Sensing Lydia was about to lose her composure, Josie asked, “Where do you live, Mrs. Norris?”
“Oh, about an hour from here. Look, I can show you my identification.” She patted her jacket pockets and then came up with a thin wallet from which she pulled a driver’s license. Josie studied it, noting that she lived in Danville.
Dr. Feist said, “With all due respect, ma’am, if you haven’t physically seen your daughter Eden in several years, how do you know this is her?”
“I know,” Lydia said, voice husky. “A mother knows.”
Josie knew that Dr. Feist was going to need more than this logic to release Eden’s body to this woman. “Perhaps I can take down some more information from you,” said Dr. Feist. “Have you fill out some forms. I’ll do some work on my end to confirm Eden’s identity. If you know where she lived, perhaps we can track down her dentist and confirm via dental records. Then I can release her to you.”
“Of course, of course,” said Lydia. “I suppose I have to make funeral arrangements now, don’t I?”
“You have time,” Gretchen said gently. “I’m sure Dr. Feist can give you a day or two. In the meantime, Detective Quinn and I can take you anywhere you’d like to go. A hotel, maybe?”
“Oh, I drove here,” said Lydia. “I think I’ll just stay at Amber’s for now.”
Josie said, “As we told you, Amber hasn’t been at her house in at least two days, maybe three, Mrs. Norris. She’s missing.”
Lydia smiled, the motion forced, so that it looked more like she was baring her teeth. “But I’ve got a key. She said I could stay anytime even if she wasn’t home.”
Josie could practically hear Gretchen’s thoughts and see all the imaginary red flags go up in her mind. “When did she give you a key?” she asked Lydia.
Lydia touched her temple. “Oh, I don’t know. When she moved in, I suppose. Anyway, I’ll just fill out those forms now, then I’ll head over there.”
Dr. Feist disappeared into her office to gather the paperwork.
Gretchen asked, “Do you know where Amber went? Where she might be right now?”
Lydia shook her head. “Oh, no. I don’t. I thought she was the one—I thought she had died. I saw it on the news and worried. That’s why I came. I knew no one would claim her body. But I was wrong. It wasn’t Amber. I’m sure she will turn up in a day or two. Until then, I’ll just wait at her place and make arrangements for Eden to be laid to rest.”
“Mrs. Norris,” Josie said. “We’re not so sure that Amber is going to return. We have reason to believe that she could be in danger. Since she gave you a key to her place, would you allow us to have a look around?”
Josie watched her face carefully for any signs of surprise or hesitation, but there was nothing. Only a polite smile. “Of course,” she said. “Of course.”
Eighteen
Amber remembers nothing from after he pistol-whipped her in the dark woods. Now she wakes to more darkness, except she is inside. The floor beneath her is unyielding, cold concrete. A dank, mildew smell permeates the air around her. Still, it is better than the icy wind battering her. Mentally, she inventories the aches and pains in her body, flexing each limb slowly as she moves to a seated position. The gash in her palm aches, and her head throbs so badly she has difficulty staying upright. There are other places on her body that are sore, but she pushes past the hurt and gets onto her hands and knees. With infinite slowness, she crawls from one end of the chamber to the other, feeling her way along the floor and walls, trying to figure out where he’s taken her.
There is no furniture. In fact, there seems to be nothing in the room except for her. In one corner, a series of pipes comes from the floor and reaches upward. They are cold to the touch and silent. He’s brought her to a basement of some kind, it seems. Exhausted, she collapses against one of the walls, letting her head loll onto her chest. Sleep comes for her quickly. She has no idea how much time passes but when she opens her eyes again, a bright light flares across the room. Metal clangs against metal and there he stands, alone, gun in hand, just as he was when he came to her house to take her.
“Have you come to your senses?” he asks.
Amber scrambles to her feet and looks around at the empty room. It is just as she suspected. A concrete chamber all painted slate blue. The pipes she felt come up from the floor and go through the ceiling. There is nothing else except her and cobwebs.
“Where are we?” she asks.
“We’re in the place you’re going to stay until you tell me what I need to know.”
“Or you’ll kill me?”
He looks away from her. “I’ll do what I have to do.”
Her mind makes some quick calculations. “If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already. You can’t do it. If you kill me, the secret dies with me.”
He taps the barrel of the gun against his thigh. “No. If I kill you, it will just make it a lot harder to find the truth.”
“It will make it impossible,” Amber says.
He takes a step closer. A vein in his temple throbs in the low overhead light. “Shut up.”
The gun rises slowly upward, the eye of its barrel staring her square in the face. Trembling, she steps forward and presses her forehead against the cold steel of the barrel. Then she closes her eyes. The calm in her voice surprises even her. Then again, she knows she is doing the right thing. She can die at peace. She always tried to do the right thing. “I’m not telling you,” she says softly. “If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.”
The seconds tick by. One, two, three, four.
“Wait,” she cries. “Please. Finn—”
She opens her eyes just in time to see his finger pull the trigger.
Nineteen