On the other side of a FaceTime video call, a grinning seven-year-old named Ricky Keeney joyously held up a ten of clubs to the screen. “Uncle Neil, Aunt Amanda, is this the card I showed you before?”
In their New York City living room, Neil and Amanda Keeney applauded vigorously, feigning a sense of awe. “How in the world did you do that?” Amanda asked. They had of course pretended not to notice when Ricky’s hands had slipped beyond the view of his mother’s laptop camera.
“A magician never tells his secrets,” Ricky declared proudly.
Of the four Keeney siblings, only Neil’s sister Kit had remained in Hyannis Port where they were raised. Dierdre was a professor at Brown University in Providence, and Jimmy—who went by James now—was a teacher in Boston. Ricky was Dierdre’s son, and she had taken her family to the Cape for the weekend for Ricky to visit his grandparents and cousins.
Ricky was asking if he could perform one more card trick when Neil’s mother asked if he could show Grandpa instead in the family room while she spoke to Uncle Neil and Aunt Amanda in private. He raced off, happy to comply. Ricky was named for Neil’s father, Patrick, and absolutely adored his grandfather and namesake.
Even though Neil’s mother was now alone at the kitchen table, she kept her voice in a low whisper. “I just got off the phone with Nancy Eldredge. Are you aware of what’s happening there? I had no idea until now. We were just at the oyster bar together yesterday with your sisters and the kids. I don’t know how Nancy can even handle this right now. Sometimes, I think that poor woman is cursed.”
Amanda looked to Neil to answer. “Melissa called us right after it happened,” he said. “The police were at the house immediately. There’s a massive search underway on Long Island.”
“They say on all those shows I watch that the first forty-eight hours of an investigation are the most important,” she said fearfully. “Isn’t that right, Amanda?”
“That’s not always true, but yes,” she conceded, “time is obviously of the essence.”
“And Riley’s barely three years old. She can’t be off by herself all this time. And Nancy told me that Charlie has basically walked out on Missy and won’t tell her anything about what the police are up to. Can’t you do something to help her?” Even on a computer screen, it was clear she was looking at her daughter-in-law the police officer.
The discomfort that had been growing between him and Amanda throughout the day felt palpable now. Out of respect for his wife’s wishes, he had refrained from getting too closely involved in whatever was happening in Southampton, knowing that it could put Amanda in an awkward position if the police believed he and his NYPD wife were interfering in their investigation. He had been rationalizing the decision because there wasn’t much they could do to help, and Melissa’s entire family was together and could support one another.
“What do you mean Charlie walked out on her?” he asked.
“I guess Missy hired one of her fancy lawyer friends, but now he only represents Charlie, and Charlie sent the lawyer to Nancy’s house to pick up his things. Nancy’s really worried about Missy’s state of mind right now. And I think the whole situation is digging up some very difficult memories for Nancy. What is it that people say now—triggering? I think Nancy’s prior trauma is being triggered. And probably Missy’s, too. Oh, that poor family.”
“I didn’t know about Charlie. Let me call Melissa now and see if there’s anything we can do.”
“I’m going to St. Francis now.” Neil’s mother was a daily communicant at St. Francis Xavier Church, just down the block from the family home. He knew that she was certain in her belief that only prayer had made the rescue of Missy and Mike possible forty years earlier. She said she loved them both before ending the FaceTime call.
He was about to pull up Melissa’s number on his phone when her name appeared on the screen with an incoming call. Perhaps his mother’s work was already kicking in.
“Melissa, we were just about to call you.” Next to him, Amanda was nodding in support. He no longer detected her reluctance. He tapped the screen to change the audio to speaker.
“I need a favor,” Melissa said. “Can you go to my apartment?”