Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,51

Attorney’s Office, and the Department of Corrections. Now that the prison warden was signing off, she finally had all of the pieces in place.

So far, only the NYPD commissioner and Detective Langland knew they suspected Gunther’s involvement in Johnny’s abduction. They didn’t want to run the risk of anyone tipping off Tracy Mahoney to their suspicions and depriving them of the element of surprise.

She flashed a thumbs-up to Leo as she hung up. “The warden is on board. We can do it tomorrow. We’re scheduled for two o’clock.” Gunther was serving his sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. It was a five-hour drive from the city. “It’s rushed, but I’ve got the whole team ready. As I suspected, the warden’s only letting us bring one camera, so it will be a pretty basic setup.”

She and the entire team had been at the office all weekend.

“It’ll be fine,” Leo assured her. “I know you’re the one calling the shots—but Ryan knows the case cold now, as well as I do, in fact.”

They had been walking a fine line to keep her production’s decision-making separate from her father’s role in law enforcement. Laurie knew from past experience that if her show did manage to obtain any incriminating evidence against Gunther, his lawyer would argue that the show had been acting as a “stalking horse” for the police. That said, she and Ryan had already conducted a thorough informational interview with Leo as the investigating detective. Laurie made certain they could show a pattern of following the same procedures in other cases they had featured. In short, it was permissible for them to communicate with Leo as a witness to the story they were covering, but they could not let him dictate the course of their investigation or reporting.

She glanced at her watch. It was already 6:45. “Shoot. I better change before Alex picks me up.” She was wearing the jeans and Coldplay concert T-shirt she’d donned only a couple of hours ago to watch TV. “Maybe I should cancel—”

“Don’t you dare,” Leo scolded. “At the very least, you two deserve to have a little time alone tonight. I’ll stay here with Timmy as planned and then come back whenever you need me tomorrow so you can take off bright and early in the morning.”

Alex had called earlier, announcing that he had a surprise and would be picking her up at seven o’clock “for a date.”

“Okay, but you have to promise that you’re going to make time to see Maureen soon.” Her father had met Chief Judge Maureen Russell at Alex’s induction three months earlier. He had been tight-lipped about their ongoing interactions, but she could tell from the way he smiled as he read his texts on occasion that he enjoyed her company. “I’m not the only one with a love life.”

“And I have no plans to discuss any of that with my daughter. Now, really, there’s nothing more you can do before you get in the room with Gunther—for either your show or for Johnny. Get out of here.”

Knowing her father was right, Laurie made her way to her bedroom closet and selected a black cap-sleeved A-line dress for the evening. She’d dress it up with strappy sandals and a statement necklace. She tried not to look at the white garment bag consuming a good percentage of her hanging space as she closed the closet doors.

In it was her wedding gown. In another world—one where Johnny had stayed safely on the beach with the rest of the family—today was the day she was supposed to have worn it. As she tinkered with the clasp of her necklace in the mirror, she realized that the cap sleeves, V-neckline, and princess waist of her outfit all matched the unworn dress left hanging in the closet and wondered if that was why she had opted for it. Her necklace in place, she took one last look in the mirror and wiped away a tear.

* * *

When she stepped outside, Ramon was waiting and opened the back door of Alex’s black Mercedes. Alex was seated inside, wearing a tuxedo.

“You look amazing,” he said.

“Seriously? I changed out of a T-shirt, but I had no idea this was black tie. I have such an early morning, Alex.”

He grabbed her hand and clasped it. “For a few minutes, let’s pretend the world is normal.”

Normal. It had only been five days, but she couldn’t remember what normal felt like. The unimaginable had happened, and now, day after