"I have no interest in discussing Samantha."
"Please hear me out. Do you remember Peter Lake?"
"Mr. Stewart, there is nothing about those days I can ever forget."
"Three women were kidnapped in Portland recently.
A black rose and a note that said "Gone, But Not Forgotten' were left at each scene. The women's bodies were dug up recently on property belonging to Peter Lake.
He's been charged with the homicides."
"I thought the Hunter's Point police caught the murderer. Wasn't he some retarded deliveryman? A sex offender?"
"The Multnomah County d.a. thinks the Hunter's Point police made a mistake. I'm trying to find the Hunter's Point survivors. Ann Hazelton is dead. Gloria Escalante won't talk to me. Mrs. Reardon is my last hope.
"It's not Mrs. Reardon and hasn't been for some time," the doctor said with distaste, "and I have no idea how you can find Samantha. I moved to Minneapolis to get away from her. We haven't spoken in years. The last I heard, she was still living in Hunter's Point."
"You're divorced?"
Reardon laughed harshly. "Mr. Stewart, this was more than a simple divorce. Samantha tried to kill me."
"What?"
"She's a sick woman. I wouldn't waste my time on her. You can't trust anything she says."
"Was this entirely a result of the kidnapping?" Undoubtedly her torture and captivity exacerbated the condition, but my wife was always unbalanced. Unfortunately I was too much in love with her to notice until we were married. I kept rationalizing and excusing…" Reardon took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. She does that to me. Even after all these years."
"Dr. Reardon, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but Mr. Lake is facing a death sentence and I need to know as much about Hunter's Point as I can."
"Can't the police tell you what you want to know?"
"No, sir. The files are missing."
"That's strange."
"Yes, it is. Believe me, if I had those files I wouldn't be bothering you. I'm sure it's painful having me dig up this period in your life, but this is literally a matter of life and death. Our d.a. has a bee in his bonnet about Mr. Lake. Peter was a victim, just like you, and he needs your help."
Reardon sighed. "Go — ahead. Ask your questions."
"Thank you, sir. Can you tell me about Mrs. Reardon, or whatever she calls herself now?"
"I have no idea what her name is. She still called herself Reardon when I left Hunter's Point."
"When was that?"
About eight years ago. As soon as the divorce was final."
"What happened between you and your wife?"
"She was a surgical nurse at University Hospital.
Very beautiful, very wanton. Sex was what she was best at," Reardon said bitterly. "I was so caught up in her body that I was oblivious to what was going on around me. The most obvious problem was the stealing. She was arrested for shoplifting twice. Our lawyer kept the cases out of court and I paid off the stores. She was totally without remorse.
Treated the incidents like jokes, once she was in the clear.
"Then there was the spending. I was making good money, but we were in debt up to our ears. She drained my savings accounts, charged our credit cards to the limit. It took me four years after the divorce to get back on my feet. And you couldn't reason with her. I showed her the bills and drew up a budget. She'd get me in bed and I'd forget what I'd told her, or she'd throw a tantrum or lock me out of the bedroom. It was the worst three years of my life.
"Then she was kidnapped and tortured and she got worse. Whatever slender string kept her tethered to reality snapped during the time she was a prisoner. I can't even describe what she was like — after that. They kept her hospitalized for almost a year. She rarely spoke. She wouldn't let men near her.
"I should have known better, but I took her home after she was released.
I felt guilty because of what had happened. I know I couldn't have protected her-I was at the hospital when she was kidnapped-but, still, That's very common, that feeling."
"Oh, I know. But knowing something intellectually and dealing with it emotionally are two different things. I wish I had been wiser."
What happened — after she came home?"
"She wouldn't share a bedroom with me. When I was home, she would stay in her room. I have no idea what she did when I was at work. When she did speak, she was clearly irrational. She insisted that the man who kidnapped her was still at large. I showed her the newspaper articles about Waters's arrest and the shooting, but she said he wasn't the man.
She wanted a gun for protection. Of course I refused. She started accusing me of being in a conspiracy with the police. Then she tried to kill me. She stabbed me with a kitchen knife when I came home from the hospital. Fortunately a colleague was with me. She stabbed him too, but he hit Samantha and stunned her. We wrestled her to the floor. She was writhing and screeching about… She said I was trying to kill her It was very hard for me. I had to commit her. Then I decided to get out."
"I don't blame you. It looks like you went above and beyond the call."
"Yes, I did. But I still feel bad about deserting her, even though I know I had no choice."
"You said you committed her. Which hospital was that?"
"St. Jude's. It's a private psychiatric hospital near Hunter's Point. I moved and cut off contact with her completely. I know she was there for several years, but I believe she was released."
"Did Samantha try to contact you after she was released?"
"No. I dreaded the possibility, but it never happened."
"Would you happen to have a photo of Samantha?
There weren't any in the newspaper accounts."
"When I moved to Minnesota, I threw them away, along with everything else that might remind me of Samantha."
"Thank you for your time, Doctor. I'll try St. Jude's.
Maybe they have a line on your ex-wife."
"One other thing, Mr. Stewart. if you find Samantha, please don't tell her you talked with me or tell her where I am.
Randy Highsmith drove straight to the district attorney's office from the airport. He was feeling the effects of jet lag and wouldn't have minded going home, but he knew how badly Page wanted to hear what he had found out in Hunter's Point.
"It's not good, Al," Highsmith said as soon as they were sitting down.
"I was a day behind Darius's investigator everywhere I went, so he knows what we know."
"which is?"
"Nancy Gordon wasn't straight with you. Frank Grimsbo and Wayne Turner told me only Gordon considered Lake a serious suspect. She was fixated on him and never accepted Waters as the rose killer, but everyone else did.
"There's something else she didn't tell us. Three of the Hunter's Point women didn't die. Hazelton, Escalante and Reardon were found alive in an old farmhouse.
And, before you ask, Hazelton is dead, I haven't located Reardon and Escalante never saw the face of the man who abducted her."
"Why did she let me think all the Hunter's Point women were murdered?"
"I have no idea. All I know is that our case against Martin Darius is turning to shit."
"It doesn't make sense," Page said, more to himself than to Highsmith.
"Waters is dead. If he was the rose killer, who murdered the women we found at the construction site? It had to be someone who knew details about the Hunter's Point case that only the police knew.
That description only fits one person, Martin Darius."
"There is one other person it fits, Al," Highsmith said.
"Who?"
"Nancy Gordon."
"Are you crazy? She's a cop."
"What if she's crazy? What if she did it to frame Darius? Think about it. Would you have considered Darius a suspect if she didn't tell you he was Lake?"
"You're forgetting the anonymous letter that told her that the killer was in Portland."