The Missing

‘Who was he calling?’

‘Don’t know yet. The call lasted roughly forty-six seconds. Holloway said it’s a Massachusetts area code. He’s tracking down the number now. Have you talked with Ma

‘No. He hasn’t said anything to me.’

‘Good. Keep it that way. Let the asshole sweat for a change.’

Banville’s phone rang. His face changed.

‘Dia

Darby was watching two men from the coroner’s office carrying out a body bag on a stretcher when Evan stepped up next to her.

‘The swelling on your face still looks pretty bad. You should put some more ice on it.’

‘I’ll grab some on the way home.’

‘Are you heading out?’

‘As soon as Banville finds me a ride,’ Darby said.

‘I can drive you.’

‘You’re not sticking around?’

‘I’m not too popular right now.’

‘I can’t imagine why.’

‘How about we call a truce and you let me drive you home? Better yet, why don’t you let me drive you to a hospital?’

‘I don’t need to go to the hospital.’

‘Then I’ll take you home.’

Darby glanced at her watch. It was well after midnight. If Banville couldn’t get someone here to give her a ride, she’d have to call Coop or wait for one of Banville’s men to come up here. Either way, she wouldn’t be back in Belham until at least three a.m. But if she left now, with Evan, she could get home at a reasonable hour, get some sleep and arrive here well rested for tomorrow morning’s search.

‘Let me tell Banville,’ Darby said.

Inside the car, Darby watched the passenger’s side rearview mirror and stared at the blinking pulse of blue and white lights grow smaller and dimmer. Some part of her felt as though she were abandoning Carol.

When the glow of lights finally disappeared, the road in front of her dark except for the headlights, Darby found it difficult to breathe. The inside of the car felt too close. She needed air. She needed to move.

‘Stop the car.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Just stop the car.’

Evan pulled over. Darby threw the door open and stumbled out onto the dirt road. Dark woods surrounded her; all she could see was Carol locked inside that cold, gray prison cell, alone and scared, away from her mother.

Darby knew that kind of fear. She had felt it when she was hiding under the bed, when she was locked inside her mother’s room and later, when Melanie was downstairs crying out for help.

The car’s engine shut off. A door opened and shut behind her. A moment later, Darby heard Evan’s footsteps crunching over the gravel.

‘You’ve done everything you could to help find her,’ he said in a gentle voice.

Darby didn’t answer. She kept staring at the dark woods. Carol was buried somewhere out there.

Darby turned her attention to the tiny throb of blue and white lights blinking in the distance. She thought about Boyle standing up in one of the bedroom windows, watching as the surveillance van pulled into his driveway and then –

‘He made a phone call,’ Darby said out loud.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Boyle made a phone call after we pulled into his driveway – there was a record of it on his BlackBerry. Boyle called someone at nine-eighteen. We pulled into his driveway a little after nine – I remember seeing the time on the surveillance monitor.’

Darby saw it clearly in her mind’s eye – Boyle standing behind the window and seeing the telephone repair van pulling into his driveway. How did he know the police were in there? He didn’t. Banville was standing in the driveway. Had Boyle spotted him? Maybe.

So let’s assume Boyle spotted Banville. Boyle grabs the shotgun, and before he heads downstairs, he makes a phone call. Who was he calling? Who could possibly help –

‘ Oh Jesus.’ Darby grabbed the back of her neck. ‘Boyle made that phone call because he had someone working with him. Traveler wasn’t one person – it was two. Boyle was calling to warn his partner.’

Darby turned around. Evan looked off in the distance, his eyes filmed with thought.

‘Think about it,’ Darby said. ‘Boyle orchestrated three bombings – the bomb in the van, the bomb he planted inside a ma

‘I know where you’re heading. Boyle could have dropped off the van the night before, left it there and headed out the next morning with the FedEx truck.’

‘The listening devices turned on at a specific time. The only way Boyle could have done that was if he was watching us. But he couldn’t have been watching us and driving the FedEx truck at the same time.’

‘It’s not a bad theory,’ Evan said. ‘Maybe Slavick was his partner. We found plenty of evidence inside his house.’

‘Slavick wasn’t the partner – he was the fall guy.’

‘Maybe Slavick turned on Boyle, and Boyle decided to let Slavick take the fall. With Slavick dead, Boyle can pack up and leave. He was getting ready to leave, wasn’t he?’

‘You told me you searched every inch of Slavick’s house and didn’t find any prison cells.’

‘Correct. But you found them at Boyle’s house.’

‘They were holding pens.’

‘I’m not following.’

‘There were only two prison cells at Boyle’s house,’ Darby said. ‘Rachel told me about the other women who were with her – Paula and Marci. That’s three women – no, four. There were four other people with Rachel. Paula, Marci, and Rachel’s boyfriend, Chad. So besides Rachel, there were three other people being kept where she was. Boyle must have kept them all someplace else.’

‘Maybe Chad was with Rachel first. After he was gone, maybe Boyle brought this Marci woman in first, and after she died, Boyle – or Boyle and Slavick – brought in Marci.’

‘No. They were all there at the same time.’

‘You don’t know that for sure,’ Evan said. ‘Rachel Swanson was delusional. When she was in the hospital, she thought she was still inside her prison cell.’

‘You heard the tape. Rachel told me there wasn’t any way out, only places to hide. The cells at Boyle’s house were small. There wasn’t any place for Rachel to hide. And she wrote those directions on her arm. They were directions out of somewhere. Rachel said, “It doesn’t matter if you go right or left or straight, they all lead to dead ends.” Rachel and the other women were kept someplace else, I’m sure of it.’

‘I know how much you want to find Carol, but I think you –’

Darby brushed past Evan.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to Boyle’s house,’ Darby said. ‘I need to talk to Banville.’

Evan shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘Have you considered the possibility that Boyle brought Rachel and the other women to his basement? Maybe he chased Rachel and the other women down there. There are plenty of rooms, lots of places to hide.’

‘How do you know so much about Boyle’s basement?’

‘Because that’s where I killed Melanie,’ Evan said, and pressed the chloroform-soaked rag against her face.

Chapter 66

Darby came awake to a hazy layer of thoughts. She was lying on her stomach – not on a bed, no, it was too hard. Her good eye, the one that wasn’t swollen shut, fluttered open to pitch-black darkness. She turned onto her back and sat up.

For a brief moment she thought she might have been blinded in some terrible accident. Then she remembered.

Evan had pressed a rag against her face. The man who had tried to comfort her that day on the beach when he told her about Victor Grady and the fate of the missing woman was the same man who had pressed a chloroform-soaked rag against her face and said he killed Melanie – Evan was Boyle’s partner. Evan planted evidence while Boyle abducted women and brought them here.