Dancing in the Dark (30 page)

“You didn’t plan on anyone stumbling upon your secret hideaway, did
you?” Diane asked, trying to keep Leslie talking.

“No. It was bad enough that no one believed me. But things got worse
when Arthur Tomkins was arrested.” Leslie’s voice began to tremble.
“That poor man must have found Carly before I came back, and he left
his fingerprints behind. I knew he would be convicted because of that.
I had been so careful not to leave mine anywhere. I even practiced
putting the flex cuffs on myself using my teeth so that there’d be no
prints when they found me. The police weren’t going to find any other
fingerprints, and it looked like Arthur was going to pay for something
he didn’t do.”

“So you abducted another girl to show that Arthur couldn’t be the
kidnapper?” Diane was getting closer to the blanket.

“Yes, I took Anna. I thought if someone else went missing, it would
prove to the police they had the wrong man.”

“So you
did
cry wolf, Leslie.
Why would you do that?”

Leslie’s voice sounded stronger as she answered. “Because I wanted Shawn to realize that he should have
taken better care of me. That I’m not trash you can throw away when
you’re finished with it. I read all those stories, and I saw it all on
television. Women who faked their own disappearances. But they made
mistakes, did stupid things that convinced everyone they weren’t
telling the truth.”

And you have too
,
thought
Diane, but she didn’t say it aloud. There was no point in berating
Leslie. It was more important to convince her to let her two hostages
go free.

“Leslie, this is Matthew Voigt.” Leslie sat up straighter, startled
by the new voice. “I’m Diane’s producer. Remember we met on the
boardwalk?”

No answer.

“We can help you, Leslie. We can help everyone understand that you
didn’t plan for all of this to happen.”

“No. It’s all ruined. There’s no way out of this.” There was that
desperation again in the girl’s voice.

Diane kept the flashlight trained on Anthony. He was struggling in
vain to get his hands free. “Leslie,” she said in a soothing voice, “no
one is going to think that you meant for this to happen—but only if you
let my son and Anna go free. One innocent woman has died. Don’t hurt
anyone else.”

“But how can I go on?” Leslie said hoarsely. “Everyone will know
what I’ve done. My parents. Shawn. They’ll all reject me. I’ve felt
rejected for as long as I can remember. Never good enough, or smart
enough, or pretty enough.”

“Leslie,” Diane said in as calm a tone as she could manage,
“everyone will understand. Believe me. Just let them go.” She took a
step, and then another.

Leslie screamed, “Stop! I told you not to come any closer.” She
pulled her arm out from under Anna and let her body fall to the floor.
Looking directly into Diane’s face, Leslie brought the razor blade up
to her own throat and sliced her thin neck.

As the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean, Diane stood on the sand
with the Casino at her back. Anthony had returned to the inn and was,
she hoped, sleeping soundly by now. Emily and Michelle had promised her
they wouldn’t let him out of their sight if he came out of his room.

She was wired and ready to record her on-camera close. Diane smiled
at Sammy and Gary as they made their preparations for the live shot.
Sammy was uncharacteristically quiet this morning, as if in respect for
what Diane had been through.

Ocean Grove was the lead story on KEY to America this morning. With
five minutes till air, Matthew arrived back at Diane’s side, ready to
fill her in on what he had just learned from the police.

“We’re golden with the cops.” He grinned. “All of a sudden they’re
telling me everything we want to know. First of all, Leslie is all
right. She missed her jugular vein, and she’s in stable condition at
Jersey Shore University Medical Center.”

“Thank God the police finally got there right after she cut
herself,” Diane said softly. “If they hadn’t, who knows what would have
happened?”

“Well, surviving physically would seem to be the least of Leslie’s
problems. That girl is in for a legal nightmare as well as in need of
some major-league psychological therapy.”

Diane nodded. “I guess she will be tried and psychiatric testimony
will be admitted in her defense. But if you ask me, Owen Messinger
should get his walking papers. Leslie needs more help than he’s been
able to give her.”

“You said it, and she’ll be well rid of him,” Matthew agreed,
“because here’s an interesting little aside. The police told me it
looks like Messinger staged a breakin of his own office. He pretended
that his patient notes had been taken. Apparently, he didn’t like how
the results were coming out for a new therapy or something he was
working on. He was going to get rid of the files with the negative
findings so they couldn’t be included in the paper he hoped to publish.
That way, only the positive findings would remain.”

Diane recalled the therapist telling her about the burglary when
she’d interviewed him at his office. That visit made her thoughts turn
to Larry Belcaro. The poor man had tried to tell her about his fears
regarding Messinger, but in her hurry she had brushed him off, not just
then but again on the phone a couple of hours ago. He deserved better
treatment.

“And, Diane?” Matthew was continuing. “Anna Caprie’s
f
ine and at home, and Arthur Tomkins has
already been released. Make sure you include that in your stand-up as
well.”

Unclipping her microphone, Diane was ready to go back to the Dancing
Dunes for a shower and a nap when she felt her cell phone vibrate.

“This call is from a federal prison.”

Philip fired the questions nonstop. “Diane, honey, are you all
right? How’s Anthony? I just saw you on TV. How could they make you get
out there and tell the story after all you’d just been through?”

“Sweetheart, there wasn’t anyone else they could send in time to do
the report, but because I’d just been a part of it, it made the story
even better.” She answered his other questions, reassuring him that his
family was well and intact.

“This call is from a federal prison.”

“I should have been there, Diane. I hate that I’m not out there to
protect you.”

Diane refrained from whispering,
I hate
that too
.
She answered instead, “We’re fine, Philip. We
really are.”

“If anything ever happened to you or one of the kids, I don’t know
what I’d do. I’ve done so much to hurt you already. But if you give me
a chance, Diane, I’ll make it up to you. I promise I will.”

“You’ll be out of there soon, Philip. And when you come home, we’ll
take it one step at a time. That’s all we can do. But I do love you,
Philip, and I know you love me. That’s a better start than many people
have.”

“Ready for me to drop you off for a little shut-eye?” asked Matthew.
“You can catch a couple of hours’ sleep before you have to work on the
piece for
Evening Headlines
.”

“Yep. Sounds good.” Diane smiled.

Matthew gave the crew instructions about where they would meet up
later and then the correspondent and the producer walked over the sand,
climbed the seawall, and crossed the boardwalk to Matthew’s car.

“You think we could make a stop before you drop me off?” Diane asked.

“Sure,” said Matthew. “Where to?”

When they arrived at Surfside Realty, the building was still locked
up.

“Want to get a cup of coffee to pass the time until it opens?”
suggested Matthew.

“Fine. As long as it’s decaf. I want to be able to sleep later.”

They walked along Main Avenue in the direction of Na-gle’s. As they
approached the scattering of tables in front of the building, Matthew
spoke up. “Isn’t that Shawn Ostrander? And isn’t that Arthur Tomkins
with him?”

They went up to the table where the two men sat. Diane spoke first.
“I’m so glad the truth came out, Mr. Tomkins. I’m so glad you’ve been
cleared.”

Arthur smiled his gentle smile as he tapped his spoon three times
against the side of his coffee cup.

“From what I’ve heard,” said Shawn, “we have you to thank.”

“We’re just glad that everything turned out all right.” Diane turned
to Matthew. “Which reminds me. You still have that envelope from
Arthur’s sister to give to Shawn, right?”

“Oh, God, yes,” said Matthew, reaching into his pants pocket. “I’ve
been carrying this around since the Stone Pony last night. I tried to
find you there, but the bartender said you didn’t come in.”

Shawn nodded. “I drove to Spring Lake to talk to Arthur’s family.”
He put his arm around Arthur’s shoulder. “We talked about how it’s time
for the family to come together again and heal. We’re going to take a
ride down to see them later today or maybe tomorrow, aren’t we, Arthur?”

Arthur nodded his head three times. “If you say so, Shawn. I always
do what you tell me to do.”

Larry Belcaro was unlocking the front door of Surfside Realty when
Diane and Matthew got back to the building. The real estate agent
looked surprised to see them.

“I saw your report on the news this morning, Ms. Mayfield. After the
night you had, what are you doing here of all places?”

“I wanted to apologize, Mr. Belcaro,” said Diane.

“Whatever for?”

“For not taking enough time to talk to you the other night in the
parking lot, for calling you so late last night.”

“Well, I figured out what that call was about when I saw the news
this morning. Poor, poor Leslie.” Larry shook his head. “Owen Messinger
messed her up so badly, just like he did my Jenna. But that quack will
go scot-free. It just tears me apart.”