TWENTY-TWO

arco and Anne are sitting at the kitchen table, attempting breakfast. Their toast is barely touched. They are both living mostly on coffee and despair.

Marco is silently reading the newspaper. Anne is staring out the window to the backyard, seeing nothing. Some days she can’t bear the newspaper and asks him how he can stand to read it. Other days she scours it from first page to last for any coverage of the kidnapping. But in the end she reads it all. She can’t help it. It’s a scab she can’t stop picking.

It’s the strangest thing, Anne finds, to read about yourself in the newspaper.

Marco gives a sudden start. “What is it? ” she asks.

He doesn’t answer her.

She loses interest. This is one of her hate days with the newspaper. She doesn’t want to know. She gets up and tosses her cold coffee into the sink.

Marco holds his breath as he reads. The story he’s reading is not about the kidnapping—but it is. He’s the only one who could possibly know it’s about the kidnapping, and now he’s thinking furiously, trying to figure out what to do about it.

He looks at the picture in the paper. It’s him. There is no doubt. Bruce Neeland, his accomplice, has been found dead—savagely murdered—in a cabin in the Catskills. The story is very short on detail, but a violent robbery is suspected. The man has had his head bashed in. If not for the photograph of the murdered man, Marco would have missed the brief news article altogether, and the valuable information it contains. The newspaper says his name is actually Derek Honig.

Marco’s heart pounds as he tries to put it together. Bruce—whose real name is not Bruce at all—is dead. The article does not say when he might have been killed. That might explain why Bruce didn’t get in touch when he was supposed to, why he hadn’t answered his cell phone. But who killed him? And where is Cora? Marco realizes with terror that whoever killed him must have taken Cora. And whoever killed him must have the money as well. He has to tell the police. But how does Marco tell them without revealing his own terrible role in this?

He starts to sweat. He looks up at his wife, standing with her back to him at the kitchen sink. There is an inexpressible sadness in the slump of her shoulders.

He must go to the police.

Or is he being a fool? What chance is there that Cora is still alive? The bastards have the money. They must have killed her by now.

Maybe they’ll ask for more money. If there’s even the slightest chance that she is still alive, he must let Rasbach know about this. But how? How the hell can he do that without incriminating himself?

He tries to think it through. Bruce is dead—so he can’t tell anyone anything. And he was the only one who knew. If they find Bruce’s killer or killers, even if Bruce told them Marco was in on it, that’s not proof. That’s hearsay. There’s no proof that Marco took her out of the crib and handed her over to Bruce in the garage.

It might even be a good thing that Bruce is dead.

He must tell Rasbach, but how? As he stares at the photograph of the dead man, it comes to him. He will tell the detective that he saw this picture in the paper and recognized the man. He’d seen him hanging around outside the house. He’d forgotten all about it until he saw the picture. They might not believe him, but it’s all he can think of.

He is quite certain that no one ever saw him with Bruce. He doesn’t think anyone can put them together.

He couldn’t live with himself if he doesn’t do everything possible to find Cora.

He will have to tell Anne first. He thinks for another minute, vacillating, and then says, “Anne. ”

“What? ”

“Look at this. ”

She comes and stands over his shoulder looking down at the paper where his finger points. She studies the photo. “What about it? ” she says.

“Do you recognize him? ”

She looks again. “I don’t think so. Who is it? ”

“I’m sure I’ve seen him, ” Marco says. “Around. ”

“Seen him where? ”

“I’m not sure, but he looks familiar. I know I’ve seen him recently, in our neighborhood—around our house. ”

Anne looks more closely. “You know, I think I have seen him before, but I don’t know where. ”

Even better, Marco thinks.

Before going to the station, Marco gets on his laptop and looks for more information on Derek Honig’s murder, searching all the different newspapers online. He doesn’t want any surprises.

There isn’t much information. The case has attracted little notice. Derek Honig had taken some time off work before his death to stay at his cabin. He’d been found by the woman who cleaned the cabin once a month. He lived alone. Divorced, no kids. Marco feels a chill, reading this. The man he’d known as Bruce had told him he had three kids of his own and knew how to take care of an infant, and Marco had believed him. His own actions now shock him. He’d handed his baby off to someone who turned out to be a total stranger, trusting him to take care of her. How could he have done it?

• • •

Anne and Marco show up at the police station unannounced. The Audi had been returned to them the previous afternoon. Marco clutches the newspaper in his hand and asks for Detective Rasbach at the front desk. He’s in, even though it’s Saturday.

“Do you have a minute? ” Marco asks Rasbach.

“Of course, ” the detective says, and ushers them into the now familiar room. Jennings, right behind him, grabs another chair. The four of them sit, facing one another.

Marco places the newspaper on the table in front of Rasbach and points to the photo of the dead man.

The detective looks at the photo, skims the short article. Then he glances up from the paper and says, “Yes? ”

“I recognize him, ” Marco says. He knows he appears nervous, even though he’s trying his hardest not to. He looks the detective deliberately in the eyes. “I think I saw him around in the last couple of weeks before Cora was taken. ”

“Saw him where? ” Rasbach asks.

“That’s the thing, ” Marco equivocates. “I’m not sure. But the minute I saw the picture, I knew I’d seen him recently, and more than once. I think it was around our house, in our neighborhood—on our street. ”

Rasbach stares steadily at Marco, pursing his lips.

“Anne recognizes him, too, ” Marco says, nodding at his wife.

Rasbach turns his attention to Anne.

Anne nods. “I’ve seen him before, but I don’t know where. ”

“You’re sure? ”

She nods again.

“Wait here a moment, ” Rasbach says, and he and Jennings leave the room.

Anne and Marco wait silently. They don’t want to talk to each other with the video camera in the room. Marco has to consciously fight his urge to fidget. He wants to get up and pace around the room but forces himself to stay in his seat.

Finally Rasbach returns. “I’ll go up there myself, today. If there’s anything relevant to your case, I’ll be in touch. ”

“How long do you think it’ll be before we hear from you? ” Marco asks.

“I don’t know. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, ” Rasbach promises.

There’s nothing Marco and Anne can do but go home and wait.

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