Page 100 of Last Girls Alive

“It gives us quite a bit to think about,” she said.

Forty-Two

Wednesday 0930 hours

Katie had already been working for several hours before McGaven arrived. She couldn’t sleep. There was too much information swirling around in her mind—she was beginning to feel the clock ticking down for a new victim. It was like walking around a time bomb.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the victims, looking just as she had found them, reaching out to her from their graves, begging for her to find justice for them.

Katie let out a much-needed exhalation—it was more out of frustration than being overwhelmed or uncertain. Again, they were facing a tremendous amount of information; each fact by itself didn’t mean much, but piecing certain ones together, it began to form a picture.

It occurred to Katie, as she scanned the freshly updated board as well as the notes in her file, that there had to be a way to push the investigation forward and flesh out evidence—in a way that the department would be in agreement with.

She ran scenarios as she chewed the end of her pen.

Adding questions nagging at her, she wrote:

Who is the unknown man in the black hoodie? Is he following the investigation? Why? Can we trap him?

Who left the piece of paper in my locker directing us to the company that manufactures the metal storage containers for construction sites? ETL Express?

Is Tanis or Candace the key to unlocking the secrets at Elm Hill Mansion?

Who/where are the McKinzies?

Who was the father of the baby that Mary Rodriguez aborted? Who was her Ray?

Was the killer using the Hunter-Gatherer books as his play book? Why Italian?

“Morning,” said McGaven as he burst into the office.

“You always make such an entrance.”

“Sorry I’m late, but I had a quick check-up about my injury,” he said. “And if you must know, everything is just fine.” He smiled. “What’s been going on? I’ve been thinking…” His voice tailed off as he read the new additions and the questions on the murder board. “Interesting.” He continued, “I’ve been running some reports and put in some favors to find out where the McKinzies are. Basically, what other organizations they are involved in. That’s a place to start. I haven’t heard anything back yet.”

“Some things are making more sense,” she said.

“Have you called Tanis Jones?”

“I have, but she hasn’t returned my calls. She’s a bit skittish, maybe I’ll stop by her studio if I don’t hear from her soon.”

“An idea occurred to me. Black-hoodie guy seems to be watching us and following us around. Right? So I think we need to set anacceptabletrap.”

“Acceptable trap?” she said, and laughed. “I like that. Is that what you’re going to put in your report to Ms. Undersheriff?”

“Well? We need to be extra vigilant and extra by-the-book-Betty.”

Katie laughed and said, “By-the-book-Betty? I’ve never heard that. Did you just make that up?”

“Maybe.”

She laughed again.

“So, about trapping the unknown black-hoodie guy.”

“Go on,” she said intrigued. Before McGaven had arrived, she was thinking they should do something similar. She loved the fact they were on the same page.

“I figured you were going to go back to the Mary Rodriguez crime-scene area sometime.”