Page 58 of Three Girls Gone
“What do you want from me? I can’t even…” Anne hissed, and Amanda imagined with the injuries to her face and nose that talking would hurt even pumped full of medication. But Amanda did well to keep in mind that the woman in front of her could be a killer.
“Did you have an affair with Evan Gilbert?” Amanda started with a simple question. Her response would allow her to gauge Anne’s honesty.
“Sure. Why would that matter to you?”
“You were sleeping with him, even though he was a married man,” she put out.
“I’m not the only mistress in the world.”
Amanda didn’t care how that painted things despite it being true. “How long were you seeing each other?”
“Have we ever stopped? I know he still loves me.” She winced with discomfort, but tried to hide it behind a smile.
Twelve years later?Anne was delusional. “Did you ever stalk him and his family?” Amanda wanted to build a foundation before diving right into Julie and Hailey.
“There’s no RO against me.”
Evan Gilbert had been dealing with enough after losing his daughter. Reporting Anne would have fallen down the list of importance. “That means nothing.”
“It means that he loves me but just can’t admit to it.”
Her misguided confidence sent chills down Amanda’s spine. It revealed a controlling, manipulative personality. A trait that would serve her well in seducing children into trusting her. “Are you still in touch with him?”
“Not in a while, but when I go back home, I’m going to reach out.”
“You think he’s going to want to see you?” Trent asked.
“It’s been a while, but he will. Yes. I’ll make him see my side.”
Again, Amanda saw that Anne Harrington ticked off most of the FBI profile’s boxes, and they were just getting started. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“I saw him at least once a week when I was back in New York. Does he see me? You’d have to ask him.”
“Are you admitting to stalking him?” Trent asked.
“I can’t help it if he’s where I am.”
They could get lost in this battle of words all day, but that wouldn’t move the investigation along. “Did you know his daughter, Julie?”
Anne’s eyes became dark, then lit almost immediately. “She was a beautiful girl. She could have been ours if Evan hadn’t been so easily manipulated by his stupid wife. Stupid man.”
Witnessing Anne’s fluctuation between admiration and disgust was unsettling. Almost like two personalities lived inside her and battled for dominance.
“What do you mean ‘easily manipulated’?” Trent asked.
“He could have had a family with me. I could have given him a baby. His own DNA, but he broke things off, telling me he didn’t want children.”
“But then you found out about Julie.” Amanda wagered a guess that would fill in the picture some more.
“Yes.” One word and it was cold and mechanical.
“But you do like little girls,” Amanda said, tossing in a tightsmile despite it churning her stomach. “The way you can dress them up like princesses, how they move and dance on a stage.”
“Like little stars,” she said, her eyes misting. “Julie was that.”
There would be no advantage to cutting right to the question Amanda wanted to ask.Had she extinguished her light?She needed Anne to keep talking. “You might have heard about Hailey Tanner in the news.”
“She was a beautiful girl too. A performer like Julie? She was in a ballerina costume.”
