Brian Freeman - The Burying Place

Serena did. She had done her homework.

'When you were nineteen, you were picked up for breaking and entering in Two Harbors,' she said.

Regan shrugged. 'I was sitting in my boyfriend's car. I didn't know what he was doing.'

'I read the police reports,' Serena told her. 'He said it was your idea. He said you egged him on. The house belonged to a man you'd been sleeping with.'

She stabbed a grape tomato with her fork and pulled it between her teeth. 'Men will say anything. You know that.'

'When you were twenty-four, you left threatening messages for a girl you blamed for stealing your boyfriend,' Serena continued.

'She did steal him. Little bitch.'

'The girl found her cat beheaded in her backyard,' Serena said.

'It wasn't me,' Regan replied, 'although I'm not much of a cat person.' 'Someone put a pipe bomb under her car, too. The police were convinced you were involved.'

'I had an alibi. They never charged me.'

'They thought you got someone else to do your dirty work.'

'I must be really persuasive,' Regan said.

'You had an alibi when Callie Glenn disappeared, too,' Serena told her.

'Oh, I get it. There's no way I could have done it myself, so that must mean I had someone else do it for me. Are there any other crimes I couldn't have committed that you'd like to talk to me about?'

'You told Valerie Glenn you know what happened to Callie.'

'Sure I do. So do you. It was Marcus.'

'Do you have any evidence that he was involved?'

'Marcus is smart. I don't think he's likely to leave any evidence behind.'

'Why did you contact Valerie?' Serena asked.

'I thought she deserved to know the truth.'

'The truth? What exactly did you tell her?'

Regan shrugged. 'Just that Marcus said the same things to me that he said to that girl in Vegas. He wished Callie had never been born.'

'That's all?'

'If there was anything else, I'm sure Valerie would have told you.'

'Don't be cute,' Serena said. 'Why didn't you want her calling the police?'

'I didn't think she wanted you to know the kind of person Marcus is. Wives have to make difficult choices about what they can live with.'

Serena jabbed a finger in Regan's face. Her patience with the nurse was gone. 'Don't pretend you're doing anything noble. You have no proof about Marcus. You simply want to sabotage their marriage.'

'I'm being honest,' Regan replied. 'You're the one who's filling Valerie's head with false hope. Desperate mothers will believe anything you tell them. If their child is at stake, they'll believe a lie even when the truth is staring them in the face. You tell Valerie that Callie will be coming home, but in your heart of hearts, you don't believe that. You think exactly what I do. So does your partner. So does Blair

Rowe. The only difference is, I've got the guts to say it to Valerie's face.'

'Stay away from her,' Serena snapped. 'You're hindering a police investigation.'

'Investigation? It looks to me like you're at a dead end.'

'I think you're hiding something,' Serena told her. 'When I first talked to you, you were pushing me to look at Micki Vega. Do you know something about her and Marcus? Do you think she was involved in Callie's disappearance?'

Regan shook her head. 'I have no idea, but I imagine Micki would do anything that Marcus told her to do. She was obviously in love with him.'

'Why did Micki lose her baby?'

'Women miscarry. Bad things happen. There was nothing unusual about it.'

'How did she react?' Serena asked.

'How would you expect her to react? She was hysterical.'

'It must have been hard for her to lose a baby and then turn around and take care of Callie.'

'I'm sure it was,' Regan said. 'What are you suggesting? That Micki stole Callie Glenn to replace the baby she lost?'

'Is that possible?' Serena asked.

'Anything's possible. I already told you, mothers can be desperate creatures.'

'Desperate people can be manipulated.'

'By me? You think I persuaded Micki to steal Callie?'

'Did you?'

'Of course not.'

'You have a history of twisting people around your finger and getting them to do what you want,' Serena persisted.

'I haven't talked to Micki in months. If anyone manipulated her, it's Marcus. Who knows what ideas he put into Micki's lovesick head?'

'Why would Marcus want Micki to harm his child? Or take her away?'

'If you can figure out why,' Regan said, her voice dropping into a whisper, 'then I guess you'll know everything.'

'I'm asking you.'

Regan stood up. 'Sorry. I don't want to hinder your investigation:

Serena stood up too and got in Regan's face. 'Were you involved in Callie's disappearance?'

'You know I wasn't. I was here at the hospital that night.'

'Do you know what happened to her?'

'We both know, but you don't want to face reality. You want to take something simple and make it complex. Marcus was obviously involved. Maybe Micki, too.'

'Who was in your house the night I talked to you?' Serena asked.

'Excuse me?'

'There was an old Escort in your driveway when I arrived. When I left, it wasn't there any more. Someone sneaked out while I was with you. Who was it?'

'I'm a medical professional. It's none of your business who I talk to.'

'So it was a patient?'

'I think we're done,' Regan said. 'If you want to talk about my nursing, you can get a judge to give you a warrant. And good luck with that.'

'This isn't over. You'll see me again.'

'I'm sure I will,' Regan told her. 'You're obviously obsessed with me, Ms Dial. But I wish you'd give it up and do something useful. Like catching the killer in my neighborhood.'

'The Duluth Police will get him.'

'Really? Is that supposed to be a comfort?'

'The police are doing everything they can.'

'Tell that to the four women who are dead,' Regan said. 'Me, I'll keep sleeping with my shotgun.'

Stride parked on the steep west-side slope of Lake Avenue in the area of downtown Duluth known as the Central Hillside. It was the seamy section of town, prone to vagrants and hookers during the warmer months. Winter sent most of the itinerant population south like migrating birds, but a few hearty souls always hung around to keep the cops and the social service agencies busy. As he parked, he saw a cluster of youths in heavy coats eyeing his car suspiciously from the corner of 4th Street.

Maggie sat next to him with her chin on her fist as she stared out the window. They hadn't spoken much since it happened.

'Is this Nick Garaldo's place?' Stride asked, nodding his head at the four-story brick apartment building with the broken windows.

Maggie nodded. 'Yeah, this is it.'

He knew he should be the one to go first. It was his fault. For more than ten years, he had tiptoed around Maggie, aware of her feelings for him and careful not to lead her on. Now he had put both of them in an impossible situation.

He stared at her on the other side of the car. The fire-engine red hair — that was so Maggie. Wild and hip. Doing whatever she wanted. Same with the diamond in her nose. He had always been closed-off and serious, and she was funny and on the fringe, but they had clicked. Yin and yang. He couldn't imagine the idea of her not being in his life. That was one of the reasons he had always kept a safe distance between them, even in those moments when she had made it clear he could cross the line. Now the safe space was gone.

Mistake. He had to say it. Mistake. She was waiting for him to break the silence and give them both a chance to pretend it had never happened.

Except he didn't feel that way. Something was different. He felt alive again. He realized that the coffer dam of dead logs and debris inside his head had finally broken free, but the flood that came with it was out of control. Emotions ricocheted around his soul, threatening to do serious damage. As if he hadn't done enough damage to his life already.