31
prison. The uproar provoked by Crain’s flight didn’t let up for 32
months. In addition to the Tennessee murder, he was a suspect in 33
other crimes. Two brutal Texas rape-murders. Another in south 34
Florida. Fueling the fear were experts’ predictions that Crain 35 S
would kill again. Sexual psychopaths like Crain, they said, didn’t 36 R
simply stop.
4 6
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 47
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
For months, then years, the nation waited for Crain to pop up 1
somewhere. But as time passed, it seemed more and more likely 2
that one of three things must have happened. Lester Crain could 3
have died or become incapacitated. The third possibility was that 4
he’d managed to flee the country. Crain had spent several dis-5
solute years prowling the Texas border, living with his alcoholic 6
father outside El Paso. The hardest part would have been making 7
it from Tennessee to Texas. But if Crain had somehow reached 8
the border, he could easily have slipped across.
9
All of this was far in the past, seven, eight years ago. But if 10
Crain was alive, he had to be somewhere. Could he be here, in 11
Merritt?
12
Abruptly, Callie stood up, adrenaline flooding her body. She 13
had an overpowering urge to speak to another person. Rick was 14
probably asleep by now, but she couldn’t stop herself. Her hand 15
curled around the phone as she punched in his number. After four 16
rings, the machine picked up, and she heard his recorded voice.
17
She almost left a message, then changed her mind and hung up.
18
The box was high on a closet shelf, behind a row of shoes.
19
She climbed onto a step stool and reached up to take it down.
20
Sitting on the bedroom floor, she placed the box between her 21
legs. It looked like one of the dozens of boxes she kept in her 22
Windham office, a simple white container for the storage of file 23
folders. For a moment she stared at the cardboard lid, covered 24
with a layer of dust. She thought fleetingly of Pandora and that 25
other mythical box. But keeping the lid on her own box wouldn’t 26
keep her safe. The thing she feared was out there somewhere. It 27
couldn’t be contained.
28
The contents of the box were tightly packed: File folders.
29
Notebooks. Snapshots. She carefully pulled out items and placed 30
them on the floor. A file of yellowed newspaper clippings. A 31
small blue spiral notebook. Her stomach clenched at the sight of 32
letters in a strong sloping hand. She sat for a moment staring, al-33
most afraid to touch them.
34
The box was almost empty when she found what she was lookS 35
ing for. As she pulled out the book, she averted her eyes from the R 36
4 7
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 48
A M Y G U T M A N
1
picture on the cover. She didn’t want to see his face. Not now. At 2
least not yet. She saw that the binding was coming loose, shrink-3
ing away from the pages. Careful not to loosen them, she flipped 4
to the title page.
5
6
The Vanishing Man: The Secret Life of Serial Sex Killer Steven Gage 7
By Diane Massey
8
9
Slowly, she turned to the first chapter, the familiar opening 10
lines.
11
12
In the months before his arrest in Nashville, Tennessee, Steven Gage 13
roamed the country. There was something frenzied in his travels, which 14
often took place at a moment’s notice for no apparent reason. From 15
Boston to San Francisco to Miami, then back to Boston again. From 16
Nashville to Phoenix to Burlington. From Charlotte to Indianapolis.
17
When the evidence was pieced together — the gasoline receipts purchased 18
with stolen credit cards, the plane tickets bought under assumed names —
19
it would turn out that he covered more than 30,000 miles in those final 20
desperate six months. And everywhere he went, women died . . .
21
22
Minutes passed. Callie read on, her eyes skating over the
prison. The uproar provoked by Crain’s flight didn’t let up for 32
months. In addition to the Tennessee murder, he was a suspect in 33
other crimes. Two brutal Texas rape-murders. Another in south 34
Florida. Fueling the fear were experts’ predictions that Crain 35 S
would kill again. Sexual psychopaths like Crain, they said, didn’t 36 R
simply stop.
4 6
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 47
T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y
For months, then years, the nation waited for Crain to pop up 1
somewhere. But as time passed, it seemed more and more likely 2
that one of three things must have happened. Lester Crain could 3
have died or become incapacitated. The third possibility was that 4
he’d managed to flee the country. Crain had spent several dis-5
solute years prowling the Texas border, living with his alcoholic 6
father outside El Paso. The hardest part would have been making 7
it from Tennessee to Texas. But if Crain had somehow reached 8
the border, he could easily have slipped across.
9
All of this was far in the past, seven, eight years ago. But if 10
Crain was alive, he had to be somewhere. Could he be here, in 11
Merritt?
12
Abruptly, Callie stood up, adrenaline flooding her body. She 13
had an overpowering urge to speak to another person. Rick was 14
probably asleep by now, but she couldn’t stop herself. Her hand 15
curled around the phone as she punched in his number. After four 16
rings, the machine picked up, and she heard his recorded voice.
17
She almost left a message, then changed her mind and hung up.
18
The box was high on a closet shelf, behind a row of shoes.
19
She climbed onto a step stool and reached up to take it down.
20
Sitting on the bedroom floor, she placed the box between her 21
legs. It looked like one of the dozens of boxes she kept in her 22
Windham office, a simple white container for the storage of file 23
folders. For a moment she stared at the cardboard lid, covered 24
with a layer of dust. She thought fleetingly of Pandora and that 25
other mythical box. But keeping the lid on her own box wouldn’t 26
keep her safe. The thing she feared was out there somewhere. It 27
couldn’t be contained.
28
The contents of the box were tightly packed: File folders.
29
Notebooks. Snapshots. She carefully pulled out items and placed 30
them on the floor. A file of yellowed newspaper clippings. A 31
small blue spiral notebook. Her stomach clenched at the sight of 32
letters in a strong sloping hand. She sat for a moment staring, al-33
most afraid to touch them.
34
The box was almost empty when she found what she was lookS 35
ing for. As she pulled out the book, she averted her eyes from the R 36
4 7
2nd PASS PAGES
13713_01_i-vi_001-344_r4jn.qxd 4/21/03 8:03 AM Page 48
A M Y G U T M A N
1
picture on the cover. She didn’t want to see his face. Not now. At 2
least not yet. She saw that the binding was coming loose, shrink-3
ing away from the pages. Careful not to loosen them, she flipped 4
to the title page.
5
6
The Vanishing Man: The Secret Life of Serial Sex Killer Steven Gage 7
By Diane Massey
8
9
Slowly, she turned to the first chapter, the familiar opening 10
lines.
11
12
In the months before his arrest in Nashville, Tennessee, Steven Gage 13
roamed the country. There was something frenzied in his travels, which 14
often took place at a moment’s notice for no apparent reason. From 15
Boston to San Francisco to Miami, then back to Boston again. From 16
Nashville to Phoenix to Burlington. From Charlotte to Indianapolis.
17
When the evidence was pieced together — the gasoline receipts purchased 18
with stolen credit cards, the plane tickets bought under assumed names —
19
it would turn out that he covered more than 30,000 miles in those final 20
desperate six months. And everywhere he went, women died . . .
21
22
Minutes passed. Callie read on, her eyes skating over the
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