Page 112 of The Whispering Girls

The detectives stepped inside the small cabin. When they had visited the property before they couldn’t see every part of the home, but now they saw in one spot he had little boxes neatly stacked from floor to ceiling with perfectly printed lettering labeling each one. There were also even more decorative crystals like the ones that Theresa had.

“What’s in the boxes?” said McGaven.

“Oh, I like to collect articles,” said Devin.

“What kind of articles?” said Katie.

“Anything, but mostly crime. I thought I recognized your name, Detective Scott, and so I read some articles about you and Detective McGaven.”

Katie hadn’t expected that.

“You’ve solved all your cases. Do you know how unusual that is?” he said. “I mean, percentage-wise.”

“I don’t know…” she said. “Are you interested in serial killers?”

“Not really, but there’s always something interesting about them revealed after they’re caught.”

“Like…?”

“Why they did it. So many blame someone else for their killing. Stuff like that.”

Katie looked at McGaven, who gave her a raised-eyebrow expression.

“You know there was a serial killer here once,” said Devin.

“When?”

“It was before I was born, but there was a guy who killed women and would leave weird stuff at the scene.”

Katie studied Devin and recognized his enthusiasm for killers. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, but it did raise some questions.

“I can find the articles if you like.”

“Devin,” said Katie. “Does ‘the Woodsman’ mean anything to you?”

“The Woodsman?”

“Yes.”

He laughed. “Every kid in town was told the story of the Woodsman. It’s been handed down forever.”

“Why?”

“It was a way to scare kids to not go into the forest at night or without a buddy. It’s stupid, but some kids believe it’s real.”

Katie thought about TJ’s reaction to Theresa’s murderscene and that made some sense. “So it’s just a story to keep kids from going out alone in the forest?”

“Pretty much. I think I can find some stuff on it.”

“Thanks, Devin, but we really need to get everything about the videos.”

“Sure. Oh, by the way, I’m sorry that I ran from you.”

“It’s okay, Devin,” said McGaven.

Devin pulled out a laptop with an accessory on it that Katie had never seen before.

“What’s that?”