Page 5 of Finding Amanda

Chris cleared his throat, and Mark braced himself. “She was over the age of consent in Massa?—”

“She was fifteen!” Mark’s raised voice drove Chris’s eyebrows into full alert. Mark lowered his voice. “He was her shrink.”

“There’s no law against that. And you said she was sixteen the first time they?—”

“Barely. And he started seducing her long before she turned sixteen.”

“Probably knew the law.”

“It’s a ridiculous law. The idea that it’s legal for a grown man to seduce a sixteen-year-old girl.”

“I wish I had better news for you.”

Mark and Chris had discussed this ad nauseum. Mark had always assumed the age of consent was eighteen, but since Amanda had told him about her past, he’d discovered that in many states, it was as low as sixteen. Apparently, Massachusetts was one of those states.

“I talked to a detective on the BPD.” Chris seemed to weigh his words carefully. “He said the other law I told you about—that if the girl’s under eighteen and a virgin?—”

“Which she was.”

“That’s too hard to prove. And it was so long ago.”

Mark dropped his head into his hands, rubbed his temples, and tried to push away the rising despair. “So she has no legalrecourse.” Just like she’d told him. “There’s nothing she can do.”

“I’m sorry, pro.” Chris hadn’t used Mark’s nickname from the Marines in a long time. If the nickname—short forprophet—had been accurate, maybe Mark would have seen some of this coming.

Chris continued. “But if you’ll give me the psychiatrist’s name, maybe I can find out what he’s up to.”

“Amanda and I talked for a few minutes this morning.”

“That’s good, right? Talking?”

“She only called because I’m keeping the girls while she’s in New York, and she had some instructions for me. But I asked her if she’d reconsider publishing this thing. She won’t budge. Yet she’s afraid to look into him, afraid he’ll find out.”

“But if she publishes the memoir?—”

“I know. The whole thing’s driving me crazy. She swears he won’t hurt her, but at the same time, she’s scared he’s going to come after her. It doesn’t make any sense.”

With the tension between him and Amanda these days, going against her wishes by asking Chris to investigate the psychiatrist could well be the final nail in his marriage’s coffin. But Mark needed all the information he could get to keep her safe. He ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the ground. There really was no choice. He’d rather have her safe and alive, even if she hated him.

“Could you do some digging without her finding out?" Mark added, "Or Jamie? Not that I want you to hide anything from your wife, but if Amanda learns I went behind her back . . . That won’t help me save my marriage.”

“Email me everything you know about him, and I’ll see what I can learn.”

“Thanks.” If anyone could dig up information, it was Chris. “You know, the whole point of her thing this weekend is to find somebody who’ll publish the stupid memoir.”

“Jamie told me. Isn’t Amanda afraid of getting sued?”

“She doesn’t mention the guy’s name, but she does plan to let it slip after the book comes out.”

Chris cocked his head to the side. “Let it slip to whom?”

Mark shrugged. “She hasn’t let me in on that part of the plan yet. In any event, she doesn’t think he’d dare sue her.”

“So does that mean she has some kind of evidence against him?”

“Not really, but she was with him for a long time. She knows intimate stuff about him. Stuff that would prove their relationship was more than psychiatrist-patient.”

“What do you think? Aren’t you concerned?”

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