AFTER HER LATE lunch with Kyra, Susan wasn’t super hungry when five thirty came. But she figured it would be smart to load up, so she went back to the church for another AA meeting and another plate of noodles.
She had never been to AA before yesterday. Today was a “step meeting” where everybody was talking about the ninth step, “making amends.” One woman spoke for several minutes about owing amends to her parents, who were already dead.
Susan wondered if she owed amends to Amy for not knowing Danny was a murderer. If he was a murderer. She started feeling sick to her stomach, either from the noodles or all this amends talk, and left the meeting early. “Keep coming back,” a friendly elderly woman in the last row called to her as she walked out.
She took some deep breaths and firmly ordered herself to ignore all the confusion and anger, at both Danny and herself, swarming inside her. Just get that necklace, she told herself. Get it and hand it over to Agent Pappas and let the truth land wherever it does.
She headed back to the all-night diner, where the counterman gave her free coffee. The diner was so normal, and the counterman, despite his biker look and gruff manner, had turned out to be such a helpful guy that her stomach began to settle down.
But at eight o’clock she needed to leave, so she could scope out the situation at 89 Ash. She asked the counterman if he would hold onto her suitcase for a few hours.
“Why, where are you going?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.
“I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you,” Susan said, with a lot more insouciance than she felt. Really, she was terrified. If she failed tonight, she didn’t have a Plan B.
Twenty minutes later, she was at 89 Ash. The sky was lit by a bright half-moon, so she had to be extra careful. She hid in the backyard this time, behind the trunk of a tall maple, so she could get a view of Emily’s bedroom. She knew it was Emily’s and not the ten-year-old son’s, because the walls were pink and there were dozens of stuffed animals.
The bedroom was empty for a long time. Susan waited in the darkness, stamping her feet quietly to keep warm, hoping the family’s large German shepherd wouldn’t hear or smell her and start barking.
Finally, Emily came bouncing into the bedroom. She was in pajamas, which made Susan nervous—had she already put her necklace away somewhere? Would Susan have to go through the whole house searching for it? But then she saw it was still swinging from Emily’s neck.
Then Danny came in and sat down next to Emily on the bed. He put his hands on her neck and delicately unclasped her necklace.
Susan groaned softly to herself, “Oh God.”
“That’s creepy, alright,” a voice behind her said, and she jumped.
It was Kyra, in black coat and black jeans. How had she managed to sneak up without Susan hearing? “What are you doing here?” Susan said.
“Same as you.” Kyra pointed at Danny. “He’s putting it in the drawer. This’ll be easy.”
Susan watched as Danny put the necklace inside a drawer of Emily’s bedside table. Then he closed the drawer.
She turned back to Kyra. “I can’t let you help me, Kyra. You’re just a kid.”
“So?”
“You have too much to lose. If you get arrested, you’ll have a criminal record.”
“I already have a record. For cutting my mom’s boyfriend when he came in my bedroom one night.”
Susan wasn’t sure what to say to that. Kyra turned away from her. They both watched as Danny stayed there in the bed with Emily. It seemed to Susan he was sitting way too close to her. He was her father, but were fathers supposed to act like this? Susan felt her head go wobbly.
But Kyra didn’t have any of the doubts Susan had. “What a fucking creep,” Kyra said. “If he doesn’t leave that bedroom in five seconds, I’m going in there.”
Susan pulled herself together. She had to be the grown-up here. “Nobody’s going anywhere, til at least midnight. If he catches us trying to steal that necklace, he’ll throw it away for sure.”
“Midnight? Good thing I brought chocolate,” Kyra said, and took out a Snickers bar. She tore it in two and offered half to Susan.
Susan still felt guilty about getting the girl involved. “Won’t your mom wonder where you are?”
Kyra made a sound that was part snort, part laugh. “Like she even cares. She still blames me for her asshole boyfriend leaving.” She looked into Emily’s bedroom and frowned, upset. “Shit.”
They watched as Danny kissed Emily good night.
On the lips.
Susan got an emptiness in her chest. “How could I not notice?” Her voice came out in a whisper.
“’Cause he’s a sneaky fuckhead. Acts all sweet, like my mom’s boyfriend did.”
Danny stepped away from Emily and walked to the window. As he did, Susan saw his face straight on. A shiver of pure, unadulterated hate rolled through her. Then Danny shut the curtains, turned off the light, and left Emily’s bedroom.
At least Susan thought he did.
Her adrenalin was pumping and she wanted to rush in there right now. But she forced herself to stick to her rule about midnight. By then, she and Kyra were both freezing, their teeth chattering. Clouds covered the half-moon and the sky was darker now. All the lights inside the house were off.
“You ready?” Susan asked.
“Let’s go.”
They moved through the yard toward Emily’s bedroom. Hopefully they’d get lucky and be able to lift one of her two windows. If they were both locked, they’d try the windows in the front part of the house. And if that didn’t work—
It better work.
Kyra stepped on a branch, and it snapped with a loud crack. “Careful!” Susan whispered hoarsely.
They made it to the bedroom. Susan watched as Kyra reached out and pushed upward on one of the windows.
It didn’t move.
Kyra pushed harder, and still nothing happened.
Susan stepped to the other window and pushed as hard as she could, her muscles tightening. Nothing happened, then all at once she felt something give and the window slid up two feet!
But it made a loud, raspy grinding sound. Susan stood stock still, waiting to see if the noise woke up Emily, or if she could hear anything else inside the house.
There was only silence. So she pushed upward again. But the window was stuck now. She pushed again, shutting her eyes and giving it everything she had. No go. It would be impossible to fit her body through that small opening.
Then Kyra came toward her. Kyra put her hands on the window, gave Susan a nod, and they pushed up together. Suddenly the window came unstuck and rose two more feet. But this time it made an even worse grinding sound. Susan stopped, alarmed.
She and Kyra waited. But the house was still silent. Nobody came into Emily’s room and she stayed asleep.
Susan felt along the bottom part of the screen, found the two tabs, and pulled the screen out of the window opening. She lay it quietly on the ground. Then she placed her hands on the window ledge and started to climb up onto it.
But her foot couldn’t quite make it onto the window ledge on her first or second try, and she got a sharp pain in her problem leg. She was about to try again, but Kyra stopped her.
“I’ll do it,” Kyra said.
“No—”
But Kyra was already climbing up. Susan made a stepping-stone out of her hands, and Kyra used it to boost herself higher. She made it onto the ledge, keeping her head down so she wouldn’t bang it on the windowsill above her, and dropped down onto the bedroom floor.
She landed hard.
And Emily woke up.
Looking through the open window, in the darkness, Susan saw the girl lift up her head and look at Kyra. Then, in another room, the dog barked. Oh shit.
Emily asked Kyra, “Who are you?”
Kyra moved toward the bedside table and said softly, “It’s okay, go back to sleep.”
The dog began barking more urgently. Standing at the window, Susan felt helpless. She wanted to scream at Kyra to hurry, but she knew the girl was going as fast as she could.
She watched as Kyra opened the top drawer of the bedside table and rummaged around. But her hands came out empty. What the hell?
“Are you looking for something?” Emily asked.
Then Kyra opened the bottom drawer of the table—and immediately her hand came out with the necklace.
Outside, Susan started to heave a sigh of relief but cut it short out of fear Emily would hear her and get even more freaked out.
“That’s my necklace,” Emily said.
Kyra put it in her coat pocket and headed for the window, whispering, “I’m just borrowing it.”
But then Emily screamed.
From the other room, Danny shouted, “Emily?!”
“Hurry!” Susan whispered to Kyra, as she got onto the ledge.
Danny entered the room—and Susan saw he was holding a small gun.
Terrified, she held out her hand to Kyra. The girl jumped out the window and managed to land on her feet.
“Hey!” Danny yelled. He ran toward the window.
Susan and Kyra were already running away through the darkness. There were hedges on either side of them and in front of them, blocking their way to other backyards.
Behind them they heard Danny yell, “Stop!” Then they heard a crashing sound—probably he had just tumbled through the window and outside. They ran blindly toward a back hedge.
Emily yelled, “Daddy!”
Danny yelled, “Stop right there!”
And then there was a gunshot.
Had Danny recognized her? Was he shooting at Susan on purpose?
They kept running, crashing through the hedge.
They heard Danny yell, “Fuck!” It sounded like he’d tripped and fallen—maybe on the same branch that Kyra snapped.
But even if he got slowed down for a second, Susan knew he was still coming after them. If they kept running straight, they’d hit a street that was lit up with streetlights. She was petrified he’d catch up and see them, maybe shoot them.
Was that legal? As furious as Danny was, he might not care.
“This way!” Kyra whispered. Susan got her plan: they’d head left and slip behind the side hedge and hide there ’til he went past.
They did that, moving as quickly and quietly as they could while Danny kept yelling. He fired another shot and Susan flinched, half expecting it to hit her.
Then there was silence. Susan and Kyra were hidden behind the hedge now.
“Hey!” Danny called.
Susan moved her head slightly to the left and looked out through a thin part of the hedge. Oh God, he was so close! Maybe fifteen feet away. He was looking all around him, searching, listening.
“I see you! Come out of there before I shoot!”
He was bluffing. He didn’t see them.
But then he eyed their hedge and advanced carefully toward it, gun high. Somehow he had heard or sensed they were there! Susan and Kyra held their breath, but he kept coming, closing in.
Susan was frantic. She could only think of one thing to do.
Trying not to make noise, she pulled the spray bottle her mom had given her out of her coat pocket. She opened the nozzle all the way, so the pepper spray would come out in a hard stream instead of a mist. Then she raised the bottle and put it into the thin part of the hedge.
Danny came right towards her from the other side. Maybe he’d heard her messing with the bottle. He raised his gun.
Susan aimed at his face and squeezed the lever.
Danny turned toward the sound. The stream of red pepper spray poured out of the nozzle and hit him straight in the eyes.
He screamed with pain. Clawing at his eyes, he fired wildly in the air. Then he dropped his gun so he could deal with his burning eyes.
Susan and Kyra ran like hell out of there, as Danny yelled, “You fuckheads!”
A minute later, and two blocks away, Susan and Kyra were still running when a cop car raced toward them, siren blaring. Susan froze, panicking.
Kyra said, “Just act normal, like you’re my mom.”
They started walking again. The cop car roared past them.
“Oh my God,” Susan whispered.
“Don’t worry, we’re okay now. Hey, nice job with that pepper spray!”
They made it onto an intersecting street before the next cop car came, and headed back to Main. Susan felt safe—for now.
“Do you think he saw me?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But what’s he gonna do if he did?”
Good question. How would he play this? They made it to the all-night diner and Susan opened the door. The counterman looked up and took them both in, with their cheeks flushed from cold and excitement. “Who’s your young friend?” he asked Susan.
“You never saw her,” Susan said, hardly believing the easy bantering she was getting into with this man she barely knew. Her mom would be impressed.
The counterman grinned. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. We were never here.”
He chuckled. “You got it.”
Susan got her suitcase from the corner where the counterman had put it. Then they ordered coffee and glazed doughnuts, which Kyra paid for, and sat down in a booth. Susan took the necklace from Kyra, held it gingerly, and stared at it.
It’s the same necklace, alright.
She couldn’t believe she was holding Amy’s necklace again after all these years. Love, sadness, and rage warred inside her chest.
This was the necklace her daughter was wearing when she was strangled to death.
Is there any other way Danny could still have it, besides—
“You okay?” Kyra asked.
Susan nodded, unable to speak. She took her purse out of the suitcase and withdrew the small plastic baggie her mom had given her. She put the necklace inside the baggie; somehow it felt safer that way.
Then she put the necklace on the table, and she and Kyra looked at it.
Finally Susan’s mouth started working again. “Amy and I bought these beads together,” she said. “At a little craft store in Glens Falls.”
Kyra brought her head down close to the necklace and studied it. “So we’re rooting for dried blood stuck in under a bead or something.”
“Don’t worry, those CSI people are like magicians.” Susan had been an obsessive viewer of real-life forensics shows ever since Amy got killed. She picked up her coffee. “They’ll find something.”
“But still, it’s been a long time.”
She stopped drinking in mid-sip and put her coffee back down. “Amy hit her forehead on a rock that night. She bled really badly. When the killer strangled her, her necklace was still on.”
Amy’s body lying on that drawer in the morgue. Her bruised, bloody neck. The imprints in her blood made by this very necklace. You can see where the pink duck dug into her bloody neck when she was strangled.
“There were imprints of her necklace in the blood. If this necklace is the same one … If my husband killed my daughter …”
She touched the necklace through the plastic baggie.
“Her DNA will be here.”