Lisa Gardner - Hide

"For a while," Sinkus repeated.

Mrs. Eola sighed and fell silent again, the mournful expression back on her face. Eola Sr. took up the narrative, his voice brisk, unemotional.

"Our housekeeper started complaining about the condition of Christopher's room. No matter what she did, his bed seemed to stink. Something was wrong in there, she said. Something was wrong with him. She wanted permission to not clean his room.

"Naturally, I denied her. I told her she was being foolish. Three days later, I happened to be home when I heard her scream. I ran into Christopher's room to find her standing next to the upended mattress. She had finally identified the source of the odor-there, between the box spring and the top mattress, were half a dozen dead squirrels. Christopher had… skinned them. Disemboweled them. Cut off their heads.

"I confronted him the moment he got home from school. He apologized immediately. He had only been 'practicing,' he told me. His science class was due to dissect a frog at the end of the semester. He was worried he'd be too squeamish, maybe faint at the sight of blood. And he was concerned that if he betrayed weakness in front of his classmates, he might once again become a target for bullies."

Eola Sr. shrugged. "I believed him. His logic, his fears, made sense. My son could be quite convincing. On his own, he retrieved the carcasses from his room and buried them in the garden. I considered the matter closed. Except…"

"Except…?"

"Except the household was never quite right again. Maria, our housekeeper, started having little accidents. She'd turn and suddenly there would be a broom across her path, tripping her. Once, after finishing off the last of the bleach, she opened a second bottle, dumped it in, and immediately became overwhelmed by the fumes. She made it out just in time. It turned out someone had dumped out the bleach in the new bottle and replaced it with ammonia. Maria quit shortly thereafter. She insisted our house was haunted. But I heard her mutter under her breath that the ghost was named Christopher."

"She thought he was trying to harm her?"

"She believed he was trying to kill her," Eola Sr. corrected bluntly. "Perhaps he'd learned she was the one who'd betrayed his relationship with Gabrielle. Perhaps he wanted revenge. I don't really know. Christopher was polite. Christopher was cooperative. He went to school. He got good grades. He did everything we asked of him. But even…" Eola Sr. took a deep breath. "Not even I liked being around my own son anymore."

"What happened in April of '74?" Sinkus asked gently.

"Christopher went away," Eola Sr. answered softly. "And for almost two years, it was as if a dark cloud had lifted from our home. Our daughter seemed less anxious. The cook whistled in the kitchen. We all walked with a lighter step. And no one said anything, because what could you say? We never saw Christopher doing anything wrong. After the squirrel incident and Maria's departure, there were no more little accidents, or strange smells, or anything the least bit suspicious. But the house was better with Christopher gone. Happier.

"Then he came back."

Eola Sr. paused, his voice drifting off. He had lost his clipped, emotionless tone. A mood had settled over his face. Dark, angry, depressed. Bobby leaned forward. He could feel his stomach muscles tightening, steeling him for what was coming next.

"Natalie changed first," Eola Sr. said, his voice far away. "Became moody, withdrawn. She would sit in silence for long periods of time, then suddenly lash out over the tiniest thing. We thought it was adjustment issues. She was fourteen, a difficult age. Plus, for over a year she'd had the house to herself, been like an only child. Maybe she resented Christopher's return.

"He, if anything, seemed to indulge her tantrums. He brought her flowers, her favorite sweets. He called her silly nicknames, invented outrageous little songs. The more she pushed him away, the more he lavished attention on her, taking her to the movies, showing her off to his friends, volunteering to walk her to school. Christopher had grown into a fine young man while he was away. He'd filled out, settled into himself. I think more than a few of Natalie's friends had a crush on him, which of course he used to his advantage. Pauline and I, we thought perhaps his travels had done him good. He was finally coming around.

"The day after Christopher's birthday dinner, I received a call from a client in New York. Something had come up, I needed to meet with him. Pauline decided to join me, perhaps we could catch a show. We didn't want to pull Natalie away from school, but that wasn't a problem, Christopher was home. So we left him in charge and went away."

That pause again. A heartbeat's hesitation while Mr. Eola fought with his memories, struggled to find words. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse and low, hard to hear.

"My emergency meeting turned out to not be such an emergency after all. And Pauline could not get tickets for the show she wanted to see. So we returned. A day early. We didn't think to call.

"It was after eight o'clock at night. Our residence was dark, the help gone for the night. We found them right in the living room. Christopher was sitting in my favorite leather chair. He was buck naked. My daughter… Natalie… He was forcing her to perform… a sex act. She was sobbing. And I heard my son say, in a voice I'd never heard before, 'You stupid fucking cunt, you had better swallow, or next time I'll ram it up your ass.'

"Then he looked up. He saw us standing there. And he just smiled. This cold, cold smile. 'Hey Dad,' he said. 'I owe you my thanks. She's much better than Gabrielle.'"

Eola Sr. broke off again. His eyes found some spot on the burnished wood table, locking in. Beside him his wife had collapsed, her shoulders shaking spasmodically as she rocked back and forth.

D.D. moved first. She retrieved a box of tissues, handing one silently to Mrs. Eola. The older woman took it, tucked it into her folded hands, and resumed her rocking.

"Thank you for talking to us," D.D. said softly "I know this is terrible for your family. Last few questions, then I think we can wrap things up for the day"

"What?" Eola Sr. asked tiredly.

"Can you give us a description of Gabrielle?"

Whatever he'd been expecting, this wasn't it. Eola Sr. blinked. "I don't… I hadn't really thought about her… What do you want?"

"The basics would be fine. Height, weight, eye color. Overall appearance."

"Well… she was about five foot six. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Slender, but not that rail-thin you see so much these days. She was… robust, vivacious. Like a Catherine Zeta-Jones."

D.D. nodded, while Bobby made the same mental connection she probably had. In other words, Gabrielle's general description could also be applied to Annabelle.

Sinkus cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to him. It was time to wrap things up, but the detective appeared troubled.

"Mr. Eola, Mrs. Eola, if you don't mind… after you caught Christopher, he went with you willingly to Boston State Mental?"

"He didn't have a choice."

"How so?"

"My money is my money Detective Sinkus. And you can be quite sure after that… incident, I wasn't giving Christopher one red cent. Christopher, however, did have his own resources. A trust left to him by his grandparents. By the terms of that trust, he was not eligible to collect until he turned twenty-eight. And even then he would need the cooperation of the trustee. Which would be me."

Bobby got it the same minute D.D. did.

"You threatened to cut him off. Deny him his inheritance."

"Goddamn right," Eola Sr. spat. "I let him live that night, that was generosity enough."

"You hit him," Mrs. Eola whispered. "You ran at him. You leapt on him. You kept hitting and hitting. And Natalie was screaming and you were screaming and it went on and on and on. Christopher just sat there. Wearing that terrible smile, his mouth filling with blood."