Page 94 of The Whispering Girls

“How did you get results so fast?” she said.

“Well apparently it was already requested as a priority.”

“From who?”

“Chief Cooper,” said John.

“Why?” said McGaven.

“I don’t know, that’s all they told me. They will be emailing the results soon.”

“Okay, so TJ came to Echo Forest because she somehow tracked down her sister. We will never truly know how and why. But why all the secrecy?” she said. “When she came to my cabin, she acted like she didn’t know it was Theresa hanging in the tree. And how did she find her?”

“Maybe she didn’t know,” said McGaven. “She would have had to remove the burlap sack.”

“Unless she already knew that Theresa was dead,” said John.

“I don’t think so,” said Katie. “Everything seems to read like a soap opera and not a crazed killer taking victims. There are too many moving parts to this case. People who aren’t who they say they are. People not telling us the truth.”

“This may help,” said John. “Apparently Chief Cooper’s wife Carol Ann Benedict had two children, girls.”

“The chief never mentioned children,” she said.

“That’s because Benedict gave them up for adoption right around the time she married the chief. They weren’t his biological girls. They were five and six years old.”

“How did you find that out?” she said.

“Once I searched for her birth, death, and marriage records, there was mention of a husband, Brent Benedict, who died in a construction accident, and it was noted they had two children.”

“Wow,” said McGaven. “It looks like the big town secret has been broken wide open.”

What they were saying made sense to Katie, but it certainly made things more complicated. “So if you wanted to keep a big secret like that, you would have to have others to help you, right?”

“That’s right,” said John. “There would be no way to bury this without help.”

Katie walked to the board. “But not long after the chief and Carol were married, she died. When I tried to find out more information about the cold case I couldn’t find much.” Katie turned to her team. “Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong?”

“How?” said McGaven.

“Follow me for a minute. Maybe Chief Cooper didn’t ask for favors and pull strings to be appointed police chief. What if his motive was to bury the cold case and not solve it?”

“That would mean…” said McGaven.

Katie nodded. “The chief killed Carol.”

“What’s the motive?” said John.

“It could be anything. Crime of passion, accident.” Katie thought more about it. “Before the chief married Carol, he had to have known about her two girls…and known them. So why did she give them up for adoption? Something must have been awry in that relationship.”

“That could be a big motive for murder,” said John.

“But all this doesn’t answer certain questions,” she said.

“You said it looks like there’s more than one person involved in the murders. What if they wanted it to look as if a serial killer murdered the young women to give everyone an explanation for their deaths? But then of course they wouldn’t find him,” said McGaven.

“Okay,” she said and began writing on the board. “Say the chief did kill Carol. Who would be the logical person to help keep such a secret? Libby? She seemed really protective. Not to mention she appears to be stepping out on her husband with Westin. Right now Westin has some serious explaining to do about the carpet and van. Officers Clark and Banning could be in a position of keeping the secret, but I’m not sure it would be both of them.”

“I think I get where you’re going with this,” said McGaven.