Page 27 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

TWENTY-TWO

Amanda and Trent raced to Central and were directed to the conference room.

Katherine and Malone were in there, and both turned their heads to the doorway when they entered.

She breathed easier when she noted Buchanan wasn’t present.

Whether that luck would hold out remained to be seen.

“No police chief for this one?” She’d rather be prepared for his arrival if he was expected.

“Not this time,” Malone said. “He’s in meetings, but I’ll be briefing him.”

“I’ll keep this short and quick.” Katherine handed each of them a printout of Anne Harrington’s photo. “For all these years the Gilbert investigation was focused on a male perp, as you know.”

“The FBI’s profile and the sexual assault element,” Malone summarized. “But I’m guessing your digging into Harrington paid off?”

“It has. The raw facts are Harrington had no business being backstage that day. She doesn’t take rejection well, and the family of her former lover was there. There’s no saying how far she would go to retaliate. ”

“Former?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, I spoke to Evan Gilbert. He admitted to the affair in the years before Julie, and that it was casual on and off after, even at the time of her murder. He said he never mentioned Harrington because he couldn’t see her doing this to Julie.

When I pushed him on why he’d ended things, he said that he’d had enough of her manipulation tactics.

She’d play up feeling abandoned by him when he had to go home to his family. ”

“Or she didn’t play it up,” Amanda said. “That feeling could have been genuine. She may have been abused or neglected as a child.”

“Okay, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but don’t you think assaulting and killing a child pushes things a bit far?” Malone asked.

“Valid question, and I considered that myself. Short answer, no. Not after speaking with some men who have ROs against Harrington. The three I reached all said the same thing. She was high-maintenance and needy and didn’t understand boundaries even before the relationships ended.

They said that she would pitch a fit, scream and cry and hurl things across the room, when she felt her control slipping. ”

“Whoever did this to Julie and Hailey aspires to be in control,” Amanda reasoned. “Or at least to feel like they are.”

“Exactly.”

“Huh,” Malone huffed. “I admit the more I hear, the more this Harrington sounds worth investigating further.”

“And get this, Harrington used to work at the NYC venue,” Katherine started. “Now this was years before Julie’s last pageant but…”

“She could have remained in contact with someone who worked there to get backstage,” Amanda finished up what she believed was Katherine’s thought.

Katherine nodded.

“Which could also be how she found out about your interest in those backstage,” Trent put in.

“It’s possible. I called my contact there.

Leslie Gallagher is the manager and the one I spoke to in the fall.

She confirmed she was friends with Harrington for a while, but that they hadn’t been in touch for a long time.

She told me that Anne had a rough childhood.

No father in the picture, and her mother neglected her.

Even as a young girl, Anne had to fend for herself. ”

“Like the FBI profile,” Amanda said. “They pegged the killer as coming from a broken home.”

“That’s right. Now you probably remember my telling you I reached out to Detective Fitz to chat with Harrington. Well, get this. She wasn’t home. In fact, the landlord said Harrington rented her place out on short-term lease. The reason? Harrington was going to be visiting family here in Virginia.”

“Let me guess. No family?” Malone said.

“Oh, she has family. A grandmother right here in Woodbridge, and I have her address.”

“When did she come here?” Amanda asked. There had to be even more to this find that had netted Katherine’s suspicion.

“Detective Fitz said she was here for the start of December.”

“In plenty of time to latch on to Hailey Tanner at The Nutcracker .” Amanda looked at Trent as she got up. “We’ll go talk to her right now.”