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Holly whirled around at Andy’s statement, jarred by the change of subject. She studied Andy’s expression and sensed a fatherly protectiveness in eyes. “What do you mean?”
“He can be a real loose cannon sometimes,” Andy said. “I’ve seen him lose his temper more than once, and it’s not pretty.”
Holly frowned, unsure of how to respond. Jared’s words from earlier still stung, and she was considering breaking off their engagement, or at least postponing any wedding planning until she made sure his behavior earlier that night was a one-off. She and Andy had become friends over the years, but it didn’t feel right to tell him about her doubts before she told Jared. Especially when the two of them would see each other at work tomorrow. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Sorry.” His expression softened. “It’s none of my business. It’s just—"
“Hey, Detective!” a female voice called from the woods. “You might wanna see this.”
“I gotta go.” Andy patted her shoulder as he moved past. “That’s probably all I can give you tonight.”
Holly watched him go, letting Andy’s comment about Jared slip from her mind as she mentally replayed what Andy said about the victim being picked up in a blue car, then killed in these woods, rather than her body dumped here postmortem.
Holly stared at the crime scene tape as Andy stepped over it. She was more certain than ever that the Green River Killer killed Meg. She could feel it: whoever killed this woman also killed her sister.
Chapter 3
JOHN
John opened the lid to the kitchen garbage can but stopped before scraping what was left on his plate into the trash. In the next room, his dad hollered over the roar of Thursday night football playing on the TV. The Seahawks must have scored. John set his plate on the Formica counter and glanced at his dad in his recliner, making sure his father’s attention was still glued to the football game before he lifted theTribuneout of the trash.
The front page was stained with sloppy joe sauce but mostly still legible. John held his breath as he scanned the headlines. Washington’s inauguration of Governor Booth Gardner. The Green River Killer on the loose. Boeing experiencing downturns from the recession. Ever since his dad had attacked Sally and left her in those woods, John had been scouring the news, terrified Sally’s body would be discovered, and his dad would go to prison. Even worse, get the death penalty.
Most days, John had time to read the newspaper after school in the hour he spent alone before his dad got home from Boeing. But Thursdays, John had chess club after school, and by thetime he walked home afterward, his dad was already home. John glanced up at his dad before turning the page.
Sally’s disappearance never even made the news—not like the twenty-year-old waitress who went missing earlier this month, whose disappearance had already been splashed across the front page three times. Even though the waitress wasn’t a prostitute, the articles speculated she could be another victim of the Green River Killer.
In the days after his father attacked Sally, John worried his dad was the infamous Green River Killer. Then John went to the library and searched theTribunearticles from the summer of 1982. His dad had taken him camping on Mount Rainier for his fortieth birthday, the same week three of the Green River Killer victims had gone missing and were then found floating in the Green River.
The memory of Sally running petrified—and naked—through the woods, screaming for help, flashed in his mind. The image of him, standing there like a coward, doing nothing to save her, was seared in his brain. He forced the image away and tried to focus his thoughts on the newspaper.
John felt his shoulders relax after he read through the local crime section. Maybe Sally was still alive. A lump formed in John’s throat, remembering her crooked, bright-lipstick smile. But then why didn’t she go to the police? Maybe she was too scared. Plus, she’d have to tell them why she’d gotten into his dad’s car. John was pretty sure they’d put someone like her in jail.
He looked up and watched his dad take a swig from his beer. Sally couldn’t have been the first woman his father had attacked. How many had there been before Sally? Is that what his parents argued about before his mom died?
Mostly, John wanted to know why his dad killed Sally. But John was too afraid his questions might awaken the monsterhe’d seen chasing Sally through those woods. What had Sally done to turn his father into that evil beast? Ever since that day, John had been tiptoeing around the house, making sure he obeyed all his father’s rules to the letter, careful not to slip up even once.
John turned and plugged the sink before setting his plate in the bottom and turning on the faucet. The monster John had seen in those woods wasn’t the same father John knew. Thick, red-orange swirls of sloppy joe sauce curled through the water, twisting and unraveling like the confusing thoughts in his head. His dad could be harsh and strict, but John knew that his father cared about him. This made him wonder if Sally had done something bad to deserve what his father had done…like his mother.
“We bring you breaking news tonight after a body was discovered earlier this evening in Riverview by a jogger who noted a foul odor while running along the forested trails at Soundway Park.”
John turned toward the TV, where a familiar blond newscaster filled the screen. He placed his palms against the counter.
“This discovery comes less than two weeks after the disappearance of twenty-year-old Jennifer Duran. However, police believe the victim has been deceased for closer to one month.”
John’s gaze darted toward his dad in the recliner. He appeared strangely calm, ankles crossed, taking another swig from his beer.
“Policehaveconfirmed the body is female, but they are unable to provide an identification at this time. A source tells us it is possible the body could be that of a prostitute who went missing last month after being last seen getting into a car on Aurora Avenue.”
John’s heart beat into his throat. They’d found her. Sally was dead. His dad would go to prison.I’ll probably end up as a foster kid.An even more horrifying thought ran through his mind.What if the police find out I was in the car too? Would they arrest me for not telling anyone?
John’s fears changed to anger as he stared at the TV.How could his father do this to him?
“While the police investigation into this apparent homicide is just beginning, detectives did confirm this woman is most likely a victim of the Green River Killer, who is still at large and believed to have killed over thirty women in the last three years.”
A hand clamped onto his shoulder. John jumped.
“Hey.”