Survivor in Death (In Death 20)

Roxanne closed her eyes, drank deeply. “I don’t know if she’d have gone through with it, expect for the children. But once she did, it was like a miracle. She got herself back. And a few weeks later, she hired a lawyer. It was horrible, going through the trial, but she did it. She stood up to him, and she won.”

“She never intended to adhere to the conditions, to stay in New York, to allow him to see the kids again,” Peabody said.

“I don’t know. She never told me, never even hinted, but no, I think not. I think she must have planned to run all along. I don’t know how else she could have managed to get away from him.”

“There are undergrounds, for people in her situation.”

“Yes. I didn’t know then. When she vanished, I was sure he’d killed her and the kids. He’s not only capable, but he has the means, the training. Even when he took me, I thought—”

“He abducted you?”

“I was on the subway coming home, and I felt a little sting.” She cupped a hand around her biceps. “I felt sick and dizzy—and I don’t remember. I remember waking up, still sick. It was a room, a big room. No windows and just this ugly greenish light. He’d taken my clothes, all of my clothes.”

She pressed her lips together until they went white, reached blindly for her husband’s hand. “I was on the floor, my hands in restraints. And as I woke I was lifted up, by some sort of pulley, so that I was standing, had to stand on my toes. I was six months pregnant with Ben.”

Turnbill pressed his face into his wife’s shoulder, and Peabody could see now that he wept.

“He stepped in front of me. He had some sort of rod. He said, ‘Where is my wife?’ Even before I could answer, he pressed the tip of the rod here.” She laid a hand between her breasts. “Horrible pain, electrical shock. He told me, very calmly, that he had the rod on low, and would up the power every time I lied.

“I told him I knew he’d killed her, and he shocked me again. And again and again. I begged, I screamed, I pleaded, for myself, for my baby. He left me there, I don’t know how long, then he came back and did it all again.”

“He had her over twelve hours.” Turnbill sucked in breath, ignored the tears on his face. “The police—you can’t file a report, a missing person’s, that soon. I tried, but they said it wasn’t enough time, when I called. But it was a lifetime, for both of us. It was a miracle she didn’t miscarry. When he was done with her, he dumped her on the sidewalk in Times Square.”

“He believed me, finally. He must have known that I would’ve told him anything just to stop the pain. So he believed me, and before he knocked me out again, he told me if I went to the police—if I implicated him in any way—he would find me again. He would cut the brat out of my belly and slit its throat.”

“Roxanne.” Peabody spoke quietly. “I know this is very hard for you to speak about. But I need to know: Was Kirkendall alone when he held you?”

“No. He had that bastard with him. They were joined at the hip, claimed to be brothers. Isaac, Isaac Clinton. They were in the army together. He . . . he sat at some sort of console, controls. I don’t know. I think he was studying some kind of readout. They had some sort of hookup on me, like in a hospital. He sat, the whole time Roger tortured me, and he never spoke. Not one word. At least not when I was conscious.”

“Was there anyone else?”

“I’m not sure. Sometimes I thought I heard voices, maybe a woman’s. But I was out of my mind. I didn’t see anyone else, and I was unconscious when they took me out, when they tossed me onto the street.”

“You didn’t tell the police that you knew your abductors?”

“When I . . . when I came out of it, I was in the hospital. I was afraid for my life, for my baby’s life. So I said nothing. I told them I couldn’t remember anything.”

“What do you expect—” Turnbill began, but Peabody sent him a look of such sympathy his voice broke.

“I expect I would have done exactly the same,” she told him. “I expect my only clear thought would be to protect my child, my husband, myself.”

“We said nothing,” Roxanne continued, her voice a little stronger. “We left New York, we left our lives there, and came here. My parents live nearby. I realized she’d run—Dian—but I thought he’d find her. Kill her. Two years, I was sure she was gone. Then I answered the ’link. She’d blocked the video, but she said my name. She said my name and we’re safe. That’s all. She broke the connection. I get those calls every few months, sometimes more than a year between. That’s all she ever says.”

“When was the last time she contacted you?”

“Three weeks ago. I don’t know where she is, and if I did I wouldn’t tell you, for the same reasons I said nothing after the abduction. We’ve made a life here. We have two sons now, and they’re happy. This is their home. And still, we live in a prison because of this one man. I’m afraid every day, every single day.”

“We’re going to find him, Roxanne, and when we do, you won’t have to be afraid again. Tell me about the room where they held you,” Peabody said. “Every detail you remember.”

19

EVE WAS BACK AT HER DESK WHEN ROARKE CAME into her office. He immediately sniffed the air.

“You had a burger?”

“What? No. Baxter, Trueheart. Let cops loose near food, it’s a free-for-all. They’d want a place in the city, wouldn’t they?”

“Baxter and Trueheart? Is there something about their relationship I’ve missed?”