Page 35 of Pretty Broken Dolls

“The Ferris wheel was introduced at the Chicago Expo in 1893.” He printed a piece of paper, grabbed it and continued, reading the copy. “So I went darker.”

“I see.” Katie listened intently.

“I checked to see what type of tragedies have happened at fairs over the years. And why they happen. It’s said that the main reasons for accidents are negligence, not following the rules, health issues, and acts of God— like weather, when, say, a transformer blows up because of lightning.”

“So you think that the killer might have experienced something that went wrong at a fair or amusement park?”

“Maybe, but it makes you wonder why they would choose the Ferris wheel.”

“It could be for dramatic effect. There’s been no connection to fairs and amusement parks with the other victims, but,” she said, “dig a little deeper and see if anything happened to a child or something of the sort. I seem to remember a fire or something when I was about twelve or so.”

“That’s a long time ago.”

“Funny,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“I’ll poke around in between other searches and see what pops up.”

McGaven went back to work.

* * *

Katie hurried home with some goodies from a deli and all the ingredients for cosmopolitans. It was going to be a low-key get-together for the girls, since they all had to work in the morning, but they had been talking about meeting up for a while and they all had openings in their schedules for tonight, so they booked the block of time.

Her friend Denise from the sheriff’s department records division—who was also McGaven’s girlfriend—and her army friend Lizzy were going to be there at 7:30p.m.

Katie burst through her front door carrying several bags with Cisco in tow. “Okay, Cisco, we have half an hour to get ready. Think we can do it?” She wasn’t expecting a reply, of course, and put things in the refrigerator before jumping into the shower to wash the day from her body, surprised that she felt refreshed and energized after a trying day of revelations.

Quickly drying her long hair, she decided to keep it down. She applied light makeup. Pulling on a pair of jeans and a casual top, Katie was just about ready when she heard her doorbell.

Cisco gave a high-pitched bark because he already knew who was at the door.

“Coming, coming.” She opened the door and both Denise and Lizzy stood there patiently waiting—each with bags of goodies. After they hugged and chatted and complimented each other on what they were wearing, the ladies settled into the kitchen.

“So you and Gav had an interesting day,” said Denise. Her perky personality matched her short haircut.

“Did he tell you?”

“What? What?” chimed Lizzy.

“Of course. We don’t keep any secrets from one another.” She helped to unwrap some deli rollups and unpacked potato salad. “Oh, this looks good.”

“I’m so thankful that Gav was with me.”

“What?” Lizzy said again. “I’m missing something here.”

“It seems that Detective Scott here is getting some very interesting information about these new cases,” Denise began. “Not to mention they got stuck inside a boarded-up house the other day, and someone decided to turn the gas on.”

“What? That’s crazy. You guys okay?” Lizzy looked worried. She absently pushed her bangs from her eyes.

“We’re fine. At least, I am.”

“Don’t worry; Gav is just fine too.”

Lizzy petted Cisco as he stayed next to her. “And this guy?”

“Cisco was in the car, but he did come to help us.”

“What do you mean?”