Blood Red Read online

  Dedication

  For the Criscione,

  Mackowiak and Gugino families,

  with cherished memories

  of late night laughs, group vacations,

  Elks Club Christmas parties,

  and softball fields—­

  and especially in loving memory of

  Janet, Bob and Louie,

  hanging out with my mom at the great

  Card Club Picnic in the sky.

  And for my guys:

  Mark, Morgan, and Brody, with love.

  Acknowledgments

  With gratitude to my editor, Lucia Macro; her assistant, Nicole Fischer; publisher Liate Stehlik; and the many ­people at Harper­Collins who played a role in bringing this book to print; to my literary agent, Laura Blake ­Peterson, and my film agent, Holly Frederick, at Curtis Brown, Limited; to Shawn Nicholls and Dana Trombley; to publicists Lauren Jackson, Pamela Jaffee, Danielle Bartlett, Jessie Edwards, and Caroline Perny; to Carol Fitzgerald and the gang at Bookreporter; to Peter Meluso; to Gae Polisner, Alison Gaylin, Kelly Kennedy Spagnola, Bob Belinke, and Hank Phillippi Ryan; to booksellers, librarians, and readers everywhere; to Mark Staub and Morgan Staub for the manuscript feedback and marketing support; and above all to Brody Staub for putting ­Mundy’s Landing on the map—­literally!

  Map

  Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Map

  Prologue

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 1

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 2

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 3

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 4

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 5

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 6

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 7

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 8

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune

  Chapter 9

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 10

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 11

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 12

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 13

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 14

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 15

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 16

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 17

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 18

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Chapter 19

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune

  Epilogue

  An Excerpt from Blue Moon

  Prologue

  About the Author

  By Wendy Corsi Staub

  Praise for the work of Wendy Corsi Staub

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Prologue

  March 22, 2015

  Erie, Pennsylvania

  She isn’t the first redhead to cross Casey’s path on this blustery Sunday evening. She’s not even the best fit.

  Earlier, there was a woman in the frozen foods aisle who had exactly the right look. Her hair was, if not naturally red, then at least dyed the appropriate cinnamon shade. It was pulled into a ponytail, but if the elastic band were to be yanked away, it would undoubtedly fall in waves to the middle of her back.

  Casey’s fingers clenched the metal hand bars of the crutches, itching to sink into that hair and pull hard so that her head jerked back and her neck arched, the creamy skin of her throat begging to be sliced open by a freshly honed blade. Her eyes were probably green, though she wasn’t standing close enough to be sure. Even if the pupils weren’t the distinct and exquisite blend of sage and olive that have always reminded Casey of military camouflage, the rest of her was dead-­on.

  She was petite, but not too skinny; fair-­skinned at first glance. If it were summer, the faint scatter of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheekbones would be plainly visible, but in winter, you’d have to look hard to see them.

  Yes, that first woman would have been perfect.

  But she had a baby strapped across her chest in a sling and a toddler on board her shopping cart heaped high with boxes of diapers and cereal and cartons of milk and juice.

  “Sierra, stop that,” she said patiently as the child in the cart threw a sippy cup onto the floor yet again, laughing gleefully each time the woman stooped to pick it up.

  Casey sensed her glancing over as if hoping to exchange a kids-­do-­the-­darnedest-­things eye roll.

  Sorry, sweetheart. You’re not going to get that from me.

  Casey swung the crutches into motion and hobbled around the corner, leaving her behind. Clearly, she had her hands full already.

  A little later, in the hardware section, there was another redhead. She was wandering up and down the aisles in search of something.

  “Excuse me,” she said to Casey the second time they passed each other, “have you seen rock salt anywhere?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “I bet they’re sold out, too. Every store is because of the ice storm, but someone told me they had it here. Oh well, thanks.”

  “No problem.” Casey watched her wander away.

  She had almost the right build, albeit a little too padded, but her coloring was off. A true ginger, she had wiry shoulder-­length hair and a ruddy, speckled complexion.

  Casey decided to keep her in mind and move on. If no one better came along, she would do in a pinch.

  Someone better has come along.

  This new woman is in the pharmacy department, dropping off a prescription.

  Feigning interest in an Ace bandage display, Casey watches her approach the counter. She’s alone, and she does have dark red hair, though that’s where the resemblance stops. She’s tall, curvy, and olive-­skinned with Mediterranean features. But there’s something about her: something about the way she walks, about the facial expression that radiates . . . goodness.

  But you’re not good, are you? And nobody knows that but you . . . and me.

  An old man with a walker is heading in the same direction. Many ­people would have skirted around him, but the redhead takes her time, allowing him to get to the counter first. She waits patiently while he searches his pockets for his prescription bottles, at least half a dozen of them.

  Seeing this, Casey nods with satisfaction.

  When it’s the woman’s turn to hand over the prescription, the pharmacist checks the shelves. “I have it in stock, but it’s going to be about fifteen minutes. Do you want to wait for it or come back tomorrow?”

  She’ll wait. She isn’t in a rush. Good.

  Casey leaves her behind in the pharmacy department, finds a cart, and maneuvers it awkwardly, tossing in enough items to fill several bags. The clock is ticking. There’s a line at the single checkout lane.

  Fifteen minutes . . . fifteen minutes . . .

  At last, the cashier rings up the items, asking, “Do you need a hand getting out to your car?”

  “No, thank you.” Casey balances on the crutches and hands over cash.

  “Are you sure?” According to her name tag, the
cashier’s name is Althea and she wants to know how she may help you.

  “Positive,” Casey says briskly, silently answering the name tag’s printed question: You may help me by moving a little faster, handing over my change, and then forgetting you ever saw me.

  The redhead from the pharmacy appears, heading toward the front of the store.

  Althea persists: “I can call someone to—­”

  “No, I’m fine.” The words come out too sharply, and Althea frowns. She painstakingly takes a ­couple of bills and coins from the drawer and starts to hand it over in an agonizingly unhurried manner.

  Casey grabs the cash, thrusting it into the back pocket that doesn’t contain a wad of dry cleaning plastic before wrestling the crutches and cart toward the door, a few steps behind the redhead.

  Outside, sleet falls from the night sky and a gusting wind propels a wayward store flyer across the parking lot. The woman hastily puts up the hood of her jacket, obliterating the view of that glorious red hair, which gives Casey momentary pause.

  Maybe she isn’t the right stand-­in.

  Stand-­in—­that’s how Casey has come to think of the women, like an almighty casting director who aims to spare the leading lady until opening night.

  I decide who gets to live or die on any given day. It’s all up to me. I control their fates.

  Maybe there’s someone else, someone better . . .

  No. It’s now or never. Casey has to leave town first thing tomorrow morning, and there will be no extending the stay and no coming back for her. Those are important rules, self-­imposed and designed to stay one step ahead of the authorities.

  One step? Try miles. They’re so far behind they have yet to connect any of the stand-­ins to each other.

  The new candidate pauses to zip her jacket, allowing Casey to catch up to and then pass her, making a show of clumsiness with the cart and crutches, stumbling and nearly falling.

  “Whoa—­do you need a hand?” she asks.

  Casey turns with a relieved smile. “That would be great. I’m still getting used to moving around on these things. Guess I didn’t realize it would be so hard to push a cart.”

  “Here, I’ve got it.” She grabs the handle. She’s not wearing any rings, and the skin on her hands looks soft and smooth. Casey imagines her rubbing almond-­scented lotion into them; imagines the fingers clutching and clawing, the nails broken, knuckles raw and bloodied.

  “Where’s your car?”

  “Over there.” Casey points out into a dark and distant corner of the lot before pushing the crutches into motion, leaning and hopping fluidly alongside the redhead and the cart.

  “The store was a lot more crowded when I got here,” Casey adds as they pass one empty space after another. “It took me forever to find what I needed and get out of there.”

  “I can imagine. You don’t have a disability parking sticker?”

  “No, not . . . yet. My doctor is working on it, though.”

  “What happened?” She gestures down at the blue mesh post-­op shoe strapped to Casey’s “bad” foot.

  “My walkway was a sheet of ice on Tuesday. I slipped and broke it.”

  “That stinks.” She nods, accepting the explanation. Just another casualty in a massive storm that brought down trees and power lines, caused a massive pileup on the interstate, and resulted in eleven lives lost.

  Soon to be an even dozen, Casey thinks smugly. But of course, she won’t be added to the official toll.

  It’ll be another of my little secrets.

  They’ve almost reached the van parked beneath a burned-­out lamppost.

  Well—­not burned out. The rubber tip of one of Casey’s crutches comes down on what looks like a sliver of ice, but of course it’s a shard of glass from the overhead bulb that had been easily shattered with a well-­aimed rock last night, long after the store had closed and the parking lot had emptied.

  Casey pulls out the keys, presses a button, and the van’s back hatch unlatches and rises slowly. No interior light though. It, too, has been disabled, long before last night.

  “Thanks so much,” Casey says as the woman parks the shopping cart near the rear bumper.

  “No problem.”

  She smiles and starts to turn away, never seeing the metal crutch arcing into the air before it slams into her head; never feeling the hand that roughly jerks down the hood of her jacket and briefly caresses her long red hair before yanking her into the van.

  From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives

  Opinion

  September 10, 2015

  Protect Our Precious Children

  To the Editor:

  When my husband and I relocated to the Hudson Valley after having been born and raised in Manhattan, we were looking for a safe, old-­fashioned small town where we could provide our treasured daughter with the wonderful childhood she deserves. We thought we had found it in Mundy’s Landing.

  Imagine our dismay when our Amanda came home from her first day of school yesterday and informed us that her fourth-­grade class would be making an “educational” field trip in December to the historical society. Aware that the society houses macabre relics connected to the infamous murders of 1916, I was outraged and immediately called her teacher to protest. Ms. Mundy seemed unperturbed and informed me that this year’s social studies curriculum encompasses New York State history, which to her way of thinking entails taking advantage of the fact that some of the most colorful chapters unfolded here in the Hudson Valley. She added that the trip is a long-­standing tradition.

  Just because something has always been done doesn’t make it right! I invite fellow parents of our village to join me in taking a stand to protest this inappropriate local rite of passage. Aren’t our children entitled to an anxiety-­free school experience without exposure to a disturbing tragedy under the guise of education?

  Bari Hicks

  Mundy Estates

  Chapter 1

  November 30, 2015

  Mundy’s Landing, New York

  Six minutes.

  That’s exactly how long it takes to drive between the elementary school where Rowan Mundy teaches and the riverside home where she lives with her family.

  The route meanders along the brick-­paved streets of The Heights, a sloping residential neighborhood. Its landmarks include her childhood home, the little white clapboard church where she was baptized and married, and Holy Angels Cemetery where her parents and father-­in-­law are buried alongside generations of local citizens. Among them: the trio of unidentified young girls whose murders during the village’s sestercentennial celebration a century ago sealed Mundy’s Landing’s notoriety.

  Most days, she drives on past all of those sites without taking note, her mind on whatever happened during the past few hours or on whatever needs to get done in the next few.

  Once in a while, though, she allows herself to get caught up in nostalgia for long-­gone loved ones and places that will never be the same.

  Today is one of those days. Christmas music plays on the car stereo, and the business district is decked out in wreaths and garlands that seem to have materialized overnight. She wistfully remembers cozy holidays when her parents were alive and her brothers and sister weren’t scattered from East Coast to West.

  Now her two oldest children are gone as well. Braden is a junior at Dartmouth; Katie a freshman at Cornell. Both were here for the long Thanksgiving weekend that just passed, but it was all too fleeting. They headed back yesterday in opposite directions.

  “I hate this letting go thing,” she told Jake, wiping tears as they stood on the front porch watching taillights disappear.

  “They’ll be home on break for a whole month before you know it, and you’ll be counting down the days until they go back to school in January.”

  “No I won’t.”

 
“Oh, right. I’m the one who does that.” Jake flashed his good-­natured grin and went back to eating a leftover turkey drumstick and watching the Giants win in overtime.

  Passing the Mundy’s Landing Historical Society, which occupies a grand turreted mansion facing the Village Common, Rowan is reminded of an unpleasant phone call she received this morning from the mother of one of her fourth-­grade students.

  Bari Hicks moved to town from New York City over the summer, and has proven to be one of those ­people who always manages to find something to complain about. This week, she was calling to once again express her displeasure with the upcoming class field trip to see the Colonial Christmas exhibit.

  The annual excursion has been a well-­loved school tradition since Rowan herself was in fourth grade. Back then, this turreted mansion was still a private residence and the historical society was housed in the basement of the local library.

  “I just don’t think a trip like this sounds appropriate for children this age,” Bari insisted back on curriculum night in September. Appropriate seems to be her favorite word. Rather, inappropriate. “My Amanda still isn’t used to her new bedroom and she has enough problems falling asleep at night without being dragged through a gory chamber of horrors that’s going to give her nightmares for years.”

  Although Rowan immediately grasped what she was referring to, she couldn’t resist feigning ignorance.