Page 86 of Her Last Whisper

Katie nodded. “Yep.”

“Coincidence?”

“We now have three women connected to the hospital: Amanda, Emily, and a missing woman.”

“What about Jane Doe—Madeline Thomas?”

“Don’t know yet. We need to do a background, but my gut is telling me that she’s somehow crossed paths with the hospital in some way.”

Katie leaned back. The information was overwhelming. She stood up and stared at her preliminary perp board. “The killer is picking women he has had contact with, maybe even befriended, and seen at the hospital…”

“The hospital is his hunting grounds,” McGaven stated seriously.

Katie thought it and McGaven stated it—it seemed that way.

“I believe Tess is another unsuspecting victim. It’s more than possible. The killer has made mistakes, two women have escaped… he’s not going to make any more mistakes now.” She studied the map of the areas where the women lived in comparison to the hospital.

“I know that look,” he said.

“You’re right, it’s his hunting grounds. I believe it’s possible he follows them home and if it’s within his comfort zone, that’s when he abducts them.” She continued to study the map and make notations.

Both Madeline and Tess lived within two miles of one another and their companies were in the same business district, which meant that they lived, shopped, and worked in close proximity of each other. The First Memorial Hospital was within five miles of where all the women lived and worked—including Amanda.

“A killer’s hunting ground is almost always an area where they feel comfortable, an area they know well and don’t have to worry about unknowns and variables in their searches or their body dumping grounds,” she said.

“Just got the hospital employee list,” said McGaven.

“Once you omit women and anyone who wouldn’t normally have access to operating rooms and the morgue, put everyone in alphabetical order,” she instructed. Then she began to sort out the packet from the county. “I’m going to make a list of all the last residents and anyone working on the Basin Woods Development. Let’s see what we get and then we can compare. I know that the hospital and the abandoned development connect a killer. He didn’t just pick that area on a whim.”

“We got a plan,” said McGaven.

The only sound in the office was the hurried flurry of keystrokes.

Katie rattled off an additional assessment of the killer: “The killer abducts and holds these women where he feels comfortable—safe—protected. Something happened to him, a deep scar, a defining moment in his life that cuts so deep, and it revolves around the hospital.”

Katie and McGaven worked for almost two hours, immersed in their lists and background checks.

“Here’s a little background on Madeline: She was the assistant to the CEO at a financial company called Brown & Donner Financial, which is close to where Tess works just in the next building. Nothing in her background seemed unusual or out of the ordinary. She is thirty-four years old, MBA from a prestigious college, lived alone; no boyfriend,” Katie said.

“Finally,” said McGaven.

“What?” Katie asked.

“Just got the phone records for Emily Day’s land line. And…” he said, reading down the report, “a call came in from the hospital at 10.17p.m., so it seems that Emily was telling the truth about when she called Amanda.”

“Fair enough.”

“But…”

Katie looked away from her computer and at McGaven.

“It seems that there was another call from the hospital from a different extension at 10.49p.m.,” he explained.

“Emily could have called back for a number of reasons.”

“The phone extension belongs to Dr. Jamison.”

Fifty