Page 3 of Three Girls Gone
“Starved of oxygen. Maybe the scarf was used,” McGee suggested.
Amanda passed Trent a side-glance and shared another observation. “She’s dressed up as a ballerina with the tutu and the slippers. The makeup is done, as if she’s in a performance. But the scarf doesn’t fit. Ballerinas don’t wear them. And it looks much too large for a child.”
“I’d say it belongs to a woman,” Trent put in.
“But if the scarf is the murder weapon, why leave it with the body? It could give us prints and DNA,” McGee said.
Us…But the reason a killer would risk that wasn’t encouraging. “This person might not be in the system, which means leaving a trace isn’t a concern for them. The scarf may serve another purpose. To hide bruising? The killer may have wanted her to look serene.”
“Was she taken in a tutu and slippers?” Trent asked, looking at McGee.
The detective shook his head. “When she left the dance studio after her lesson, she was back in street clothes. There was a tutu and slippers in her locker at the studio.”
“The studio stored them there?” It sounded unusual for a child to have their own locker.
“They offered that to Hailey because her parents donated a lot of money to the studio,” McGee said. “But the style of this tutu is like the one in the girl’s locker and others in her closet. I searched both when I was confirming her last moves.”
Chills rolled over Amanda’s arms. Was there more to this? “She has other tutus in her closet?”
“She did, yeah. Don’t ask me how many. Accounting for her wardrobe wasn’t my focus. It was just something I noticed while searching her room. It’s not like I had any idea that…” He stopped talking as his eyes drifted to the small body.
Were the similar tutus a coincidence? Or was Hailey dressed in one of her own? If so, was the killer someone close to the Tanner family? Someone who Hailey had trusted?
THREE
Amanda stepped out of the tent. “We need to speak with the person who found her,” she told the officers.
Wyatt directed her attention to a woman sitting at a picnic table with her back to them. Officer Traci Cochran was taking her statement.
“Her name’s Susan Butters,” Officer Wyatt told her, and Amanda led the way over to the picnic table. Officer Cochran watched them approach and stood up once they got closer. Susan Butters turned around. Her skin was blotchy and eyes bloodshot from crying. Adrenaline wasn’t doing its job and shielding her from the jolt of what she’d seen.
“Ma’am, if you’ll excuse me a moment.” Cochran hopped up from the table’s bench and walked about ten feet away with Amanda, Trent, and McGee in tow. She studied McGee, her forehead creasing. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“Nope. Detective McGee with Missing Persons, and you?”
“Missing Persons? Sadly, I guess your job here is over,” she said. “I’m Officer Traci Cochran. So here’s what I know…” She filled them in on Butters’s statement, which they’d verify and build on. “And she’s got a clean record,” Traci added.
“Thank you,” Amanda told her.
“I assume you want to have a chat now?”
“We do,” Amanda assured her.
They walked over to Susan, and Traci made all the introductions without specifying McGee was with Missing Persons.
“Is that Hailey Tanner? Did I find Hailey? No one will tell me.” Susan rubbed her cheeks, grinding her palms into the damp flesh.
“Did you know Hailey?” Amanda had to assess whether Susan’s shock was genuine or a performance. It was too soon to conclude if the killer was a man or woman. If anything, the woman’s scarf and how Hailey was lovingly arranged suggested the latter.
“Yes. Well, from the news. Not in person. She was taken last week.”
Since Hailey’s predicament was widespread knowledge, Susan’s assumption was understandable. Amanda would still ask Hailey’s parents if they knew Susan Butters.
“So it is her?” Susan pressed.
“We’re not at liberty to confirm that,” Amanda said. “I also request that you refrain from telling others what happened here today until the parents of that child have been notified. Have you spoken to anyone, texted or called?”
“No. My fingers didn’t want to work to call nine-one-one. I just want to forget about all of this. I should have just stayed home like every other day. But, no, I had to get off my butt and out the door for a walk. And look where that got me.” The latter bit came out like she was talking to herself.
