Page 26 of Three Girls Gone
Amanda took a long breath. “There’s been a development in the Hailey Tanner investigation.”
“I heard her body was found. Customers have been talking about it all afternoon,” Katherine said without emotion. It showed the hardened side of her cop shell.
“Unfortunately, she was, but there’s far more to it.” Amanda wasn’t sure whether to dance around it, filling in some details and then landing with the gut punch or whether she should go right for it.
“Just spit it out, Amanda,” Katherine said, as if reading Amanda’s mind. “What does her murder have to do with me?”
Amanda had to be careful about what she disclosed because it was an open police investigation. Now sitting across from Katherine, she wished she had called Malone first. “A piece of evidence led us to you. A note essentially calling you out.”
“I don’t understand.” She paled and blinked slowly. Two tiny tells that spoke volumes. She was piecing it together. “Is this about…?”
Amanda nodded. “We believe that whoever killed Hailey Tanner also killed Julie Gilbert.” She told her the gist of the note.
“Dear God, that girl’s death is my fault.” Katherine touched her stomach in a fleeting motion, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The latter was a rare trait and alerted Amanda that she was shaken. “Was she…?” Tears beaded in Katherine’s eyes, but they were extinguished when her gaze became fire, and her mouth set in a firm line.
Amanda nodded, assuming the question was whether she’d been violated. “Have you been looking into the Gilbert case recently?”
“Not for months. I’ve just been so busy with the diner.”
“When you saymonths? The start of the year? Last year?” Trent asked.
“Late fall, a week or two before Thanksgiving.”
Amanda looked at Trent. That gave the killer time to find his way down here and even attendThe Nutcracker.
“But if I triggered this guy, why not come after me? Why kill another poor, innocent child?” Katherine swallowed roughly.
“This person’s clearly a sick individual. Also a coward. A child makes an easier target.” Amanda empathized with what her friend must be feeling.
“This sick freak wants to feel powerful,” Katherine said.
“It’s important that you tell us what you were focused on then,” Trent said.
“You know I had five men pegged as suspects?”
“Yes. The men on your suspect board in the storage unit,” Trent said.
“That’s right. I had three with names, two without. Since then, I’ve identified both the nameless men and cleared them. Trust me,completelycleared. But one identity came to me when I made an appeal on the website I set up.”
“Justice for Julie,” Amanda inserted for Trent.
“I posted his picture and asked if anyone could ID the man. I got a response. Hank Dickson, of Brooklyn. I drove up to his home and had a long talk with him. He’s not behind this.”
“It’s possible our killer ID’d Dickson,” Trent pointed out. “How did this person contact you?”
“They filled in the online contact form, leaving the name field blank.”
“Tell us more about this picture? Which one was it?” Amanda remembered two.
“The one of a man looking at Julie over his shoulder. It had a creepy feel to it without knowing the context. I found out that pic had been taken at the NYC venue during Julie’s last pageant. It was in a cordoned-off area reserved for those with the show who had clearance. Well, Dickson was a janitor there for five years. Looking closer at the shot you can see that he’s holding a mop, and a corner of a bucket is visible in front of him. He was called out to clean up a mess made by one of the mothers.”
“Where did the photo of him come from in the first place?” Trent asked.
“It was enclosed in a tri-folded white piece of paper inside of an envelope, delivered to the Gilberts’ home.”
“That’s quite a red flag,” Trent said.
“Agreed. The Gilbert case was nationwide news, so a lot of people mailed the family letters and photographs of the girl. But with this one not having any postmark or return address, it stood out.”
