Page 108 of Three Girls Gone
The lawyer turned to his client and back to Amanda. “My client refuses to answer.”
“I enjoy watching for a while,” Marshall admitted.
The lawyer sat back and flailed an arm.
Marshall went on. “I learned her routine, and when taking her from her own bed didn’t work out, I thought snatching her from the studio would be the next best thing. It turned out that it was.” He smiled, and Amanda assumed he must have received tremendous pleasure from witnessing the chaos he’d caused.
“And how did you get her to go with you?”
“Easy. I exploited her trust. I met her on the day of the show when she was with Mara. All I had to do was tell the girl her nanny was running behind and sent me, her friend, to pick her up.”
It was along the lines Amanda had figured. “You love watching so much, was that how you became obsessed with Julie Gilbert? You watched her from a distance, and then when you saw her at the family home you couldn’t help yourself?” Amanda recalled that photo of Dickson. Only it was never about him. The focus of the shot was Julie.
The lawyer faced Marshall. “I recommend you don’t respond to that.”
“He doesn’t need to. We have these.” Amanda pulled outphotocopies of the notes he wrote taunting Katherine. “Forensics have confirmed they match the printer in your rental house. One has Marshall’s fingerprint. But why leave a note in the hem of Hailey Tanner’s dress calling out Katherine Graves? You had to know this would connect Hailey’s murder to Julie Gilbert’s. And you had to know Hailey’s murder would be investigated. By doing this, you implicated yourself in two murders.”
“Katherine had to know I was calling the shots. She should have minded her own business,” Marshall seethed. “She’s not even a cop anymore.”
“This isn’t on her,” Amanda hissed. “Youmolested and killed those girls. You traumatized another one and her family.”
“Whatever.”
“Help me understand. Was it your ego that tripped you up? Your need to feel powerful and in control for a change?”
He met her eye but didn’t say a word.
I hit a bull’s-eye…She decided to continue beating on the matter. “It makes no sense at all. And to come forward and identify Hank Dickson through Katherine’s website when you could have just stayed silent… There’s no logic in it. But it’s a good thing you did. Not for you, but for us.” Briggs could never tie the email to Marshall, but he didn’t have to know that.
Marshall grimaced. “You don’t know everything.”
“Please, enlighten me.”
“I just wanted to take her focus off me.”
Amanda scoffed laughter. “Katherine never knew you existed.”
“You’re lying.”
“Nope.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It doesn’t matter to me if you do. You killed Hailey Tanner for the same reason you killed Julie Gilbert. You wanted to. It had nothing to do with Katherine Graves. If anything, this is about your mother, isn’t it?”
Marshall balled his fists, nostrils flaring. “Shut the hell up right now.”
Amanda turned to Trent. “I touched a nerve.”
“I’d say,” Trent agreed.
“My old lady was a demon. She never wanted me and blamed me for everything!” Marshall roared. “I was worthless because I had a penis, and she made me feel inferior until her last breath. I couldn’t do anything right, and to punish me she’d tie me up and do things to me. Is that what you want to hear?” Marshall tossed this out with such vehemence, Amanda pulled back. “You wanted to know about my scar? Yeah, it was her. She sliced me with a knife one day. Just for fun, to see how much I’d bleed. I hope she’s burning in hell!”
Time passed in silence before the lawyer spoke. “I’d like a few minutes with my client.”
“He’s all yours.” Amanda walked to the door and turned around. She made eye contact with Marshall. “Are there other girls we don’t know about?”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
