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Hours later, Holly stared at the map of Seattle and its surrounding area. It covered half the wall of her spare bedroom, marked with fifty-fiveX’swhere young women’s bodies had been discovered, all of them strangled in the last five years. And all their cases were still unsolved. Beside theX’s, she’d tacked notecards bearing the women’s names, ages, and details of their deaths. Holly crossed her arms and stepped back, thinking about what Andy had said about the man who’d been brought in for questioning. He had an alibi for when the first three Green River Killer victims were killed, as well as for when a recent Green River Killer victim went missing over Thanksgiving weekend.
She untacked the notecards and stuck them into two rows on the adjacent wall. Halfway through, she turned to the desk and rifled through the mess of typed pages to find a blank paper. Losing patience, she flipped over a typed page. Swiping the pen from above her ear, she scribbled a list.
SOME RUNAWAYS, SOME NOT
TEENAGERS - EARLY TWENTIES
LAST SEEN AROUND BUS STOPS
KILLED WHERE BODY FOUND (NOT DUMPED)
ALL MANUALLY STRANGLED
1980 – PRESENT
MOSTLY FOUND WITHIN SEATTLE CITY LIMITS
She tacked the list to the wall beside the first row of names on the left before making another.
RUNAWAYS, PROSTITUTES, OR LIVING ON THE STREETS
Holly paused, biting her lip before adding
–BUT NOT ALL
MOVED AND DUMPED POSTMORTEM
STRANGLED WITH BOTH LIGATURES AND MANUALLY
1982-PRESENT
MOSTLY FOUND OUTSIDE SEATTLE CITY LIMITS
Holly stepped back. She’d tacked Meg’s name under the first list. Meg was last seen getting into a blue car at a bus stop. Her body had been found just south of Seattle city limits, but only three miles away from Sally’s body. There were two victims left on the map that didn’t completely fit on either list. One was Sally Hickman, and the other was Brooke Holtman. Both fit the criteria of Holly’s first list except that they were prostitutes. And they each had shared something in common with Meg: Brooke Holtman had been last seen near a Seattle bus stop, and Sally had been last seen getting into a blue car.
Holly tacked their names under the first list, addingAND SOME PROSTITUTES-BUT NOT MOST.She crossed offBUSSTOPand frowned.This didn’t make sense. She rubbed her eyes. Her lists were blurring together.
The phone rang in the kitchen. Still holding the pen, Holly hurried across the small apartment to answer it, noting the city outside the apartment window had gone dark.It has to be Jared.She hadn’t heard from him since he’d stormed out of the Major Crimes Unit that afternoon.
“Holly, it’s Mack.”
Her lungs deflated at the sound of her boss’s gruff voice.
“I don’t see your piece on my desk.”
Holly’s hand flew to her forehand. Her gaze darted to the binder containing a stack of articles and handwritten notes on the kitchen table for her true crime book about Cassidy Ray. Beside it was a pile of unopened write-ins she’d received that morning in her mailbox at theTribune. She hadn’t thought about either since getting home from work.
“I’m so sorry. I…” After the news from her literary agent and learning King County Major Crimes had brought in a Green River Killer suspect, she’d completely forgotten about her assignment to write a piece on the rising crime in Seattle’s Chinatown district. She glanced at her watch and swore under her breath. Two hours till deadline. She hadn’t even started it yet.
“I’m just putting the finishing touches on it.” She had, at least, spent most of yesterday interviewing business owners in Chinatown about the increase in break-ins and muggings the neighborhood was experiencing. Now, she just needed to compile all her notes into a succinct—and compelling—article. “Don’t worry, I’ll have it on your desk by ten.” She stared at the open door to the spare bedroom she used as an office. With the time it would take to drive downtown to theTribune, it was going to be close.
TheTribune’slead editor breathed into the phone. “Okay, good work. But next time I want it turned in earlier. Don’t let all that success of yours go to your head. You still have a job to do.”
“Understood,” she said as the line went dead.
She sighed and trudged back into her office, preparing to crunch out a story over the next hour and a half before driving back downtown to turn it in. Before sitting at her typewriter, Holly gravitated toward the two victim lists on the wall. She tapped her fingers against her thigh before moving Sally Hickman, Brooke Holtman, and Meg to their own list. She also added Jennifer Duran, last seen at a Seattle bus stop, even though she was still missing.
She stared at the date Sally Hickman went missing, willing her mind to piece the puzzle together. Her gaze traveled to the second row of victims. Sally Hickman had been last seen on Christmas Day, a day after theTribune’sprimary crime reporter ran a lengthy piece on the Green River Killer on Christmas Eve, highlighting the most recently discovered victim, found on December 19th.