Page 31 of Last Girls Alive

“Okay.” He hit a few keys and a list appeared.

Candace Harlan

Mary Rodriguez

Tanis Jones

Heather Lawson

Terry Slaughter

Karen Beck

“And employees,” he said.

Shelly McDonald, house manager (live in)

Margaret Adler, housekeeper and kitchen manager

Elmer Rydesdale, grounds keeper and maintenance

Tatiana Wolf, tutor

“All girls given up for various reasons including deceased parents, incarceration, and repeat offending.”

“How sad for these young girls,” she said. “But now, we need to locate them.”

“It will take some time. Here are some notes I received from…” he looked at his notes, “Jerry Weaver, who was one of the child protective officers at the time. He remembered some details, but will have to follow up when he gets in to work.”

“Like?”

“Like the fact that Mary Rodriguez was the most outspoken and most difficult of the group. She had been in juvenile detention for theft, prostitution, drugs, and a few other things, but the judge gave her another chance and, instead of jail, the opportunity to live at the foster home.”

Katie flashed back to the image of Mary’s lifeless body dumped by a rushing creek, to the pleading expression on her face.

“Also Tanis Jones and Candace Harlan were tight. They went everywhere together and always had each other’s back when one of them got in trouble at the house.”

“We need to talk with Ms. Jones and find out more information about the girls and see if her recollection is the same as the social worker’s.”

“Mr. Weaver will get us copies of their old files tomorrow.”

“Good.”

“He also said that the cops were called out to Elm Hill at least twice a week and there was one officer that seemed to take a special liking to one of the girls.”

Katie sat on the corner of her desk. “Let me guess, Candace Harlan.”

“Bingo.”

“And the officer was Hugh Keller?”

“Yep, just received the information now.”

“Anything else?”

“Oh, he did say that the girls regularly complained about the abuse from McDonald. They referred to her as a ‘she-beast’.”

“Can we find anything about the allegations of abuse? If the girls regularly complained, wouldn’t there be reports of arrests or anything? Even replacing McDonald? That seems disturbing to me,” she said. “It seems that money was an issue keeping the house updated and safe.”