Тесс Герритсен - I Know a Secret

“It’s just that — it’s hard to talk about what Martin — what he did to me — with my dad sitting here. It’s embarrassing.”

“Mr. Devine, would you mind giving us some privacy?” said Jane.

Earl pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll leave you alone to talk. You need anything, sweetheart, you just shout.” He walked away into the kitchen, and they heard water running. The clank of a pot on the stove.

“He likes to cook me dinner when I visit,” said Holly, and added, with a wry smile, “He’s actually a terrible cook, but it’s his way of showing me he cares.”

“We can see how much he cares,” said Maura.

For the first time, Holly seemed to register Maura’s presence. Up till now Maura had been silent, letting Jane conduct the interview, but there were strange emotional currents flowing in this house, and Maura wondered if Jane sensed them. If she had noticed how often father and daughter looked to each other for reassurance.

“For a few months I stopped coming here, because we were afraid my stalker was watching the house. That was really hard for Daddy, not having me visit. He’s my best friend.”

“Yet you can’t talk about Martin Stanek in front of him,” said Jane.

Holly glared at her. “Could you talk to your dad about how a man molested you? How he forced his penis down your throat?”

Jane paused. “No. I couldn’t.”

“Then you understand why he and I never talk about it.”

“But we have to talk about it, Holly. You have to help us, so we can keep you safe.”

“That’s what the prosecutor said: Tell us everything that happened, and we’ll keep you safe. But I was scared. I didn’t want to disappear, like Lizzie.”

“You knew Lizzie DiPalma?”

Holly nodded. “Every day, we rode Martin’s bus together to Apple Tree. Lizzie was so much smarter than me, and so fierce. She would have fought back. Maybe killing her was the only way he could stop her from screaming for help. Or stop her from telling anyone what he’d done to her. She was kidnapped on a Saturday, so none of the kids were there to see it. We had no idea what happened to Lizzie.” Holly drew in a deep breath and looked at Jane. “Until I found her hat.”

“On Martin’s bus,” said Jane.

Holly nodded. “That’s when I knew he did it. I knew I finally had to speak up. I’m just glad my mother believed me. After what happened to her when she was a little girl, she never doubted me. But some of the other parents didn’t believe what their own children were saying.”

“Because some of the other children’s stories were pretty hard to believe,” said Jane. “Timothy talked about a tiger flying in the woods. Sarah said the daycare had a secret basement where the Staneks threw dead babies. But police searched that building, and there was no basement. Certainly there were no flying tigers.”

“Timmy and Sarah were just little kids. It was easy to confuse them.”

“But you can see why some of those statements didn’t pass muster.”

“You weren’t there, Detective. You didn’t have to face the wall of martyrs every day and recite how each one died. Saint Peter of Verona, his head cracked with a cleaver. Saint Lawrence, burned on a gridiron. Saint Clement, drowned with an anchor around his neck. If your birthday fell on a martyr’s day, you got the privilege of wearing the martyr’s crown and holding the plastic palm leaf while everyone danced around you. Our parents thought it was perfectly wholesome! And that’s what made it so insidious. Evil disguised as piety.” Holly gave a shudder. “But after Lizzie vanished, I finally got up the courage to say something, because I knew that what happened to her could happen to me next. I told the truth. That’s why Martin wants his revenge.”

“We’re going to keep you safe, Holly,” said Jane. “But you have to help us.”

“What should I do?”

“Until we have enough evidence to arrest Martin Stanek, it would be a good idea for you to leave town. Is there a friend you can stay with?”

“No. No, there’s just my father.”

“This isn’t a good place. This is where Stanek will expect to find you.”

“I can’t leave my job. I have bills to pay.” She glanced back and forth at Jane and Maura. “He hasn’t found me yet. Shouldn’t I be safe in my own apartment? What if I got a gun?”

“Do you have a permit to carry one?” said Jane.

“Does that matter?”

“You know I can’t advise you to break the law.”

“But sometimes laws don’t make sense. What good are your stupid laws if I’m dead?”

Maura said, “What about police protection, Jane? Assign an officer to watch her.”

“I’ll see what I can arrange, but there’s a limit to our resources.” Jane looked at Holly. “In the meantime, the best way for you to stay safe is to be prepared. Know what to watch for. We believe Stanek is working with someone else, and his partner could be a man or a woman. You can’t let down your guard under any circumstances. We know that two of the victims were drugged with alcohol and ketamine, and this may have happened in a bar. Don’t accept drinks from people you don’t know. In fact, just stay away from anyplace where people are drinking.”

Holly’s eyes widened. “That’s how he does it? He puts something in their drinks?”

“But that won’t happen to you. Now that you know.”

Jane’s cell phone rang, and she answered it with a brisk “Rizzoli.” Maura was startled when, seconds later, Jane shot to her feet and strode outside to continue the call in private. Through the closed front door, she heard Jane demand, “How did this happen? Who the hell was watching him?”

“What’s going on?” said Holly.

“I don’t know. I’m going to find out.” Maura followed Jane outside and closed the front door behind her. There she stood, shivering, waiting for Jane to finish the call.

“Jesus H. Christ.” Jane hung up her phone and turned to Maura. “Martin Stanek’s taken off.”

“What? When?”

“We had a team watching his residence from the street. He slipped out the back door and no one’s seen him since. We have no idea where he went.”

Maura glanced at the window and saw Holly’s face pressed up against the glass, watching them. Softly, she said, “You need to find him.”

Jane nodded. “Before he finds her.”

Through the living-room window, I watch Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles drive away from the house. I turn to my father and confess, “I’m scared, Daddy.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“But they have no idea where he is.”

Daddy pulls me against him and wraps his arms around me. Once, hugging my father was like hugging a sturdy tree trunk. He’s lost so much weight, it’s now like hugging a bag of bones, and through that brittle chest I can feel his heart beating against mine.

“If he comes after my little girl, he’s a dead man.” He lifts my face and looks into my eyes. “Don’t you worry. Daddy will take care of everything.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He reaches for my hand. “Now, come into the kitchen. There’s something I want to show you.”

“Until we find Martin Stanek, how do we keep her safe?” asked Detective Tam.

That was the question on the mind of everyone seated around the Boston PD conference table. The investigation had broadened to include Detectives Crowe and Tam, and this morning Dr. Zucker had again joined them. They felt certain Holly was Stanek’s next target, but they didn’t know where or when he would strike.

“For someone whose life is in danger, she sure isn’t acting particularly worried,” said Crowe. “Yesterday morning, when Tam and I went to her apartment to check the building’s security, she wouldn’t even take the time to talk to us. Just told us she was late for work and walked out.”