Harlan Coben - Caught

"People send their children to war every day."

"Sure, right, you might be willing to send them to war, but not to death. There's a difference, albeit one that includes a strong dose of self-denial. You may be willing to roll the dice, to play the odds because you don't really believe your child will be the one to die. That's different. That's not a choice, like I'm talking about."

He looked at her.

"Are you waiting for applause?" she asked.

"You don't agree?"

"Your hypothetical belittles sacrifice," Wendy said. "And it's nonsense."

"Well, yes, perhaps it is unfair, I grant you that. But for us, Wendy, right now, there is an element of it that is very real. Dan isn't going to hurt my child again, and your son is too old for him. Are you going to let it go because your child is safe? Does that give you or me the right to wash our hands of this-because it's not our child?"

She said nothing.

Ed Grayson rose. "You can't wish this away, Wendy."

"I'm not big on vigilantism, Mr. Grayson."

"That's not what this is."

"Sounds like it."

"Think about this then." Grayson stared at her, made sure she was looking at him and giving him her full attention. "If you could go back in time and find Ariana Nasbro-"

"Stop," she said.

"If you could go back to her first DUI or her second or even her third-"

"You need to shut the hell up right now."

Ed Grayson nodded, satisfied, it seemed, that he'd drawn blood. "I think it's time I left." He moved out of the kitchen and toward the front door. "Think about it, okay? That's all I ask. You and I are on the same side here, Wendy. I think you know that."

ARIANA NASBRO.

After Grayson left, Wendy kept trying to forget that damn letter sitting in her waste bin.

She snapped on her iPod for a while, closed her eyes, tried to let the music calm her down. She put on her calm sound track, the one with Thriving Ivory singing "Angels on the Moon" and William Fitzsimmons doing "Please Forgive Me" and David Berkeley playing "High Heels and All." It didn't help, all these songs about forgiveness. She went the other route, changed into workout clothes, cranked up everything from childhood songs like "Shout" by Tears for Fears to The Hold Steady doing "First Night" to Eminem's "Lose Yourself."

It wasn't working. Ed Grayson's words kept chasing her…

"If you could go back in time and find Ariana Nasbro…"

She would do it. No questions asked. Wendy would go back in time and hunt the bitch down and cut off her head and dance around Nasbro's still-twitching torso.

Nice thought, but there you are.

Wendy checked her e-mail. True to his word, Dan Mercer had sent her the meeting place for two PM: an address in Wykertown, New Jersey. Never heard of it. She got directions from Google. It would take an hour. Fine. She had almost four.

She showered and got dressed. The letter. That damn letter. She ran downstairs, dug through the garbage, and found the plain white envelope. Her eyes studied the penmanship, as though that might offer up some clue. It didn't. A knife from the kitchen block worked just fine as a letter opener. Wendy pulled out two sheets of lined notebook paper, plain white, the same kind she'd used in school as a kid.

Still standing, Wendy read Ariana Nasbro's letter right there-every damn horrible word-at the kitchen sink. There were no surprises, no real insight, nothing but the all-about-me crap we are spoon-fed from day one. Every cliche, every namby-pamby sentiment, every hackneyed excuse… they were all present and accounted for. Each word felt like a blade ripping into her flesh. Ariana Nasbro talked about the "seeds of my own self-image," about "making amends," about "searching for meaning" and "hitting rock bottom." Pathetic. She even had the nerve to talk about "the abuse in my life and how I've learned to forgive" and "the wonders of that-forgiveness" and how she wanted to grant that "wonder to others like you and Charlie."

Seeing this woman write her son's name filled Wendy with rage like nothing else ever could.

"I will always be an alcoholic," Ariana Nasbro said toward the end of her diatribe. Another I. I will, I am, I want. The letter was full of them.

I, I, I.

I know now that I am an imperfect being worthy of forgiveness.

Wendy wanted to puke.

And then the last line of the letter.

This is my third letter to you. Please let me hear from you, so that the healing may begin. May God bless you.

Oh, man, Wendy thought, you'll hear from me. Right friggin' now.

She grabbed her keys and stormed to her car. Wendy plugged the return address into her GPS and headed toward the halfway house where Ariana Nasbro currently resided.

The halfway house was in New Brunswick, normally an hour away but with her foot pushing the pedal, Wendy made it in less than forty-five minutes. She threw the car into park and stormed through the front door. She told the woman at the desk her name and said she would like to see Ariana Nasbro. The woman at the desk asked her to take a seat. Wendy said that she would stand, thanks anyway.

A few moments later, Ariana Nasbro appeared. Wendy had not seen her in seven years, since the trial for vehicular manslaughter. Ariana had looked scared then, pitiful, her shoulders hunched, her hair a wild mousy brown, her eyes blinking as though she expected to be smacked unawares.

This woman, the postprison Ariana Nasbro, was different. Her hair was short and white. She stood straight and still and met Wendy's eye. She stuck out her hand and said, "Thank you for coming, Wendy."

Wendy ignored the outstretched hand. "I didn't come for you."

Ariana tried a smile. "Would you like to take a walk?"

"No, Ariana, I don't want to take a walk. In your letters-the first two I ignored but I guess you can't take a hint-you asked me how you could make amends."

"Yes."

"So I'm here to tell you: Don't send me your self-involved AA nonsense. I don't care. I don't want to forgive you so you can heal or recover or whatever the hell you call it. I have no interest in your getting better. This isn't the first time you've tried AA, is it?"

"No," Ariana Nasbro said, her head held high, "it's not."

"You tried it twice before you murdered my husband, isn't that right?"

"That's correct," she said in too calm a voice.

"Have you reached Step Eight before?"

"I have. But this time it's different because-"

Wendy stopped her with a raised hand. "I don't care. The fact that this time it might be different means nothing to me. I don't care about you or your recovery or about Step Eight, but if you truly want to make amends, I suggest you walk outside, wait by the curb, and throw yourself under the first passing bus. I know that sounds harsh, but if you had done that the last time you reached Step Eight-if whatever wronged person you sent this same me-me-me crap to had told you to do that instead of forgiving you-maybe, just maybe, you would have listened and you'd be dead and my John would be alive. I would have a husband and Charlie would have a father. That's what matters. Not you. Not your six-months-sober party at AA. Not your spiritual journey to sobriety. So if you truly want to make amends, Ariana, stop putting yourself first for once. Are you cured-totally cured, absolutely one hundred percent positive you'll never drink again?"

"You're never cured," Ariana said.

"Right, more of that AA nonsense. We really don't know about tomorrow, do we? So that's how you should make amends. Stop writing letters, stop talking about yourself in group, stop taking it a day at a time. Instead, do the one thing that will guarantee you'll never murder another child's father: Wait for that bus and step right in front of it. Other than that, leave me and my son the hell alone. We will never forgive you. Not ever. And how selfish and monstrous of you to think we should so you, of all people, can heal."