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“Walter was masked at that point, so we don’t know if she recognized him,” Thomas said.
“Right.”
Johnson paused at the Christmas music heard over the crackle of the fryer and rattle of cutlery. “Then Walter went berserk and killed everyone but Kara, who was locked in the attic. The kid got out of the attic, came downstairs and saw the carnage. Walter was still there and chased her down, but spied Edmund Tate, who’d heard something from his deck and took off after the little girl.” She swallowed another bite of sandwich, washed it down with vitamin water. “So, at that point Walter peeled off with injured Marlie, while Kara and Edmund ended up in the lake.”
“But Edmund recognized Walter and tried to tell the EMTs. Meanwhile Walter gets away and keeps his daughter captive in Seaside.”
“That’s the weird part.”
“Oh, come on, it’s all weird,” Thomas said. Even sitting here in a retro diner talking about multiple homicides while Christmas music played from the speakers was a little on the outré side.
“Beyond weird.”
Thomas nodded. From what they could piece together, Marlie had somehow gotten hold of one of her father’s burner cells and found Kara’s information on Walter’s computer. She’d made the calls and texts to Kara.
Johnson said, “Okay, I follow all that, but what I don’t get is why Marlie didn’t just leave?”
“She couldn’t at first, too injured. Walter stitched her up.”
“Because he’d been a medic in the military, yeah, I know.”
“But he was no plastic surgeon so she was disfigured, and he also probably convinced her if she ever did leave, she’d be implicated in the murders. Remember, she was totally dependent upon him, had nowhere to turn, or so she thought.”
“He brainwashed her.” She said it with a grimace. “Sick piece of shit.”
“And days became weeks, became months.”
“Became two damned decades.” She was shaking her head, thinking it over.
“She thought she’d lost everyone. Her mother had been slaughtered, as had her brother, even her stepdad. Jonas was in jail, her other stepbrother killed, and Kara was just a kid.”
“Her aunt?” she asked, and the music changed to a country music rendition of “What Child Is This?”
“Faiza. Who bled the estate dry.”
“She probably didn’t know that,” Johnson said as the elf/waitress swept past them to another booth where three teenaged girls had settled in. They were talking over each other while still paying attention to their phones.
“Remember, Walter’s her father, he healed her, if she went to anyone, including the police, he would end up in jail and she’d be all alone.”
“With scars inside and out.”
“Right.” He took a long swallow from his Coke.
“But she kept up with Jonas’s release when she went online as Hailey Brown. She could hide in the shadows. And that’s probably what spurred her on, that he was getting out, and she was afraid he would seek revenge against Kara for her testimony.”
“So she stole his phone and somehow escaped.”
“After he left to deal with Jonas?” she asked as the teenagers ordered from the waitress.
“Yeah, and a set of keys were on her so she must’ve stolen those from her father as well.” Thomas chewed slowly. He’d already considered all the alternatives. “Maybe by this time Walter trusted her. After all, it had been twenty years.”
“I don’t know.” Johnson paused and finished the rest of her sandwich. Finally, she said, “A lot of holes that we have to fill in.” Wadding up her napkin, she shook her head. “We may never know. Too bad about Marlie.”
Amen, Thomas thought, and drained his drink. A-effing-men.
“At least Kara survived,” Johnson pointed out, “but come on, do you think she’ll ever be normal again?”
“Was she ever?” He wasn’t being sarcastic. Thomas really felt that she’d never had a chance for a normal life. First the tragedy, then the circus of a trial with her testimony, before being raised by people who were primarily interested in her fortune and exploited her by making money off her story. And then, just about when she came of age, she had to go through another horrific, unimaginable ordeal. His jaw clenched when he thought of all the carnage that one girl had witnessed.