Page 69 of Three Girls Gone
Trent rang the doorbell, and the door swung open a moment later.
Detective McGee was standing there, a solemn expression on his face. “Nothing personal against you, but I could have handled not meeting again under similar circumstances.”
Amanda and Trent stepped into the entry with him.
“Nothing personal,” Amanda parroted, “but back at ya. So tell me what we should know.”
“I’ve mostly been a sounding board thus far, not probing them with a lot of questions. They’re still trying to process this. I’m going to be upfront and say there’s nothing that indicates Eloise was murdered or even injured. I’m not sure how much you know about the situation.” McGee stopped there, hands on hips, looking at them.
“Seven years old, an envelope addressed to Katherine was found on the girl’s bed,” Trent recapped.
“Okay. Yeah, well, that’s a whole thing right there. The mother discovered it, and she’s an absolute mess.”
Amanda stiffened. “What does it say?”
McGee produced the note from his pocket, sealed in a clear evidence bag.
Amanda held it so Trent could read it as well.
I knew you wouldn’t take my warning seriously. Now this girl’s fate is on you, Katherine Graves.
Amanda balled her hands into fists, feeling nothing but white-hot rage. Katherine wasn’t going to recover from this blow. She blamed herself already and had let this freak into her head. Now this bastard was coming right out and assigning her blame a second time. But this letter also contained a taunt. The implication being the girl’s life could be saved if they accepted this invitation to play his game.Assuming it’s a man.Just because Anne Harrington didn’t pan out, that didn’t exclude allwomen. Amanda looked at Trent to confirm he’d finished reading. He nodded, and Amanda handed the note back to McGee.
“I’ll give you a heads up,” McGee started. “The girl’s parents want to know who Katherine Graves is. So far, I’ve skirted the question, but that won’t hold out forever.”
Amanda studied McGee. “You know?”
“That Graves was a former PWCPD sergeant and that there was a note to her found with Hailey Tanner? Yeah, I know. I don’t know what the killer was referring to when he told her to stop.”
Amanda didn’t want to get into all the details. “How do you know about that note?”
“You might think I’m cold or question my competency, but I care. Too much, to be honest. I had Rideout copy me in on his autopsy findings. He mentioned finding the note in the tutu’s hem.”
Amanda’s cheeks became hot with shame. She’d judged the man from snippets without considering the full picture. With what he said, she got the feeling he had a case hit close to home that was his unresolved White Whale. It might have happened after he’d landed in Missing Persons, or it might be why he worked there. “I didn’t realize…”
“How could you? We don’t know each other.”
“Well, smart call on not telling them more about Katherine. That could place her in danger,” Amanda said. The Maynards could make things personal with Katherine and go after her. Even kind people were capable of drastic measures under these circumstances. Logic fled.
“Which I understand, and it doesn’t shed a favorable light on the PWCPD either. Anyway, I just wanted to prepare you for what you’re headed into. They will press you on it. Moving on, Crime Scene has been called in to process the girl’s room. I took a quick look around the house and couldn’t see any obvious signs of forced entry.”
If it made a difference, Amanda would cross her fingers that CSIs Blair and Donnelly were assigned. She didn’t have enough self-control for another round with CSI Stuart.
“There wasn’t anything conclusive to indicate that at the Tanner home at first either,” Trent said. “Is there a connection between the families?”
“Hard to say. The Maynards only recognized the Tanner name from the news. And my bringing it up wasn’t received well. I’ll leave the matter for you two to investigate further.”
Amanda couldn’t imagine the comparison drawn from a murdered girl to their Eloise would be easy to handle. They’d also want an explanation for why the PWCPD hadn’t taken this person off the streets yet. “All right, could you intro?—?”
A knock on the door had Amanda turning. Two figures were visible through the sidelight, and at the sight of collection kits, she opened the door.
CSIs Blair and Donnelly were there, and Amanda let out a breath of relief. She stepped back to let them inside.
Detective McGee handed the sealed note over to Blair. “This is for you. I’ll take you up to the girl’s room and explain.”
CSI Blair tapped Amanda’s shoulder on her way past.
Amanda turned to Trent. “Guess we’ll introduce ourselves.”
