‘Okay, Tate. For once I believe you. But I still gotta take you in.’
‘Look, if you take me in, then what? You’re going to want to listen to all those tapes first, and you’re going to want to run down everything I’ve told you about. So all you’re going to do is sit me in an interrogation room for twelve hours before you even speak to me. It’s pointless. Let me stay here, let me get some sleep, and if you want me tomorrow you’ll know where to find me.’
He doesn’t answer, but he slowly nods.
I walk to the front door with him, and as angry as he is at me I’m pretty sure that if he’d been the one two years ago to decide not to exhume Henry Martins, then he’d be the one now needing to find justice for those dead girls.
I listen to him drive off.
My head hits the pillow, and I think I might even have slept for about two minutes before my cellphone rings.
‘Why do I feel like I’ve just been played?’ Landry asks.
I don’t answer him.
He carries on. “I pressed play on that tape recorder of yours to get a preview of what was to come.’
And?’
‘And what? It was up to Sidney Alderman. He was confessing about killing his wife. I guess that’s the one you wanted me to hear first, and it means you knew I was going to take your tape recorder. You knew I’d listen to it. Why?’ he asks.
‘Makes you wonder what he was capable of, right? Guy like that, makes you wonder.’
‘Good night, Tate.’
‘Good night, Landry’
I hang up and turn off my cellphone, satisfied that the police no longer have any reason to dig Mrs Alderman out of the ground.
chapter fifty-four
At first I’m not sure where I am. I wake up feeling exhausted and confused, and then it comes rushing back to me — not just the last day but the last two years. These moments are the worst.
Sometimes I can wake up and for the first two or three seconds everything is okay — I’m going to roll over and Bridget is going to be there and Emily is going to be in the lounge watching TV
Then those two seconds pass and the reality kicks in and it hurts all over again, the pain as intense in those moments as it was two years ago.
I get out of bed, still feeling groggy. I turn on my cellphone and find a message waiting. It’s Landry. I figure if I don’t ring him back real soon he’s likely to show up. I carry the phone through to my office and sit down on my desk. For the second time within days everything I’ve built up has been taken away. All I have left are the newspaper stories I printed out at the library, along with the new timeline I was making and some notes. I look at the articles with the pictures of the girls, and all I can think about is their killer’s confession. These young women are looking to me to find them justice. There is still hope for them. It’s a different kind of hope, but I promise not to abandon them.
I phone Landry back.
‘You’re holding out on me, Tate.’
“I told you everything I know.’
‘But you didn’t give me everything you have.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘The tapes. We’re one short. According to the log Father Julian kept, you’re on it.’
‘Yeah, well, I was. And that was a confession between me and my priest. Try and sound as angry as you want, Landry, but you know there’s no way in hell I’d let you have that tape.’
‘Because of what was on it? The date suggests it was around when Quentin James went missing. The timing suggests a whole lot of things, Tate.’
‘What do you want, Landry? You gotta be ringing me for more than just this.’
‘When was the last time you saw Casey Horwell?’
‘What? I don’t know. Why?’
‘Come on, when?’
‘Yesterday. She blindsided me at my house. She had a bunch of accusations she wanted to share.’
‘And that’s it?’
‘Yeah, that’s it. Why? Should I be turning on the news and seeing the story? You know she’s bullshit. Most of what she …’
‘She’s missing,’ he says, interrupting me.
‘Missing?’
‘Yeah. Nobody has seen her in twelve hours.’
‘That doesn’t constitute being missing,’ I say. ‘She’s probably just sleeping off a hangover somewhere.’
‘Maybe. But you don’t sound upset about it.’
‘Upset? Why would I be upset? You think something has happened to her?’
‘Her producer said that last night Casey contacted her. She said she had a lead she was going to follow up, and it involved you. And her cameraman said you threatened her. Did she come back and see you last night?’
‘You were here last night. Did you see her?’
‘After I left.’