The Burying Place

'I didn't think she wanted you to know the kind of person Marcus is. Wives have to make difficult choices about what they can live with.'

Serena jabbed a finger in Regan's face. Her patience with the nurse was gone. 'Don't pretend you're doing anything noble. You have no proof about Marcus. You simply want to sabotage their marriage.'

'I'm being honest,' Regan replied. 'You're the one who's filling Valerie's head with false hope. Desperate mothers will believe anything you tell them. If their child is at stake, they'll believe a lie even when the truth is staring them in the face. You tell Valerie that Callie will be coming home, but in your heart of hearts, you don't believe that. You think exactly what I do. So does your partner. So does Blair

Rowe. The only difference is, I've got the guts to say it to Valerie's face.'

'Stay away from her,' Serena snapped. 'You're hindering a police investigation.'

'Investigation? It looks to me like you're at a dead end.'

'I think you're hiding something,' Serena told her. 'When I first talked to you, you were pushing me to look at Micki Vega. Do you know something about her and Marcus? Do you think she was involved in Callie's disappearance?'

Regan shook her head. 'I have no idea, but I imagine Micki would do anything that Marcus told her to do. She was obviously in love with him.'

'Why did Micki lose her baby?'

'Women miscarry. Bad things happen. There was nothing unusual about it.'

'How did she react?' Serena asked.

'How would you expect her to react? She was hysterical.'

'It must have been hard for her to lose a baby and then turn around and take care of Callie.'

'I'm sure it was,' Regan said. 'What are you suggesting? That Micki stole Callie Glenn to replace the baby she lost?'

'Is that possible?' Serena asked.

'Anything's possible. I already told you, mothers can be desperate creatures.'

'Desperate people can be manipulated.'

'By me? You think I persuaded Micki to steal Callie?'

'Did you?'

'Of course not.'

'You have a history of twisting people around your finger and getting them to do what you want,' Serena persisted.

'I haven't talked to Micki in months. If anyone manipulated her, it's Marcus. Who knows what ideas he put into Micki's lovesick head?'

'Why would Marcus want Micki to harm his child? Or take her away?'

'If you can figure out why,' Regan said, her voice dropping into a whisper, 'then I guess you'll know everything.'

'I'm asking you.'

Regan stood up. 'Sorry. I don't want to hinder your investigation:

Serena stood up too and got in Regan's face. 'Were you involved in Callie's disappearance?'

'You know I wasn't. I was here at the hospital that night.'

'Do you know what happened to her?'

'We both know, but you don't want to face reality. You want to take something simple and make it complex. Marcus was obviously involved. Maybe Micki, too.'

'Who was in your house the night I talked to you?' Serena asked.

'Excuse me?'

'There was an old Escort in your driveway when I arrived. When I left, it wasn't there any more. Someone sneaked out while I was with you. Who was it?'

'I'm a medical professional. It's none of your business who I talk to.'

'So it was a patient?'

'I think we're done,' Regan said. 'If you want to talk about my nursing, you can get a judge to give you a warrant. And good luck with that.'

'This isn't over. You'll see me again.'

'I'm sure I will,' Regan told her. 'You're obviously obsessed with me, Ms Dial. But I wish you'd give it up and do something useful. Like catching the killer in my neighborhood.'

'The Duluth Police will get him.'

'Really? Is that supposed to be a comfort?'

'The police are doing everything they can.'

'Tell that to the four women who are dead,' Regan said. 'Me, I'll keep sleeping with my shotgun.'

Chapter Twenty-eight

Stride parked on the steep west-side slope of Lake Avenue in the area of downtown Duluth known as the Central Hillside. It was the seamy section of town, prone to vagrants and hookers during the warmer months. Winter sent most of the itinerant population south like migrating birds, but a few hearty souls always hung around to keep the cops and the social service agencies busy. As he parked, he saw a cluster of youths in heavy coats eyeing his car suspiciously from the corner of 4th Street.

Maggie sat next to him with her chin on her fist as she stared out the window. They hadn't spoken much since it happened.

'Is this Nick Garaldo's place?' Stride asked, nodding his head at the four-story brick apartment building with the broken windows.

Maggie nodded. 'Yeah, this is it.'

He knew he should be the one to go first. It was his fault. For more than ten years, he had tiptoed around Maggie, aware of her feelings for him and careful not to lead her on. Now he had put both of them in an impossible situation.

He stared at her on the other side of the car. The fire-engine red hair — that was so Maggie. Wild and hip. Doing whatever she wanted. Same with the diamond in her nose. He had always been closed-off and serious, and she was funny and on the fringe, but they had clicked. Yin and yang. He couldn't imagine the idea of her not being in his life. That was one of the reasons he had always kept a safe distance between them, even in those moments when she had made it clear he could cross the line. Now the safe space was gone.

Mistake. He had to say it. Mistake. She was waiting for him to break the silence and give them both a chance to pretend it had never happened.

Except he didn't feel that way. Something was different. He felt alive again. He realized that the coffer dam of dead logs and debris inside his head had finally broken free, but the flood that came with it was out of control. Emotions ricocheted around his soul, threatening to do serious damage. As if he hadn't done enough damage to his life already.

Serena.

He felt a stabbing wave of guilt. Serena. She had been the center of his life for the past three years, and he had turned his back on her and cheated on her. Serena was no fool. She had always known how Maggie felt about him. If there was one thing she had feared in their relationship, it was that he would sleep with Maggie one day.

And now he had.

'Mags,' he said.

She swiveled her head to stare at him. He watched her face, which was patient and expectant. She assumed he was about to run like hell. She was waiting for him to say it. Mistake.

When he didn't say anything, Maggie rode to his rescue again.

'Look, do we have to make a big deal out of this?' she asked. 'You feel guilty as hell, but you shouldn't. I don't. We needed each other, and something happened. Serena never needs to know. You can go back to the way things were.'

'What about us?' he said.

She turned away without replying. He knew why. Even if he entertained the fiction that he and Serena could go on as they had before, he was certain that his relationship with Maggie had changed forever. They couldn't pretend otherwise.

'Let's go check out the apartment, OK?' she said, ducking his question. 'That's probably the manager over there.'

They climbed out of his truck and approached a short black man who paced in front of the apartment building. He greeted them with a firm handshake and introduced himself as Rufus Durand. Durand had steel-gray hair and was in his late fifties. He used his key to let them inside the street door.

'Mr Garaldo's apartment is on the top floor,' he said, handing them a master key with an old wooden spoon tied to the chain with a rubber band. 'It's number four hundred and five. I guess you guys want to do this by yourself, huh?'