Bone Box. Faye Kellerman

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СКАЧАТЬ I was a year ahead of Lorraine in school. Back then we weren’t romantically involved. We met again down here—same circle of friends.”

      “Bogat was put in after you graduated,” Decker said. “Karen, was Lorraine a hiker?”

      “Not that I knew.” A beat. “I remember that once I asked him—he was him back then—if he wanted to go hiking with me. I remember it was an easy trail and it was a beautiful autumn day. He gave me a resolute no. I can’t imagine why he’d be in the woods voluntarily.”

      “When Lorraine disappeared, did you two still have friends in the area?”

      “Not so much for me. When she vanished, I’d been out of school for a while. I knew maybe a couple of teachers. No one close.”

      “What about Lorraine?”

      “She had some connection up there. The day she left to go up north, she told me she was visiting some friends. And that was the only thing she told me.”

      “No names?”

      “No, and I didn’t ask. As showy as she was, Lorraine could be very private. I didn’t want to intrude into her personal space.”

      “By asking her who she was visiting?”

      “If she had wanted me to know, she would have told me.” Karen winced. “You’ve got to remember that I was pregnant. It was a rough first trimester. I was happy to be alone and I thought that Lorraine just needed some time to herself.”

      “How was her mood?” Decker asked.

      “Like, did I detect something wrong?” Her eyes moistened. “Nothing that I saw. I certainly didn’t expect her to vanish.”

      “Of course not,” Decker said. “And you have no idea who her old friends were?”

      “I knew she was still in contact with a few of her old professors via e-mail. She contacted them once she started working in finance.”

      “So she might have been visiting them?”

      “Possibly.” Karen blinked a couple of times. “After she disappeared, I combed through her e-mails to see if I could figure out where she went and who she was seeing. I know Joanne hired a private detective. I’m sure the PI talked to dozens of people. I know I did. You don’t know how panicked I was. I was alone, I was pregnant, and I was very, very confused.”

      She looked at the tabletop as she spoke.

      “When she didn’t come back Sunday night and I couldn’t contact her by phone, I started calling people that we knew in common. No one even knew she was going up to the colleges.”

      Tears started falling down her face.

      “At the time, I thought she might have lied to me. That she was having second thoughts about the baby. That she was having second thoughts about me. That she found someone else. I was half mad at her as well as half panicked. When I called her work on Monday and she hadn’t shown up, I was beside myself.”

      “What did you do when you couldn’t locate her?”

      “I frankly don’t remember too much because I was in such a state. I did call the Greenbury Police. They wouldn’t take a report right away. Since no one remembered seeing Lorraine, they claimed it was doubtful that she made it up north. They were claiming that she probably disappeared in the city. After a while, I began to believe that she really did cut bait and run.”

      “Did you contact Pettigrew’s parents?”

      Karen sighed. “No. Lorraine didn’t want her parents to know about the pregnancy. She wanted to wait until after the baby was born.”

      “Whose idea was the pregnancy?” McAdams asked.

      “It was hers. That’s why I couldn’t figure out why she disappeared. She wanted a baby way more than I did. But I loved Lorraine, and she wanted to be a mom of her own biological child. So we decided to do it before we finished off our sex reassignment surgeries. I’d already had top surgery, so I knew I couldn’t nurse, but that was fine with Lorraine. She wanted to be the primary caretaker.”

      There was a long pause.

      “I never transitioned completely. After I had the baby, it didn’t seem important. Gender is fluid, and I am who I am. I don’t need gonads to tie me down.”

      Decker nodded. “Karen, you said you called people when Lorraine didn’t come home.”

      “Yes.”

      “Do you still have any record of who you called?”

      “Of course. I made a list. I have a whole file on her.”

      McAdams asked, “Who’s in the file?”

      “People I called. As much as I could, I tried to get hold of her phone records or her e-mail because without a body, she still could be alive. I just couldn’t believe that Lorraine would take off on me. I kept thinking there had to be a reason. I didn’t want to think bad of her.”

      “We’ll subpoena the records. In the meantime, could I take a look at the file?”

      “Sure. It’s at home.” Karen put her head down. “You might also want to talk to Joanne Pettigrew … like that never crossed your mind. I suppose you already talked to her.”

      “Yesterday,” McAdams said. “Before we got tentative confirmation of the remains. We’re going to her house after we’ve finished talking to you.”

      “Joanne still doesn’t know about Aesop.”

      “We know. Jordeen mentioned that you never told her about her grandson.”

      Karen sighed.

      “At first, I didn’t tell Joanne because I felt I was sort of honoring Lorraine’s last wishes. And I was dealing with so much. I really didn’t want to have a pity party with Joanne. I know that sounds callous, but there was only so much grief I could take.” A long silence. “You can tell her.”

      “It might be better coming from you,” Decker said.

      “I was afraid you’d say that.” A sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll man up and call her.”

      “Wait a few minutes until we call and tell her that the remains have been identified.”

      “When are you going to do that?”

      “Right now.” Decker stood up. “I’ll be back in a moment. You can talk to Detective McAdams.”

      “About what?” Karen asked. But Decker had left the café. “Strange one, your boss.”

      McAdams thought: Pot … kettle. “How did you and Lorraine fall in love?”

      “When I came back from top surgery, Lawrence—he was still a he back then—he told me he admired my commitment to who I was. We started talking about sex reassignment, what it would mean СКАЧАТЬ