bill walk through the room and seat himself at a desk, inclining forward. In the next minute, his profile came to life, illuminated by the light of a computer laptop.
Ellen pulled the car over and parked on the opposite side of the street, then lowered the window, turned off the ignition, and watched Bill. She could see bookshelves and cabinets in the room, so she gathered that it was a home office. Bill spent a few more minutes on the computer, then got up and moved around the room, doing something she couldn"t see. In the next minute, the front door opened and he emerged, carrying a black trash bag.
Yikes!
She ducked in the front seat and watched in the outside mirror. Bill put the trash bag in a tall green trashcan and rolled it to the end of the driveway, then went back toward the house. She stayed low until she heard the front door slam, then she eased up in the seat, looking behind her. The light in the home office switched off, and the house went dark again.
Trash could contain DNA.
She scanned the street, front and back, but there was no one in sight. She slid off her clogs, opened the car door as quietly as possible, and jumped out, her heart pounding. She bolted for the trashcan, tore off the lid, plucked out two bags at warp speed, and dashed back to the car like a crazed Santa Claus.
She jumped in the car, threw the bags in the pa.s.senger seat, and hit the gas, then went around the block and ended up on the main drag, speeding to the causeway with her booty. She pulled over and cut the ignition, turned on the interior light, and grabbed one trash bag. She undid the drawstring and peeked inside, but it was too dark to see the contents. It didn"t smell like garbage, so she dumped it out onto the pa.s.senger seat, dismayed at the sight.
The trash was shredded, and it tumbled out like a ball of paper spaghetti. She pawed through it anyway to see if there was any item that could contain Carol"s DNA, but no dice. It was Bill"s home-office trash, strips of numbers, portfolio statements, and account statements. She remembered that Bill was an investor, so it made sense that he"d shred his trash. She never shredded anything, but her home office trash consisted of Toys"R"Us circulars.
She gathered up the trash, stuffed it back into the bag, and tossed it into the backseat. Then she reached over and grabbed the other bag, which was heavier. She yanked on the drawstring and opened the bag, releasing the yucky smell of fresh garbage. She held the open bag directly under the interior light and peeked inside. On top of the trash sat a heap of gray-blue shrimp sh.e.l.ls that stank to high heaven, and she pushed them aside, going through wet coffee grounds, the chopped bottom of a head of Romaine, a Horchow catalog, and underneath that, a mother lode of mail. None of this would yield a DNA sample for Carol.
b.u.mmer.
She pulled out the mail on the off-chance there was a sealed envelope. She flipped through it, but no luck. It was all unopened junk mail from Neiman Marcus, Versace, and Gucci, plus a glossy copy of Departures Departures magazine. Stuck inside the magazine was a pink card from the dentist, a reminder that somebody had to get her teeth cleaned next month. She flipped the card over. The front read, Carol Charbonneau Braverman. magazine. Stuck inside the magazine was a pink card from the dentist, a reminder that somebody had to get her teeth cleaned next month. She flipped the card over. The front read, Carol Charbonneau Braverman.
Ellen blinked. Charbonneau sounded familiar. She couldn"t place if she"d heard it or if she was imagining it, her exhaustion finally catching up with her. She rooted through the rest of the trash, but there was nothing yucky enough to contain Carol"s DNA. She tied the drawstring tightly, so it wouldn"t stink up the car, and hoisted the bag into the backseat with the other. She took off for the hotel and threw the trash in a Dumpster on the way.
But when she finally reached her hotel room, she checked her email.
Amy Martin hadn"t written yet, but her sister Cheryl had.
And her email brought the worst news imaginable.
Chapter Fifty-three.
Ellen felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. She sank slowly onto the quilted bedspread, staring at her glowing BlackBerry screen. The email from Cheryl had no subject line, and it read: Dear Ellen,I"m sorry to tell you that yesterday, we found out that Amy pa.s.sed away. She died of a heroin overdose in her apartment in Brigantine on Sat.u.r.day. Her wake will be Tuesday night, but there will be a private one for the family before her burial, on Wednesday at ten o"clock in Stoatesville, at the Cruzane Funeral Home. My mother says you can come to either time, and she would like to see you.Sincerely, Cheryl The thought overwhelmed her with sadness. Amy was too young to die, and so horribly, and Ellen thought of how Cheryl must be feeling, then Amy"s mother, Gerry, who had been so kind to her. Her thoughts came eventually to herself and Will. She had just lost her chance to learn anything from Amy.
Her gaze wandered over the blue-and-gold bedspread, the photographs on the wall, of nautilus and generic conch sh.e.l.ls, and the balcony sliders. The gla.s.s looked out onto a bottomless Miami night, the same night that was falling at home. The sky was dark and black, no way to separate earth from heaven, and she felt undone, again. Loosed, untethered. She had a nagging fear, gnawing at the edges of her mind.
Quite a coincidence.
It seemed odd that Amy would turn up dead now, just when Ellen had begun asking questions about her. It seemed stranger still, considering the suicide of Karen Batz. Now, both women with knowledge of Will"s adoption were dead. The only one left alive was Amy"s boyfriend, and he was the one who looked like the kidnapper in the composite.
Not just a kidnapper. A murderer.
Ellen started to make connections, but even she knew she was entering the wild-speculation realm. There were innocent explanations for everything, and she flipped it. Amy had lived a fast life. Heroin addicts overdosed all the time. Lawyers committed suicide. Not everything was suspicious.
G.o.d help me.
Ellen willed herself to stop thinking, because she was making herself crazy. This had been the longest day in her life. She had one DNA sample, which was one more than she thought she"d get the first day. Her job was in jeopardy, as was her love life, but that was back home, which seemed suddenly very far away. Another world, even. She flopped backwards on the bed, and exhaustion swept over her, mooting even her darkest fears.
In the next minute, she fell into a terrible sleep.
Chapter Fifty-four.
The next morning, Ellen parked her car in the same spot on the main drag, perpendicular to Surfside Lane. It was another hot, tropical day, but she was dressed for it today. She"d stopped at the hotel"s overpriced gift shop and bought a pink visor, a pair of silver Oakley knockoffs, and a chrome yellow T-shirt that read SOUTH BEACH, which she"d paired with white shorts from home. Inside her pockets were a plastic glove and a folded brown paper bag.
She took a slug from a bottle of orange juice, still cold from the minibar. She felt weighed down by the news of Amy Martin"s death and couldn"t shake the fear that the overdose wasn"t accidental. She put aside her dark thoughts to tend to the task at hand, especially because she wanted to get back home in time for the funeral.
She set the bottle in the cup holder and scoped out the scene, which was quiet except for people exercising. Two older women power-walked around the block, carrying water bottles and yammering away, and a younger woman was running in a sports bra with a black bathing suit bottom. Yet a fourth woman walked her white toy poodle, her cell phone and pedometer clipped to her waist like so much suburban ammunition.
Ellen was trying a new tack, so she got out of the car, pocketed her keys, and started walking. She strolled ahead with purpose, scanning the houses on either side of the street. No one had any red flags up on their mailboxes, and she wondered what time the mail would be picked up. She hoped Carol would mail a letter, so she could get DNA from the envelope.
She picked up the pace, gaining on the two older women who motored ahead in their sneakers. They wore Bermuda shorts in pastel colors and patterned tank tops, and even at seventysomething, looked in terrific shape. Each had short silver hair, but the woman on the left wore a yellow terry-cloth visor, and the one on the right had a white baseball cap. Ellen fell into stride with them before the Bravermans" house.
"Excuse me, ladies," she began, and they both turned around. "Do you know what time the mail pickup is in this neighborhood? I"m house-sitting on Brightside Lane for my cousins, and I forgot to ask them before they left this morning."
"Oh, who are your cousins?" Yellow Visor asked pleasantly.
"The Vaughns," Ellen answered without hesitation. Earlier this morning, she had driven down Brightside, about eight blocks away, and picked a name from one of the mailboxes. "June and Tom Vaughn, do you know them?"
"No, sorry. Brightside"s a little too far over." Yellow Visor c.o.c.ked her head, eyeing Ellen with confusion. "So why are you walking here and not there?"
Uh. "There"s a big dog on that street, and I"m afraid of dogs." "There"s a big dog on that street, and I"m afraid of dogs."
"I agree with you. We"re cat people." Yellow Visor nodded. "Mail gets picked up around eleven o"clock in the morning. I"m Phyllis, and you"re welcome to walk with us, if you"re all alone."
"Thanks, I appreciate that." Ellen hoped to pump them for information until Carol mailed a letter or her DNA otherwise fell out of the sky.
"Good, we like new faces. We"ve been walking every day, two miles for the past six years, and we"re sick of each other." Phyllis laughed, and her friend in the baseball cap nudged her.
"Speak for yourself, Phyl. You"re not sick of me, I"m sick of you." She looked at Ellen with a warm smile. "I"m Linda DiMarco. And you?"
"Sandy Claus," Ellen answered, off the top of her head. They approached the Bravermans, where Carol"s car was in the driveway, but Bill"s was gone. She gestured casually to the memorial on the lawn. "What"s that sign all about, do you know? And all these yellow ribbons?"
"Oh my, yes," Phyllis answered. A pet.i.te woman, she had bright eyes, a hawkish nose, and deep laugh lines that bracketed thin lips. "Their baby was kidnapped several years ago and they never got him back. Can you imagine, losing a child like that?"
Ellen didn"t want to go there. "Do you know the family?"
"Sure, Carol"s a doll, and so is Bill. And that little baby, Timothy, he was adorable."
"Adorable," Linda repeated, without breaking stride. "That baby was so cute you could eat him."
Ellen hid her emotions. The brown bag crinkled in her pocket when she walked.
"What a shame." Linda shook her head, her rich brown eyes tilting down at the corners. She had an oval face with a largish nose, and a thick gold chain with a coral horn bounced on her bosom as they turned the corner, pa.s.sing a large brick Georgian mansion, more Monticello than Miami.
"It"s so sad." Phyllis made a clucking sound. "They shot the babysitter, too. It doesn"t seem fair. It"s like when people rob a store and shoot the clerk. Why do they have to shoot somebody? I don"t know what gets into people nowadays."
Ellen didn"t say anything. Phyllis and Linda didn"t need the encouragement to keep talking, and she was running out of breath anyway. A fireball sun climbed a cloudless sky, and the humidity was 120,000 percent. They pa.s.sed a woman walking a black poodle, and Phyllis waved to her.
"Carol and Bill were in terrible shape, after it happened. It just about killed them. There were reporters camped out on the street day and night, bothering them all the time. Cops and the FBI, always coming and going."
Ellen let her talk, to see what she could learn. They reached the next corner, turned around the block, and walked past a house intended to look like a Roman temple.
"Bill was a great father, too." Phyllis sipped from her water bottle. "You know, he has his own investment company, very successful. He makes a lot of money for people in the neighborhood, and he doted on his son. Bought him golf bibs and a golf hat, too. Remember we saw him, Lin?"
Linda nodded. "Carol had such a hard time getting pregnant. I"m not telling stories out of school here. She talked about it all the time, right, Phyl?"
"Yes, she had a very very hard time." Phyllis"s lips flattened to a lipsticked line. "They tried for a long time. She really wanted that baby, they both did. Now look what happened." hard time." Phyllis"s lips flattened to a lipsticked line. "They tried for a long time. She really wanted that baby, they both did. Now look what happened."
Ellen felt a stab of guilt, flashing on Carol as Mother Goose.
"The poor woman." Linda wiped her upper lip. "Isn"t that just the worst luck? They finally had their miracle baby, then they never see him again. End of story."
"There"s no justice," Phyllis said, puffing slightly.
"It"s a sin," Linda added.
Ellen didn"t know it was possible to feel more guilty than she felt already. She had always thought of Will as her miracle baby. But he could have been Carol"s miracle baby. Only DNA would tell for sure. She needed that sample.
The moment pa.s.sed, and Linda said, "You know, if you live long enough, you realize there"s nothing you can"t handle. I lost my husband and I lost my kid sister. If you asked me, I never would"ve thought that I"d be standing here afterwards. Life makes you strong, and death makes you strong, too."
Ellen was thinking of her mother.
Phyllis shook her head, which jiggled slightly as they rounded the block. "She always says that, but I think she"s full of baloney."
"Ha!" Linda waved her off. "Go ahead, tell her about the waves."
"Okay." Phyllis looked over at Ellen and her lined face grew serious, even as she pumped her arms like a pro. "I lived in Brooklyn all my life. We couldn"t believe it when we retired down here, everywhere with the water, the intercoastal, and the ocean. We loved it. My Richard used to fish, I went out with him on the boat. On the boat is where I get my best ideas."
"It"s boring, take it from me," Linda stage-whispered behind her hand. "She makes me go. I wanna drown myself."
"Are you going to let me talk to our guest?" Phyllis asked, mock indignant.
"Go ahead, just don"t take the long way." Linda turned to Ellen. "I"m Italian, so I love to talk, and she"s Jewish, so she loves to talk."
Phyllis smiled. "That"s why we"re best friends. No one else can put up with us."
They all laughed, pa.s.sing Ellen"s car on the main drag, then taking a left onto Surfside Lane again, lapping the block.
"Here"s my theory about waves." Phyllis extended her arms, palms up. "Bad things are like waves. They"re going to happen to you, and there"s nothing you can do about it. They"re part of life, like waves are a part of the ocean. If you"re standing on the sh.o.r.eline, you don"t know when the waves are coming. But they"ll come. You gotta make sure you get back to the surface, after every wave. That"s all."
Ellen smiled, considering it. "That makes a lot of sense."
Suddenly Phyllis and Linda fell silent, their gaze on the open door of a wooden contemporary on the left side of the street, catty-corner to the Bravermans". A pretty redhead was emerging in a crisp black dress, with a black bag on her arm. She locked the door, then clacked in stylish black pumps down a concrete path to her driveway and a silver Mercedes.
"Who"s that?" Ellen caught the mischievous look Phyllis and Linda exchanged. "Someone we don"t like, evidently."
Phyllis burst into laughter. "I forgot my poker face."
Linda looked over at her. "You don"t have a poker face. I know, I play poker with you."
"Fill me in, ladies." Ellen smiled. "I love to dish."
"She"s a big sn.o.b," Phyllis answered, with the trace of a smile. "Her name is Kelly Scott and her family has more money than G.o.d. She"s from Palm Beach."
"Pink and green country," Linda added with a naughty giggle, and Phyllis nodded.
"I"ve met her at least four times, and she acts like she never met me before. I hate that."
"Me, too," Linda said.
"Me, three," Ellen said, and they all laughed again. But she was watching the Braverman house as they walked by, looking past the yellow ribbons and the Timothy memorial and the curtains. Inside was Carol Braverman.
And Ellen needed her DNA.
Today.
Chapter Fifty-five.
The sky began to cloud over, cutting the temperature, and Ellen sat low in the driver"s seat of the car with the window open, watching the Braverman house. It was 10:36 A.M A.M., but there"d been no sign of Carol, and the red flag on her mailbox was still down.
Ellen was still hoping that she"d mail a letter. She checked her BlackBerry, and Marcelo hadn"t emailed or called. She wondered if she still had a job to go back to, or a crush.
Please tell me what is going on. I can help you.