Lisa Gardner: The Survivors Club

“Sure. Between downsizing the house, getting Dan a real job, getting me a part-time job, hey, we might actually be debt-free by the end of the year.” She smiled, though it was chagrined. “Not exactly what we were expecting as we hit our mid-forties. No savings, no retirement funds. No white picket fence.”

“Is he going to his Gambler's Anonymous meetings?”

“He goes to his meetings, I go to my shrink. Ah, yuppie love.”

“You put the new house in your name?” Jillian checked.

“He insisted upon it himself. The car's in my name now, too, and get this, we have only one credit card, which is owned by me. Even if he does slip, there's not much damage he can do.”

“He's trying very hard, Carol.”

“Actually, I'm proud of him. Maybe life isn't what we were expecting. But maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. When we had everything we thought we wanted, we were miserable. Maybe by having nothing we'll finally learn to appreciate one another. Own less, but have more. I think… well”-her tone grew brisk again-“we have to start somewhere.”

“You love him?” Meg asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Then you're very lucky.”

Carol smiled. She angled her head and looked directly at Meg. “Now, how about you, hon? You're still very pale.”

“Too many nightmares,” Meg said immediately, making a face. “You know what's strange? I keep dreaming about Eddie Como. He's the man lurking over me. I know that's not right. I know it was Ron Viggio, but somehow… We spent so long focused on Eddie, it's like my subconscious can't make the change.”

“He's a symbol,” Jillian said softly.

“Exactly.”

Now they all made a face and looked away. Eddie was still a tough subject. They had spent too long hating him. Viggio seemed almost like an abstraction, whereas Eddie remained tangibly real. Poor Eddie Como, railroaded for crimes he didn't commit, framed by a psychopath and then sacrificed at a courthouse just to lure a certain state detective onto the case.

Tawnya had finally dropped her lawsuit. Because Eddie's semen was definitely found at the four rape scenes, her lawyer explained that he could no longer make the case for police negligence or corruption. Plus, the police had found the editing software that Ron Viggio had used to make the computer image file of Eddie threatening Jillian with violence, further evidence that Eddie had been deliberately framed by a madman. In the end, Eddie really hadn't done anything worse than be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like them, he had been a victim.

Two months ago, Jillian, Carol and Meg had gone together and put flowers on Eddie's grave. It was as much as they could do for now. After that visit, on her own, Jillian had written another check for Eddie, Jr.'s, college fund.

“At least there won't be a trial this time,” Meg said now.

“Thank God,” Carol echoed.

Jillian was more philosophical. “It would've been too hard for D'Amato to argue the case. Viggio's lawyer would simply keep saying Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, and the whole thing would've grown too confusing. A plea bargain was probably better all the way around.”

“Cool, composed, Jillian,” Carol said, but smiled.

Jillian's look was more somber. “He killed my sister, Carol. I would've liked to see him on trial. I would've liked to hear twelve jurors find him guilty. And maybe it would've helped us make a better transition, refocus our anger where it belongs.”

“He's never getting out of jail,” Meg spoke up.

“Yes, but if only he could've died like David Price.”

No one argued that. As part of Viggio's plea bargain, he had to make a full allocution of his and Price's scheme. The details had been chilling. How Viggio had grown increasingly convinced that he needed to come up with the perfect way to commit rape. How he had approached David Price while they were both being held in ACI's Intake and worked with David to devise the perfect plan. Viggio had already heard about Korporate Klean from his last time behind bars. One of the big jokes among inmates was that when you finally get out, the only job you could get would be cleaning up after a bunch of “jerk offs”-everyone knew Korporate Klean had the contract for the sperm bank.

From there, things fell into place. Viggio spotted Eddie in the waiting room and realized they were a close physical match. He struck up a conversation with the guy, found out he worked for the Rhode Island Blood Center and needed some extra money because his girlfriend was pregnant. He started shadowing Eddie at the college blood drives and realized this was the perfect opportunity. He could attack socially conscious college coeds, and it would simply further implicate Eddie in the eyes of the police. He'd written the details to David Price, who had recommended using latex ties. That would make the frame airtight. David had also kindly suggested Meg as the first victim. A suitable “trial run,” he'd called her.

Even if Viggio did screw up, they figured Meg wouldn't go to the police. She wouldn't want to have to admit her association with David Price, whose name Viggio made sure to mention during the rape. That the trauma of the attack induced amnesia wasn't part of the plan, but hardly hurt them.

Viggio scoped out the other victims in advance. Carol was a last-minute substitute but felt safe to him: he'd spent enough time in her neighborhood to figure out her husband's car was never in the driveway. Trish met his criteria of a young coed living alone. Jillian's intrusion had startled him, but it had proved irrelevant to his plan.

By this point in the allocution, Viggio's voice was cocky. In theory, he'd suffered three complications-Meg's memory loss, Carol's substitution and Jillian's unexpected arrival, and none of them had stopped him. He was invincible. Then the women had gone on TV, and not even that mattered. The police did the sensible thing. They arrested Eddie Como, and phase two of the plan went into effect.

David's involvement hadn't been free, of course. He saw Eddie's frame-up as the perfect opportunity to get out of prison. Viggio had instructions to hire an assassin, kill the assassin, then immediately strike again, leaving Eddie's sperm at the scene. The new rape would stir the public into a panicked frenzy. And David could step to the plate with his offer to save the day. A hop, skip and jump later, and David would finally be out of prison.

Viggio, of course, had had his reservations. But once he figured out he could kill David Price the same way he'd killed the hired gun, he hadn't minded anymore. He'd followed David's instructions and inserted the wooden lock pick and Alka-Seltzer tablets into David's favorite pair of clothes, which were then dutifully retrieved by David's lawyer from David's storage area. Then Viggio had kidnapped Meg to increase police pressure to release David. Finally he'd secured a getaway vehicle, to be left at David's former home.

Of course, what David didn't know was that Viggio had taken the liberty of booby-trapping the getaway car with a bomb. For Viggio, David getting out of prison equaled David winding up dead, which equaled Viggio attacking, torturing and killing young women forever. It was the perfect plan.

Until the police pulled up in his driveway, and Detective Waters tackled him in a neighbor's salvage yard. Viggio wasn't going anyplace anymore.

And the three women… The three women were doing their best to heal.

Now Meg turned to Jillian. “Your turn,” she said. “Carol is getting a fresh start with Dan, I'm getting a fresh look at my sordid past. Now what's new with you?”

“Not much.”

Carol and Meg exchanged looks.

“I would never call Sergeant Griffin ‘not much,' ” Carol drawled.

Jillian promptly blushed.