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Murphy.
 Recognize the fellow in the background of the second one, Mr. DeMarco? Barrott asked.
 Of course that s me in the background, Nick snapped.  I remember that day. I was meeting a real
estate agent for lunch. I m interested in buying property in the area near where the old railroad tracks are
being developed. Once that development starts, the surrounding property will go sky-high. I saw all the
paparazzi in action and looked over to see what was going on. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were there.
 Where were you having lunch?
 At Casa Florenza, right around the corner from where the picture was taken.
 Then you claim you didn t see Leesey Andrews being photographed by her friend?
 I not only claim, Ididn t see her, Nick replied heatedly.
 Do you have the bill for that luncheon? Gaylor asked in a tone that suggested he would be surprised to
see one.
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 No, I do not. The real estate broker is trying to sell me property, so he paid. If he succeeds, his
commission will keep putting gas in his car for a long time.
 How long will you be able to continue putting gas in allyour cars, Mr. DeMarco? Ahearn asked.
 You re stretched pretty thin financially, aren t you?
 What do Mr. DeMarco s business affairs have to do with our presence here? Paul Murphy
demanded.
 Maybe nothing at all, Ahearn replied.  And maybe a great deal. If the state decides to cancel the
liquor license of the Woodshed, I don t think your client will make a living selling Popsicles there. And
trust me, wewill find a reason to have it canceled if we even suspect that Mr. DeMarco is not being
totally candid with us.
Ahearn turned to Nick.  Do you have the unlisted phone number of the MacKenzie home on Sutton
Place?
 Unless it s been changed, I m sure I have it somewhere. I remember phoning Mrs. MacKenzie after
her husband died on 9/11.
 Do you think Leesey Andrews is dead?
 I certainly hope not. That would be a tragedy.
 Do you know if she s still alive?
 What kind of unbelievable question is that?
 We re out of here, Nick. Murphy was on his feet.
Ahearn ignored him.  Mr. DeMarco, do you own a cell phone that is not registered to you, one that uses
a prepaid card, the kind gamblers and wiseguys use?
 That s it! We re not going to listen to any more of your cheap insinuations, Murphy shouted.
It was as though Larry Ahearn had not heard him.  And does your troubled chauffeur have a similar
phone, Mr. DeMarco? And if he does, did he respond to your frantic call to get Leesey out of your loft
apartment? And if she wasn t already dead, did he decide to keep her around for his own amusement?
And if that was the case, has he kept you informed as to her welfare?
Nick, his fists clenched, was almost at the door when he heard Ahearn s final question.  Or are you
protecting your college roommate Mack MacKenzie, or perhaps helping his pretty sister to protect him?
You had a little tête-a-tête with her last Friday night, didn t you?
39
After I left Lucas Reeves, I met Elliott at Thurston Carver s office in the MetLife Building. Instantly, I
realized that I had seen Carver around court while I was clerking for Judge Huot. He was a big man with
a mane of hair that I guessed to be prematurely white I doubted that he was more than fifty-five years
old.
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I felt somewhat fortified by my meeting with Reeves, and told Carver the theory he had suggested to me.
Mack was missing. That he called every year on Mother s Day was public knowledge, and whoever had
kidnapped Leesey Andrews was trying to throw suspicion on Mack by the phone calls he was making.
Elliott, who looked tired and deeply concerned, seized on that possibility. He told me that last night my
mother was so upset when they reached his apartment she broke down, crying and sobbing, to the extent
that he was desperately worried about her now.  I realized last night that Olivia has always been sure that
something must have snapped in Mack s mind to make him disappear like that, he explained to Carver.
 Now she believes that if heis guilty of these disappearances, he may be completely insane and might end
up being shot when the police find him.
 And she blames me, I said.
 Carolyn, she has to blamesomeone . That won t last. You know it won t.
You ve been my rod and staff through all this. That s what Mom had said to me last week, after Mack s
call on the morning of Mother s Day. I still had every faith that at some point she would understand why I
had tried to bring Mack s situation to some kind of closure. In the meantime, she had Elliott to help her,
and I realized how deeply grateful I was to him for being there for her now. No matter how this turned
out, at that moment, sitting in the elegantly paneled office of Thurston Carver, I surrendered any jealousy
I felt at the probability that Elliott would replace my father in my mother s life.
Later that day I called Bruce Galbraith. After I had waited for what seemed an eternity, he got on the
phone and grudgingly agreed to meet me in his office on Friday afternoon.  I must tell you, Carolyn, he
said,  I have neither seen nor heard from Mack since the day he disappeared. I can t imagine what you
hope to learn from me. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]