Page 174 of Girl Between

Landry: Yes. He’s too smart for his own good. And he has a God complex. It’s a dangerous combination. He’ll tell you he did it for the good of many. That sacrificing one life could save dozens, but I think it was morethan that. He wanted to prove me wrong. Prove that he could succeed where I had failed. Like I failed with his sister.

DA: Did you fail Rebecca?

Landry: No. There was nothing I could’ve done to save Rebecca. But maybe if I tried harder, I could’ve prevented all of this.

DA: When did you go from being harassed by Monroe to working for him?

Landry: I didn’t work for him!

DA: Dr. Landry, we have your financial records. You’ve been funding your free clinic with blood money from black market organ trade for years.

Landry: I didn’t have a choice. He was blackmailing me.

DA: How?

Landry: He used my Amelia against me. She was my weakness, and he knew it. I was desperate to find her a donor. It’s how he baited me. I didn’t know it was Monroe I was talking to online. His screen name was Vonnegut5. I should’ve known it was too good to be true, but I wanted to believe I’d found a match. That I could save her. So, I took the bait.

DA: What happened?

Landry: I showed up with the cash in exchange for the organ. But there was no organ. There was a girl strapped to a table. And Monroe. He told me I needed to extract the organ.

DA: Did you?

Landry: You have to understand. If I didn’t do it, Monroe would’ve. At least I had medical training. With me, there was a chance the girl would survive.

DA: Did she?

Landry: No. None of them did.

DA: How many were there?

Landry: I’ve lost track.

DA: Why didn’t you stop, go to the police?

Landry: I couldn’t. He’d made sure I had as much blood on my hands as he did. I had Amelia to think of. I was all she had.

DA: When did Monroe abduct Amelia?

Landry: Four weeks ago.

DA: Why?

Landry: Because I told him I was done. I wanted out.

DA: Why now, after helping him for so long?

Landry: I just couldn’t do it anymore. Not once he started dressing those girls up and leaving them in cemeteries.

DA: Why didn’t you go through with going to the police?

Landry: He had my daughter! I couldn’t. But I still did everything I could to lead the investigation in the right direction. I’m the one who called in the trespassing reports at the Plaza. I called three times.

DA: With all due respect, Dr. Landry. That’s too little, too late. Tell me about the Harvest Girls.

Landry: Can we take a break? Then I promise, I’ll tell you everything.

Dana pressed pause again.She didn’t want to hear any more. But she knew herself. She wouldn’t rest until she finished listening to the recordings. But that didn’t mean she needed to do it alone. She picked up her phone and placed a call.