Page 96 of Our Daughter's Bones

With a shaking hand, she pulled the miniature drawer out completely. Her lungs collapsed into themselves.

“What is it?” Daniel appeared at their side.

He pointed at the thin stack of papers folded in the drawer. Mackenzie took them out and skimmed over them quickly.

“The missing pages of Abby’s diary.”

“She built a secret drawer just to hide them?” Daniel asked, aghast.

Mackenzie felt a tingle crawl up her spine. Her voice came out as a whisper. “I think these contain everything she knows about what happened to Erica. She hid them to keep them safe.”

Fifty-Two

Fresh coffee was brewed. Cookies were spread out in concentric circles on a plate. Chinese food had arrived. Pages flipped. Chopsticks clacked. Spoons pinged at the edges of coffee mugs. Chairs squeaked. Pens clicked.

Mackenzie had made copies of the missing pages recovered at Abby’s station. The originals were sent to crime lab to look for fingerprints. There were fifteen entries. All of them dated after Erica went missing, corresponding to the random dates missing in Abby’s journal.

They read the entries together in silence, searching for clues. Some were forlorn; some were curious. All were haunting.

I miss her every day. I don’t know what to do. But I know I can’t do “nothing.” The police are working on the case. It doesn’t feel like enough.

No one hated Erica. No one. So who did this? It has to be someone who is sick. Someone twisted. Someone who hunts girls like animals. Something wrong is happening. I can feel it in my bones. The people in this town don’t care. They don’t see something sinister happening right under their noses.

I feel like I’m being followed, like I’m being watched. I don’t know if it’s paranoia. But there is a Monster. Lurking close. He’s always around. I know he is. I can feel him.

Lakemore is a strange place. People walk around with blindfolds. The more I look, the more I see. I am afraid to even write about it. What if he’s here too? He can do anything he wants. This town will let him get away with murder.

The Monster was watching me today. Does he know? Does he know I’m on to him? I haven’t told anyone. I can’t. Who will believe me? Who will believe the poor girl over the Monster?

People only care until it is convenient for them. That is what Lakemore has taught me. If I even attempt to tell the world what I think I know, I will be destroyed. It makes me wonder how many other people know the truth. Who else knows about 916?

I think I should stop looking. But I can’t. I can’t do this to Erica. She comes in my dreams demanding justice, begging me to show the world what the Monster did to her, what the Monster did to all the other women. But what if he hurts me too?

How long has this been going on for? How long will people protect him? I don’t believe in this town anymore. Anything is possible. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I wonder if there is anyone I can trust. He is everywhere. He is untouchable. Lakemore is hiding something dark.

“She couldn’t write his name?” Daniel flipped through the pages again. “Why didn’t she write his name?”

Nick pursed his lips as he looked at his phone. “Anthony says he’s found two sets of fingerprints on the pages. One belongs to Abby—he matched it with the set found in her journal. The other is unknown.”

“Who else could have had access to these?” Daniel asked. “Why didn’t they take them?”

“Maybe they didn’t understand what any of this meant?”

“You’re saying someone other than 916 found these pages?”

Mackenzie tuned out their discussion. Their voices slowly wafted to the end of a tunnel until they were senseless echoes. She kept staring at Abby’s words.

Something dark.

Taken.

Anything is possible.

Get away with murder.

All the other women.

He is everywhere.