Cry Mercy

“Maybe she was visiting family.”

“She says she doesn't have any.”

“That could be true. A lot of people have no family.” Like me, she could have added.

“We-Trula and I-think she's seeing someone.”

Emme looked confused. “But I thought she and Robert-”

“I thought that at first, too. There's just some sort of buzz-some sort of electricity-between them.”

“Definitely. I assumed they were an item.”

“Trula says no. That Robert will never look at another woman as long as he doesn't know whether Beth is dead or alive.”

“Wouldn't she have contacted him by now if she was alive?” Emme's brows knit into a frown.

“One would think.” Mallory nodded. “But I think Robert still needs to believe she's out there somewhere and there's a reason why she can't contact him. Amnesia, something like that, maybe. I think it's easier than facing the probability that she and Ian are dead. I think he could accept the truth. He just doesn't know what the truth is.”

“Meanwhile, there's Susa

“Yeah. There's Susa

Over her morning coffee, served with a smile from the same waitress who waited on her many a Saturday morning at the old-fashioned diner just east of Pittsburgh, Susa

Where did you go, Beth? Where did you turn off the highway? Where did your detour take you?

Questions she'd been asking for two years. Where were Beth and Ian?

Until she knew-until Robert knew-Susa

Law enforcement from many agencies-the local and state police along with the FBI-had searched the entire width of the state, from Gibson Springs, where Beth had attended a baby shower at the home of her sister, to Conroy, without success. Search parties had scoured the mountains and valleys of western Pe

All she knew for certain was that Robert would never move on until he knew Beth wasn't coming back. And while Susa

They'd worked closely together, and Susa

She couldn't remember the exact moment when it occurred to her that if they were ever to be together, she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She knew that in the months following the disappearance of his family, Robert had contemplated taking his own life many times. She knew, too, that only the possibility that they might be found kept him from going through with it. She'd been the one who'd pointed out to him how furious Beth would be if she came back and found out that he'd given up.

The only way to save him-and maybe herself as well-was to find Beth and Ian.

Susa

In one of those odd twists of fate, Beth's new car, with its GPS system, had been blocked in her sister's driveway by her brother-in-law-he'd left with a friend early that morning to play golf. Impatient to get home, Beth had borrowed an old Jeep from Pam, one without a tracking system. In her haste, Beth had left her cell phone hooked up to the charger in her own car. At the time, the newspapers had made much of the fact that Robert Magellan's wife may very well have been found had she had the benefit of any of the modern technology through which her husband had made his fortune.

With a pencil, Susa

Susa

To Susa