Page 120 of The Whispering Girls
“No one will be able to put the pieces together.”
“Did you kill your nieces as well?”
“What?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? Theresa and TJ, the first two victims, were Carol Ann’s girls. She gave them up before marrying Cooper. Must not have been very close if you didn’t know that she had children.”
Jack became agitated and Katie wasn’t sure whether or not he would open fire. What she had told him seemed to scramble his mind. Her instinct told her that there was something else, something big that upset him.
He fidgeted and made low comments as if he were arguing with himself. His words scattered. “No, it’s not true, everything was for her, nothing was ever for me…She didn’t deserve… You’re lying,” he finally said.
“Afraid not. DNA and birth records don’t lie.” Katie eyed the weapon, trying to figure out how to take hisattention away from it so she could make her move. Risky, but there wasn’t much choice. She moved closer.
Jack fired a round near Katie. It blasted close to her ear, making it ring.
“Back up. You’re going to join your friend.”
Katie took another step. She thought she had heard her name whispered behind her.Katie. It made her take a step to her right. Cold shivers traveled down her spine.
“For such a good detective, you’re not very smart.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
Just as Katie finished her sentence, a gunshot rang out and pierced Jack’s chest, causing blood to splatter, much of it striking Katie. She instantly dropped to the ground and scrambled for cover, feeling the heat of Jack’s blood on her face.
Jack’s body had crumbled to the ground, still holding his shotgun, with a surprised expression frozen upon his face.
Katie thought somehow John had fired at Jack, but the shot had come from the south area, quite some distance away. If she hadn’t moved to the right, she would have been in the bullet’s path as well.
The echo of the blast still wafted through the trees. Everything became clear to her now. She knew who the serial killer was and why.
Another shot blasted and then another, which glanced off a tree just behind her. The killer was clocking her trail. She had gone from the hunter to being the hunted.
FIFTY-THREE
Sunday 2215 hours
Katie had an idea who killed Jack and now they wanted her and her team dead—it made sense, but she wouldn’t know until she came face to face with them. Listening to and seeing Jack respond to why he killed his sister was incredibly depressing and depraved. What Jack had become almost stumped her, but she knew too well how killers operated and what drove them. Pain and abandonment in families could fester enough to drive someone to do the unthinkable. His hatred and actions had turned him into a body laid in the snow.
Katie continued to move north away from John and Cisco, hopefully keeping them safe. John was military trained and they had worked together on several high-stakes investigations, so he was going to know what to do. John and Cisco were safe and that’s all she cared about.
Katie kept within as much camouflage as she could so it would be difficult to shoot her. Her exhaustion had set in and she wondered if she should wait it out by hiding. It seemed to be the most prudent maneuver.
Over the past two years and her time in the military with Cisco, she’d learned a few things about herself and stressful situations. She knew not to overthink things, to weigh all her options because you always had choices, and not to hesitate when you come to a decision. Quick and efficient. No matter how difficult it was.
Now, as she headed away from the site, Katie wondered if she should try and backtrack to come up behind the shooter, or stay put and hope that help arrived. She didn’t want anyone walking into an ambush and she knew John would stay hidden.
Katie studied her surroundings and knew she would be able to make a big loop west and come around behind the shooter. Even though she didn’t have her coat anymore, her body was handling the loss of it. Layering worked and she hoped this would be over soon.
She hustled on her route and took two minutes to pause every once in a while to let her muscles catch a break. Being cautious was her main concern, but she also filled her time thinking about the first crime scene of Theresa Jamison. She recalled everything from when TJ came to the cabin door, discovering Theresa’s crime scene, and when the chief, officers, and Jack arrived. It was a flurry of events that singularly didn’t make sense, but woven together revealed a frightening picture.
Katie had been taken off guard when Jack arrived to process the crime scene for the police department, but he hadn’t seemed shaken up by it. If he had known it was one of nieces, more than likely his behavior would have changed.
So who killed the sisters and the young nurse, as well as the two staff members at the hospital?
The last time Katie and McGaven saw everyone involved was at the hospital scene. The chief, officers, and the rest of the emergency services were all there.
Jack must’ve lured or followed the chief to the hospital the night of the explosion and then removed his vehicle.
