Page 58 of The Whispering Girls

Looking from left to right and back again, Katie thought it was best to begin from the left.

“Let’s start over there,” said McGaven indicating the left asif he had read her thoughts. His voice was low and his focus was intense.

Katie nodded. She loved it when her partner was thinking the same things she was. Usually they would break up and individually search, but she felt more secure searching each room together.

At the first room, a faint outline of a number “1” was still visible on the door. Katie tried it, but it was stuck. She looked to her partner and moved aside.

McGaven took a step and kicked the door open, causing it to smash back against the wall. The door was still on its old hinges. The room was empty. A bed frame leaned against the wall, the carpet had been torn out, and there were no fixtures in the bathroom. It was empty.

Katie looked at McGaven. “Let’s check them all.”

The detectives systematically checked each room. Most were empty with remnants of what had been inside, but nothing that suggested someone had been staying there. They closed each door after they left.

Katie and McGaven stood at the seventh room.

“Look at this,” said Katie. “That’s a new doorknob.” It resembled the others, but it was clear it hadn’t stood the ravages of time out in the open. It was clean. Katie tried the knob and it turned in her hand. She glanced at McGaven. He readied himself with his gun drawn. Katie nodded and then pushed the door open. McGaven rushed in and made sure there was no one hiding in the closet or bathroom. It was vacant.

Standing at the threshold, the room had clearly been occupied—recently. It had been cleaned and there was a broom leaning in the corner. A mattress with a sleeping bag had been pushed to the right, where it was neatly folded with a pillow. Two cardboard boxes were in the other corner as well as a duffel bag. The bathroom contained some toiletries and two neatly folded towels.

Katie kept a watchful eye at the doorway, but knew that if anyone were to try to sneak up, Cisco would bark.

The detectives pulled on gloves—just in case.

McGaven came back near the entrance.

Katie knelt down and looked through the first box.

“Anything?” he said.

“It looks like…newspaper clippings,” she said. “They’re dated about twenty years ago.” There were copies of birth certificates, death certificates, printouts from websites of genealogy, and other miscellaneous papers someone would use to track down someone.

“Looks like she was researching,” he said.

Katie quickly moved to the duffel bag and unzipped it. She flipped through clothing and personal items, and then looking into a zippered area, she revealed a driver’s license. “Got it.” She stood up.

McGaven was quickly at her side.

“Tamara Jane Lambert, nineteen years old, with an address in Springfield, Missouri. There’s no other identification, no credit cards, nothing except for two hundred in cash.”

“No cell phone or tablet?” he said.

“Nothing.” Looking at the photo, she said, “But we found TJ.”

“I wonder how long she had been staying here?”

“Looks like for a while. It appears she wasn’t leaving until she found what she was looking for,” said Katie.

McGaven went back to the boxes and quickly rifled through them.

“Anything else?”

“No. More newspaper clippings and government paperwork. Wait…” he said. “Here’s an old photo.”

Katie looked at the worn snapshot of two little blonde girls around seven or eight years old, standing in a yard somewhereholding hands. She flipped it over but there was nothing notated.

“Is that TJ and a relative, I wonder?” McGaven said.

“Could be. Look at how they resemble each other. They definitely look related.”