The Keeper Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: John Lescroart
up, do you notice anything suspicious?”
“Nothing. I know Katie’s car is in the garage, so I pull into the driveway. The light outside the front door is on, and so are some inside lights, like they were when I left. So Warren grabs his stuff and we go in the front door and first I think Katie must be in with the kids, so we wait a couple of minutes, staying quiet so we don’t wake anybody up, then I go into the kids’ room and she’s not there. It’s totally bizarre. I mean, you come home and your kids are sleeping and your wife is gone. It takes a while to kick in.”
“What did you do?”
“Whatever I could think of. I tried her cell. No answer. Tried again. Texted her. And the whole time I’m with Warren, just stumped. It doesn’t seem real. I mean, where is she? Is this some kind of sick joke? There’s no way she’s not there. Finally, I go upstairs. I go out in the backyard. I check the garage, and her car’s there. I leave Warren at the house in case the kids wake up, and I go knock on the neighbors’ doors, see if anybody’s seen anything. It starts to sink in. I mean, really.” He turned to face Glitsky. “You know?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“I didn’t kill her. I truly did not.”
After a pause, Glitsky asked, “You think she might have just up and left? I mean, left the kids upstairs sleeping?”
Hal drove in silence for most of a block before he shook his head. “Never,” he said. “Never ever ever ever.” Letting out a sigh, he went on. “Here’s the thing, Lieutenant. Having kids has been incredibly tough on her. At the same time, they’re the most important things in her life. That’s probably why raising them has been so hard. She cares so goddamn much about every part of it. If she was giving up so much of the rest of her life, she was going to be the absolute best at it. And they in turn were going to be perfect children. And then she felt guilty about how much she resented what they’d done to her life, how much of it they were taking up, and she hated herself for that. It was complicated, to say the least. But would she have walked out on them? Honestly, I can’t imagine it.”
“All right. What about you and her? Did you have problems?”
Hal shrugged. “Who doesn’t?”
“Maybe they were more serious than you thought.”
“No, I thought they were serious. We don’t have enough money, she’s too protective of the kids, I’m not sensitive enough with them, I yell, she doesn’t. She doesn’t like my job or the people I work with. We were getting pretty bad at just talking to each other, and that wasn’t good. So, yeah, some problems. But that’s the thing. We never had any kind of physical fight. I never hurt her. I never would hurt her. And really, what I said, she wouldn’t leave the kids.
“That was one of her main things. We couldn’t even get a babysitter and go out on a date. Even with Ruth living half a mile away, ready to watch them at any time. But Ruth wasn’t good enough. Nobody else was good enough. Bottom line, she didn’t leave the kids sleeping and walk out of the house under her own power. Somebody took her and forced her.” He looked over again at Glitsky. “You’re not saying much.”
“Nothing very comforting is springing to mind.”
8
T HE HOUSE WAS a small stand-alone two-story on Stanyan Street in the Upper Haight-Ashbury District. Hal parked in the driveway in front of the garage door, and he and Glitsky walked up the sidewalk to the stairway leading to the porch. The front door featured a stained-glass half-moon window that glared in the rays of the setting sun.
Chase knocked twice, lightly, at the door. Footsteps sounded from inside, and then the door swung open and they were looking at an attractive fortysomething woman holding a swaddled baby up against her shoulder. Accepting a quick buss from her stepson, Ruth Chase pulled the door all the way open, while from behind her, another child came running up:
“Nothing. I know Katie’s car is in the garage, so I pull into the driveway. The light outside the front door is on, and so are some inside lights, like they were when I left. So Warren grabs his stuff and we go in the front door and first I think Katie must be in with the kids, so we wait a couple of minutes, staying quiet so we don’t wake anybody up, then I go into the kids’ room and she’s not there. It’s totally bizarre. I mean, you come home and your kids are sleeping and your wife is gone. It takes a while to kick in.”
“What did you do?”
“Whatever I could think of. I tried her cell. No answer. Tried again. Texted her. And the whole time I’m with Warren, just stumped. It doesn’t seem real. I mean, where is she? Is this some kind of sick joke? There’s no way she’s not there. Finally, I go upstairs. I go out in the backyard. I check the garage, and her car’s there. I leave Warren at the house in case the kids wake up, and I go knock on the neighbors’ doors, see if anybody’s seen anything. It starts to sink in. I mean, really.” He turned to face Glitsky. “You know?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“I didn’t kill her. I truly did not.”
After a pause, Glitsky asked, “You think she might have just up and left? I mean, left the kids upstairs sleeping?”
Hal drove in silence for most of a block before he shook his head. “Never,” he said. “Never ever ever ever.” Letting out a sigh, he went on. “Here’s the thing, Lieutenant. Having kids has been incredibly tough on her. At the same time, they’re the most important things in her life. That’s probably why raising them has been so hard. She cares so goddamn much about every part of it. If she was giving up so much of the rest of her life, she was going to be the absolute best at it. And they in turn were going to be perfect children. And then she felt guilty about how much she resented what they’d done to her life, how much of it they were taking up, and she hated herself for that. It was complicated, to say the least. But would she have walked out on them? Honestly, I can’t imagine it.”
“All right. What about you and her? Did you have problems?”
Hal shrugged. “Who doesn’t?”
“Maybe they were more serious than you thought.”
“No, I thought they were serious. We don’t have enough money, she’s too protective of the kids, I’m not sensitive enough with them, I yell, she doesn’t. She doesn’t like my job or the people I work with. We were getting pretty bad at just talking to each other, and that wasn’t good. So, yeah, some problems. But that’s the thing. We never had any kind of physical fight. I never hurt her. I never would hurt her. And really, what I said, she wouldn’t leave the kids.
“That was one of her main things. We couldn’t even get a babysitter and go out on a date. Even with Ruth living half a mile away, ready to watch them at any time. But Ruth wasn’t good enough. Nobody else was good enough. Bottom line, she didn’t leave the kids sleeping and walk out of the house under her own power. Somebody took her and forced her.” He looked over again at Glitsky. “You’re not saying much.”
“Nothing very comforting is springing to mind.”
8
T HE HOUSE WAS a small stand-alone two-story on Stanyan Street in the Upper Haight-Ashbury District. Hal parked in the driveway in front of the garage door, and he and Glitsky walked up the sidewalk to the stairway leading to the porch. The front door featured a stained-glass half-moon window that glared in the rays of the setting sun.
Chase knocked twice, lightly, at the door. Footsteps sounded from inside, and then the door swung open and they were looking at an attractive fortysomething woman holding a swaddled baby up against her shoulder. Accepting a quick buss from her stepson, Ruth Chase pulled the door all the way open, while from behind her, another child came running up:
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