Page 83 of Last Girls Alive

“Maybe. She might have been hiding some issues too.”

Katie sighed. “It’s possible.” She still wasn’t convinced.

“We’ll know more later.”

“I think Hugh Keller is looking like our main suspect at the moment,” said Katie adamantly, even though she wasn’t completely convinced. There was more to his story, she thought, as she studied her notes back at the office.

“Aren’t there books written about guys like that?” McGaven concluded.

“Absolutely. I couldn’t say if he’s a textbook ‘psychopath’ but he sure ticks the boxes of several traits: lack of remorse, lack of guilt, lack of impulse control, shallow, superficial, and such. His alibi sticks, but it’s still sketchy. He could have left and come back.”

“Sounds like a dozen guys I trained with at the academy.”

Katie laughed. “Yep, the military too.” She perused her notes and began writing. Looking at her list again, she said, “When can we get into that bookstore?”

“I’m going to call back Mr. Holmes tomorrow to see if we can take a look at those books. I tried the library, the Internet, and other mystery stores and can’t get a copy. If these books were so important to the killer—and that’s a BIG if—it was a small print-run of the series.”

“You know, these girls were like family and they seemed to have distinct positions—like a hierarchy,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like they each had a part. It’s small but there’s a pattern for a special group. All distinct. All serve a purpose. Could this be what the killer is attracted to? These girls, this family, their strengths and weaknesses. Is it something he wanted? Or hated?” Katie said as she wrote it out for viewing.

Candace Harlan—leader, everyone looked up to, respected (best friends with Tanis)

Mary Rodriguez—the loudest, and would fight for her sisters. Enforcer?

Tanis Jones—quiet, least combative, but took the punishment for all the girls (best friends with Candace)

Heather Lawson—the cheerleader, always positive, wanted to be part of the group.

Terry Slaughter—lots of aliases. Not sure of her identity—she didn’t open up as much as the other girls, but was involved in some of the fights with Shelly McDonald that required the police.

Karen Beck—deceased. Most likely to commit suicide and she did. Depression? Other mental illness? Not much information.

“Interesting clarification.”

“And where does Carol Harlan fit in?”

“And, why did someone attack us and basically try to kill us?”

Katie turned to McGaven. “Do you think they were trying to kill us—or scare us?”

“It seemed pretty serious to me.”

“Yes, but they could have killed us in the house. Shot us. Ambushed us.”

“Locking us in that metal storage was an ambush,” he said.

“Ambush, or opportunity?”

McGaven remained quiet as he studied the board.

“What’s the status of Jerry…”

“Jerry Weaver.”

“Yes.”