Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,23

house. It all happened so quickly, during the culmination of the filming of the very first Under Suspicion special. The man had grabbed Timmy with one hand and pointed a gun at his head with the other. The man then laughed as he let go of Timmy and watched him run to Laurie, who was rushing to meet him. The man raised his weapon. The sound of gunfire exploded, and then a red stain blossomed across the man’s shirt as he fell to the ground.

“Dad, are we absolutely positive that the man the police killed was actually Blue Eyes?”

“A hundred percent,” he said. “That man spent half his life blaming me for every problem he had in life, all because of a decision I made as a young patrolman. Blue Eyes is dead, Laurie. That nightmare finally ended two years ago. He has nothing to do with this.”

Alex and her father exchanged a look that was unmistakable. They were certain she was on the wrong track, but had no idea how to change her mind.

“Dad, I know I don’t have your kind of police experience, but please don’t look at Alex like I need to be saved from my own ideas. If you were working this case as a detective, and I was your partner, I think you’d hear my theory out. It’s based on facts.”

“Fair enough. But my entire reason for bringing up Blue Eyes in the first place was to suggest that maybe this whole episode has been ‘triggering,’ as they say these days. You were never one to put a label on what you went through, but you can’t survive something like Greg’s murder and the threats that followed without experiencing a bit of PTSD.”

She had met so many crime victims who did in fact suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, but she certainly didn’t think of herself as having it. “Maybe someone close to Blue Eyes is still in the picture?” she said, still bouncing around ideas aloud. When she analyzed a story idea, it was always how she did her best work. “They could be trying to finish what he started.”

“Laurie, there was no one close to Blue Eyes. Not a single person cared about him. That was his whole motive for going after you and Timmy—to get to me. He wanted me to lose everything and everyone I loved. He was determined to see me as isolated and lonely as he was.”

Alex gave her shoulder a small squeeze. “It makes perfect sense that you would connect Johnny’s disappearance to those threats against you and Timmy, but your son is safe. Blue Eyes is gone.”

“Fine, so it’s not Blue Eyes. I was simply saying that we should be taking a look at people who have threatened me.” She was already composing a text to Jerry, asking him to pull up the file they kept of worrisome communications. With Jerry’s trademark humor, he had labeled the file Weirdos.

“Does anyone specific come to mind?” Alex asked.

“There’s a woman who has long been suspected of hurting her stepson. The boy has been missing for more than seven years, but the police are convinced that the stepmother killed him and disposed of his body so she could go on with her life without raising another woman’s child. The father very much wants me to profile the case on Under Suspicion, but the stepmother won’t agree. The last time I approached her, she said maybe I should worry more about my own son instead of someone else’s. It sent a chill up my spine, and I made a vow to myself that I’d never contact her again.”

“And how long ago was that?” Alex asked.

“About three months ago.”

“And have you kept your vow?”

She had. Alex had a point. The woman’s veiled threat had worked. There was no reason for her to target Laurie and Timmy now. “Plus, she lives on the West Coast. Okay, so she’s not the most likely suspect. We do get a lot of creepy messages, though.”

“An email or a tweet is one thing,” Alex said. “Going from that to kidnapping a child is a big leap.”

“I’ve never seen you push back on my ideas this way, Alex. I’m only trying to help.”

He took a deep breath before answering. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just know you so well. We’re all helping, but you try so hard to fix everyone else’s problems, even at your own expense. This wasn’t your fault, Laurie. Whatever happened, it’s not because of anything