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After making fresh coffee, Denise returned to work at her kitchen table.

For much of the previous night, and all this morning, she’d studied the case file. The sheriff’s office had released it to her on a USB flash drive. The amount of information was massive.

And disturbing.

With Harvey keeping her company, lying at her feet and gnawing on a chew toy, Denise had worked through the night, her kitchen lit only by her laptop screen. The crime scene photos of the bodies of Abby Hall and Erin Eddowes had jolted her. Sharp color images, taken from every angle. Some were close-ups. The amount of blood was alarming. As an experienced reporter, Denise had faced graphic situations, but these photos underscored the ferocity of the murders. Moving beyond them, she went through every item in the file.

She’d scanned the scene work, measurements, videos and hundreds of photos, the case logs, reports and time frames. She moved on to the autopsy reports. Cause of death was gunshot wounds. She looked at the inventory of evidence collected and forensic analysis. Odd, no shell casings were recovered at the scene. Even after a grid search and a sweep with metal detectors, not a single shell casing, which meant the killer must have collected them. Smart , Denise thought. There were statements and interviews. Details on the investigators’ questioning of Carrie.

She looked through interviews of people who knew the girls—friends, relatives, other students. She looked over reports on canvassing and the investigation of known offenders, including registered sex offenders residing in the area. Scores of tips had been followed.

The time between the dates of summaries got longer. An update noted slow progress after indicating that Carrie had moved from Clear River County to Los Angeles. Years passed, then detectives in Tyler alerted their colleagues in Clear River to Donnie Ray Hyde as a person of interest for the unsolved double murder.

Hyde had already been convicted of murdering Jenna Dupree in Tyler. He acknowledged being in Clear River at the time Abby and Erin were killed. His pattern fit and his alibi was weak. But Hyde had long denied involvement in their deaths. Denise remembered looking at him on the gurney in Huntsville, hearing his last words.

I am sorry for what I done. I am sorry for the pain I caused.

In his confession, Hyde said that on the day of the murders he’d been drinking, doing drugs at his brother Brophy’s place. He said he’d wandered into Wild Pines and encountered the girls, forced them deeper into the woods at gunpoint. Said he was overcome, possessed by dark urges to kill—like with the girl in Tyler. He shot Abby and Erin, but Carrie got away. He figured she died in the river. Went back, got his casings and fled, relieved to learn later that Carrie’s brain injury had robbed her of memory. He tossed the gun and casings somewhere in the Sabine River.

When Denise reached the end of the file, it was 2 a.m. She’d finally stopped working and went to bed.

Now, this morning, she’d been going over all the material again. She worked slowly, making careful notes, piecing together a fuller picture of the crime for her story. The assessments, comments and theories she found in some reports were revealing, especially how deeply Ben McGraw believed Carrie had killed Abby and Erin.

Absorbed in her work, Denise heard a soft noise as Harvey joined her in the kitchen.

“You’re finally up, are you?”

Harvey yawned, his paws clicking on the floor. He went to the door and waited, a sign he needed to go out.

“Hang on.”

Denise pulled on a sweatshirt, got his leash and bags, and gave him a big hug before they went outside. Not long after Denise had started at the paper, she’d heard a woman at the pet store talking about a dog abandoned in the trash before ending up at the Clear River rescue shelter. He was still just a pup when his sad eyes took Denise’s heart hostage.

Whenever she couldn’t be home, her neighbor Melvin Sprague, a seventy-five-year-old widower, took care of Harvey. Although, it was more a case of Harvey taking care of Melvin.

When Harvey had finished his business, they returned home and Denise freshened his water bowl, got him some food, then got back to work. Looking again at the forensic reports, she saw how most of the shoe impressions collected at the scene were partials. But they were consistent with Abby’s, Erin’s and Carrie’s footwear. A fourth partial was collected; it was larger and indicated another subject was present.

Investigators looked at the phones and computers belonging to Abby, Erin and Carrie. They found nothing linking all three girls. Whatever led to them being together in the woods had to have been communicated verbally, or by other means.

Denise then found a note containing information that had never been released, appearing to be holdback evidence. Something only the killer would know…and it was consistent with Hyde’s confession.

It concerned action the killer took at the scene.

Reading it gave her pause.

Chilling , Denise thought.

Rubbing her temple, she absorbed her research. She now had one of the two major pillars: the case file. This was shaping up to be a strong investigative feature. But she needed the second pillar.

Denise stared at her phone.

Come on, Carrie, come on. This time, say yes.