All Dressed in White (17 page)

But which one?

34

I
t was ten o’clock the next morning, and the cameras were ready to go in room 217 of the Grand Victoria. Jerry had chosen this room as the location to interview Sandra and Walter Pierce. He had learned that this had been their suite when they came to Palm Beach for their daughter’s wedding but ended up searching for her instead.

According to the plan Laurie had sketched out with Alex, Sandra would speak on camera first. Over the last five years, she had become the public face of the search for her daughter. She was the one who appeared on television regularly, pleading for the public’s assistance.

Noticeably nervous, her hands clenched, Sandra settled in on the love seat across from Alex’s chair. She was wearing a turquoise linen blouse and white slacks. It was the same outfit she’d been wearing when she found out her daughter had disappeared. She told Laurie she could never bring herself to get rid of it.

She took a deep breath and nodded toward Laurie, indicating she was ready.

Alex began by asking Sandra to describe the moment when she first realized Amanda was missing.

“I think I felt it in my bones the second I walked into the lobby. I saw Jeff, Meghan, and Kate gathered at the front desk, and I could tell something was wrong. And then Jeff said Amanda was gone, and
I felt the ground disappear beneath me. Everyone else was worried, too, but also certain there would be some good explanation in the long run. But not me. I just knew something was dreadfully wrong.”

“Was there a moment when those fears felt most confirmed?” Alex asked.

She shook her head. “That might be the worst part of not knowing what happened. I was numb, stunned, bewildered. But the moment when Amanda’s disappearance really kicked in was when the police asked for her laundry to give to their canine team. The idea of dogs tracking my baby’s scent . . .” Her voice trailed off.

“In the early days of the search,” Alex said, “many in the media referred to your daughter as the Runaway Bride—”

Sandra began shaking her head scornfully before Alex finished the sentence. “It was terrible. There were stand-up comedians guessing how long it would be before she showed up drunk on a dance floor in Miami. My daughter is not some flighty, whimsical girl in a wedding veil. She is tough and smart.”

“I notice you’re speaking of her in the present tense,” Alex said.

“I try to, yes. It’s my way of saying I won’t stop fighting for her, ever. She’s out there—somewhere, Amanda Pierce is out there, whether alive or not—and she wants to be found. I’m as certain of that as anything I’ve known in my entire life.”

Alex looked to Laurie to see if she had any notes to give him before they moved on. She did not.

“Sandra,” Alex said, “if it’s okay with you, we have asked Amanda’s father to join you in the discussion.”

Less than a minute later Walter entered the room, clearly uncomfortable, and sat next to Sandra on the love seat. Laurie noticed that even though there was plenty of room for them both to sit comfortably, Walter chose a spot close to his ex-wife. She warmly gave his knee a gentle pat.

Alex began, “Walter, many of our viewers will recognize Sandra.
Initially, you were in front of the cameras, too. But after about three months, from what I can tell, Sandra seemed to take the lead in the continuing search efforts. Are you as convinced as she is that something terrible happened to your daughter the night she disappeared?”

Walter looked down at his lap, then to Sandra. “I’ve never been convinced of anything other than my love for Amanda and the rest of my family. I trust Sandra when she says she has a mother’s connection to Amanda. That she knows in her blood and her bones that Amanda crossed paths with evil that night. I don’t purport to have that kind of a sixth sense, but they were always connected that way. Back before the days of crib monitors, Sandra would even wake up in the middle of the night only to realize that Amanda had done the same. Remember that?”

Sandra nodded and said softly, “I do.”

Alex continued, “My understanding is that Amanda, by all accounts, was already a tremendous asset to Ladyform, your family business.”

“She was indeed,” Walter confirmed proudly.

“Some have speculated that the expectation to carry on your legacy may have been a burden on the next generation of Pierces. She was only twenty-seven years old, and her career was already mapped out. Now she was about to get married. Is it possible the pressure was too much? Do you think Amanda simply escaped and started a new life?”

“When it comes to what happened to Amanda, I’m guessing just as much as anyone watching your show. But I want to say this, just in case there’s any chance my daughter is watching. Please come home, sweetie. Even just a phone call to your mother, so she knows you’re okay. And if someone out there has our daughter, please, we will do anything, pay anything, to get her back.”

Walter was on the verge of tears, and Laurie could tell that Alex
wished he didn’t have to move on to the next question. Laurie had to hope that all of this would lead to something good.

“I’m sorry to bring this up,” Alex said, “but since our show is about crime and the toll it takes on loved ones, it’s worth mentioning that, after thirty-two years of marriage, the two of you divorced a little more than two years ago. Did Amanda’s disappearance contribute to the end of your marriage?”

Walter turned to Sandra. “Do you want to take that one?” he asked with a nervous smile.

“Walter and I never thought we’d be one of those divorced couples. We didn’t believe in it. People used to ask us the secret to a long marriage and Walter would say, ‘Neither one of us leaves!’ But, yes, Amanda’s disappearance changed us, individually and as a partnership. We were on separate paths. Walter wanted—no,
needed
—to get back to our normal life. He had his company to run and we had two other children, plus our grandchildren, whose lives needed to continue. I try to move on, for the sake of Henry and Charlotte, but I realize I’ve stayed frozen. I’ll be in limbo until I find Amanda. That put an enormous strain on our marriage.”

“Walter,” Alex said quietly, “is there anything you want to add to that?”

“If you’re lucky enough to live to our age, inevitably you’ll have some regrets. My biggest one is making Sandra feel the way she just described. But the truth is my life never went back to normal, and it never moved on. In my own way, I’m still in limbo, too, Sandra, but alone.” He looked at his ex-wife. “Because here’s the thing you never realized: I wasn’t the tough one. You were. I couldn’t walk with you on your journey to find Amanda because I wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t want to find out she was dead, and I couldn’t take the thought of her resenting me so much that she’d leave the whole family behind. So I hid myself away in my work and pretended that
we had to move on. But I’m not hiding anymore. I’m here with you and Henry and Charlotte. And I’m ready for the truth, no matter where it leads us.”

Laurie gave a hand signal to the cameraman to stop shooting and let the room become quiet. She turned away as she saw Walter wipe a tear from his face. The Pierces deserved some semblance of privacy. It was a moment of silence for Amanda.

35

W
hen Laurie got back to her room, her father was sitting on the couch watching cable news. He hit the mute button on the remote control, and she kicked off her shoes and settled on the couch next to him.

“That was pretty heavy,” she sighed.

She and Leo had adjoining rooms, each with two beds. The door was open, and she could see Timmy at his Wii in Grandpa’s room.

Having watched Sandra and Walter’s raw emotions about their missing daughter, she could only think again how blessed she was that her father was always there for them.

Leo put his arm around her. “I’m sure it was tough, but I think I have some good news for you. Your new lead, the man in the surveillance footage, may have paid off, and it’s pretty interesting.”

•  •  •

As Laurie waited, Leo got up and walked over to the desk in the corner of the room.

“Remember I mentioned that the photographer’s intern only had one conviction?” he asked.

“Sure. Something about violating a court order? What did he do? Fail to show up for a traffic ticket?”

“That wouldn’t be nearly as intriguing as this.” Leo’s expression
was serious as he handed her a manila file folder. “Start with the first document. That’s the court order in question.”

The header on the first page read
Order of Protection
. It was filed by Patricia Ann Munson and Lucas Munson, Petitioners, against Jeremy Carroll, Respondent. In the first paragraph, the court concluded that Carroll had caused the petitioners to suffer “substantial emotional damage or distress” by harassing them repeatedly with “no legitimate purpose.” The court order prohibited Carroll from being within 840 feet of the Munsons or intentionally contacting or communicating with them by any method whatsoever.

“This is a stalking order,” Laurie said, continuing to flip through the pages. “Why eight hundred and forty feet? That seems like a strange number.”

“The Munsons were his next-door neighbors. My guess is that was the number of feet from his front door to their property. The court can’t force him to move from his home.”

The next document was an affidavit from Lucas Munson, swearing to the allegations that formed the basis of the stalking order.

“Whoa,” Laurie said, “he sounds like a complete nut. No wonder some of the photography clients complained he couldn’t respect boundaries.”

She read quickly through the court papers. According to the Munsons, who were in their sixties, they initially appreciated Carroll’s attempts to be neighborly. He would help them carry in the groceries and eventually began bringing them fresh vegetables from the farmers’ market on weekends. But then they noticed his curtains moving when they were mowing the lawn or sitting on their back deck enjoying a cocktail at sunset. Twice, Lucas was certain that he had seen a camera lens between the parted drapes.

When Lucas asked Jeremy whether he had been photographing them, he went inside and returned to the front porch with an album full of pictures. Patricia pruning her rosebushes. Lucas firing up
the barbecue in the backyard. The two of them watching television on the sofa, visible through the living room window. Lucas was so stunned, he didn’t know what to say and just left. Jeremy apparently took the lack of a negative response as approval and began leaving photographs of them on their front porch for them every Saturday, a small collection of what they thought were private moments. The final straw that led the Munsons to seek the protective order was when Jeremy started calling the Munsons “Ma” and “Pa.” When Lucas mustered up the courage to ask why, Jeremy’s only explanation was “I’m estranged from my biological parents.”

When she was finished reading, Leo handed Laurie a printout of a very different kind of photograph, a mug shot. The man was holding a sign that read “Jeremy Carroll,” followed by his date of birth and the date of his arrest, five months ago. Laurie could tell from the height chart on the wall behind the suspect that Jeremy was five-foot-ten. He had thinning brown hair and pale, chubby cheeks. His shoulders slumped.

“This could definitely be the man I saw turn and follow Amanda on the surveillance tape,” she said excitedly. “I see he was convicted of violating the order.”

“It was a relatively minor violation. He left a framed photograph of a roseate spoonbill in their mailbox, along with a note apologizing for what he called a ‘misunderstanding.’ ”

“A
roseate spoonbill
? What the heck is
that
?”

“A bird. Sort of looks like a pelican. They’re cute.”

“I won’t ask how you knew that.”

“Timmy Googled it.”

“You don’t even want to know the things I was imagining. A picture of a live bird? That doesn’t sound so creepy.”

“Not in isolation. That’s the whole point of stalking laws. Context matters. It really scared the Munsons. The judge wasn’t cutting Jeremy any slack. He found him in contempt and sentenced him to
two years of probation with an extension of the stalking order. He warned him that one more violation and he’d be in jail.”