...And Never Let HerGo

apologize for setting me up to be robbed. He didn’t apologize for hiring somebody to kill me. And most of all,” she said, serious again, “he never apologized for saying I killed Anne Marie.”
    Looking at his letter, which was not unlike dozens of letters he had sent her, she could, at last, see the emptiness and the narcissism of the man she had once loved. She thought, she said, of Anne Marie Fahey, who had seen through Tom a lot sooner than she herself had. “He didn’t even admit he had killed Anne Marie. He just breezed forward as he always had. He thought the past didn’t matter, and all he had to do was write another letter.”
    Debby told me that she knew she was OK. She had no reason, ever, to write to Tom Capano again. But she worried about Father Roberto and she leaned across the table to be sure that he could hear her words despite his profound deafness.
    “Father, be careful,” Debby said. “Tom’s hurt everyone who’s ever tried to help him. I don’t want him to hurt you.”
    And looking into the old priest’s eyes, Debby saw that his years had brought wisdom. He had pleaded for Tom’s life, but he knew who and what Tom Capano was.
    W HEN I GO BACK to Wilmington, I see all the places where Anne Marie Fahey lived and worked. And even though I never knew her, her essence seems to linger in the city where she belonged. At O’Friel’s, where her banner still hangs, it seems almost possible that, if I only turn around fast enough, I can catch a glimpse of the young woman so many people loved.

Acknowledgments
    W RITING THE STORY of Anne Marie Fahey’s disappearance was, in many ways, the most difficult task of my career. Not only was it a tragic story; it was also complicated and convoluted, and it involved dozens of people with widely divergent opinions. While the actual writing is my task, I have been blessed with more help than I could have ever hoped for as I researched the facts. Since I am not “Jessica Fletcher” of the television series
Murder, She Wrote,
I don’t solve murders; I look for the best detectives and prosecutors in America and chronicle the way
they
solved them and brought justice to the victims. Even though they were probably tired of talking about it, Colm Connolly, Bob Donovan, Eric Alpert, Ron Poplos, and Ferris Wharton shared their memories of this remarkable marathon investigation with me. And I could see that it had meant far more to them than merely doing their jobs.
    To tell Anne Marie’s story, it was necessary to write about her family, too. My admiration for the Faheys knows no bounds and I want to thank Robert Fahey and Kathleen Fahey-Hosey particularly for their contributions to my book. I will never forget your sister.
    The personnel in the Daniel J. Herrmann Courthouse went out of their way to be nice to me. Thanks to Kathi Carlozzi, Dolores Bledsoe, Kathleen Feldman, Julie Chapin, Christine Mason, John White, Jeanne Cahill, Maureen McCaffery, Jean Preston, Frances White, Alexis Finlan, and Patrick O’Hare.
    Thanks to Kevin Freel and the gang at O’Friel’s Irish Pub, where everyone in Wilmington shows up sooner or later.
    Ever since I began to gather information on this case in 1996 I have counted on my East Coast correspondents. Of them all, Eleanor Repole was the most insistent that there would one day be an answer to the continuing mystery of what happened to Anne Marie Fahey and that
I
wouldwrite a book. You were right, Eleanor! The rest of the Delaware-Maryland-Pennsylvania–New Jersey contributors are: Mary Kemp, Valarie Metzelaar, Suzi Douglass, Dov O’Nuanain, Emily Hensel, Kurt Zaller, Laurene Eckbold, Kim Sawchuk, Terri Carpe, Loretta Lawrence, Jo Ellen Brackin, Michele Hamilton, Jane Sylvester Cox, Loretta Walsh, Peggy Carter, and Jo Ann Kirk. Some of you took photographs and some helped me understand the ambiance of the area while others helped me find my way around Wilmington, Newark, New Castle, Stone Harbor, and Cape May.
    When I wrote to Debby MacIntyre, I really didn’t expect her to agree to talk with me. But she did, and I do thank her for sharing her thoughts and memories about a very painful time in her life. Debby, I wish you happier days ahead.
    Thanks to Tom and Dee Bergstrom, Pete Letang, Doug Most, David Weiss, Jack and Gemma Buckley, and Maria Avon.
    Special thank yous go to Maureen and Phil Milford, who may know more about Wilmington than anyone and who shared that knowledge and read my manuscript to be sure I had