Chapter 5: What Dennis Knew
He was at the door before I could get in front of him.
"Dennis, stop."
He stopped.
His hand was on the frame.
He didn't turn around.
"If you walk out that door right now," I said, "I will call the police.
I will show them the note.
I will tell them everything Jennifer said on that phone call.
And whatever Ray has been holding over you will come out whether you help me or not."
His shoulders dropped.
He turned around slowly.
He looked like a man who had been carrying something for a very long time and had just been told he could put it down, but didn't quite believe it yet.
"Sit down," I said.
He sat.
I sat across from him with Lily in my lap.
She had fallen asleep against my chest, one fist curled under her chin.
I kept my voice low so as not to wake her.
"Tell me from the beginning," I said.
"All of it."
Dennis looked at his hands.
"Ray had been watching Jennifer for a while.
I didn't know.
I swear to you I didn't know while it was happening." He paused.
"She was sixteen.
She was at that party — do you remember, the Garfield boy's graduation party, out on Route 9?"
I remembered.
I had argued with Jennifer about going.
She had gone anyway.
"Ray was there," Dennis said.
"I don't know why.
He had no business being there.
But he was." Another pause.
"She saw something that night.
Something she wasn't supposed to see.
I don't know exactly what — Ray never told me the details.
But it was enough that he panicked."
"He took her," I said.
It wasn't a question.
Dennis closed his eyes.
"He said he just needed her somewhere safe until things settled down.
That was how he put it.
Somewhere safe." His voice went thin with disgust, though whether at Ray or himself I couldn't tell.
"He had people.
He always had people.
They moved her.
He said she was fine.
He said she was being looked after."
"She was sixteen years old."
"I know."
"She was our daughter."
"I know, Carol." His voice broke on my name.
"By the time I found out, she'd already been gone almost two years.
And Ray told me that if I said anything, if I went to the police or told you, he would make sure I went down with him.
He had — he had documentation.
Things I'd signed, years ago, not knowing what they were for.
He said they'd look like I was involved from the start."
I didn't speak.
Lily shifted in her sleep.
"So you said nothing," I said finally.
"I said nothing."
The words fell between us and stayed there.
I thought about the nights I had cried in this house alone.
The nights I had driven past the police station and sat in the parking lot, unable to go in because there was nothing new to report.
The nights I had held Jennifer's pillow and tried to remember exactly what she smelled like.
Dennis had known.
For three years.
He had sat across from me at the divorce lawyer's office knowing.
He had moved in with another woman knowing.
"Get out," I said.
"Carol—"
"I'm not asking you to leave forever.
I need you to go right now because I cannot look at you." I kept my voice steady.
Lily was sleeping.
I would not wake her.
"I need to think.
I need to make some calls.
And I need you away from this house until I decide what to do."
"Ray will know I talked to you."
"Then you should be worried about Ray, not about me." I stood up, Lily against my shoulder.
"Go home.
Don't call your brother.
Don't tell him anything.
And Dennis—"
He looked at me from the doorway.
"If you warn him," I said, "I will make sure every single thing you just told me is the first thing out of my mouth when I walk into that police station.
Do you understand me?"
He nodded once.
Then he left.
I locked the door.
May you like
I stood with my back against it and Lily sleeping on my chest and the USB drive in my pocket and I breathed.
Then I went to find my laptop.
