“I’m sure you’ve visited the house before,” she says. “I’m sure you’ve snuck inside. Maybe you even spent the night. I’m sure you’re familiar with the fact that the house just…never seems to sell. That way they don’t have to explain the stains above that stove. Or the stains all around the stove’s mouth, like a toothless mouth after eating spaghetti for eight. Oh, I can see in your eyes you’ve seen these stains. You’ve prayed to her or talked to her or even tried to summon her in the very house she took those children. The same house, yes, where she was killed. You’ve been in her bedroom, and so you saw the children’s clothing on the floor in there. You explored the basement because you’re brave, Trina McDay. Because you’re not scared of anything and anyone who tells you otherwise is shit. You don’t trust any authority and authority doesn’t trust you. You like it that way. The Vann Guards. Did you wanna see more? You wanna conjure Daphne Vann? Just think about her, right? Isn’t that all you have to do? I bet you’ve done a lot of it through the years. Have you also thought of the families of those children? Have you thought of how heartbreaking it is that these families don’t speak of their children’s killer because they’re afraid to bring her back?” McGowan holds a pic inches from Trina’s eyes. “What do you think of that head on the floor, Trina? Pretty neat, huh?”

“Stop it,” Trina says.

Evan comes to her aid:

“You can’t stop thinking about her.”

McGowan rises to her full height, steps to him, grabs him by the back of his head.

“How do you know Peter Lords?”

“Jesus! Get off—”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW PETER LORDS?”

She holds the gun to Evan’s chin.

Evan cries.

“Stop,” Zach says. “Please. Stop.” Defeat or something like it in his voice. McGowan can taste it; catching this killer. She’s so close. “He’s a crazy old man. He’s a fan, yeah. So are we. Okay? We’re allowed to be. But Peter’s a bigger fan than us.”

McGowan steps back from Evan.

“What do you mean?”

“Shut up,” Bjorn tells him.

But Zach goes on: “I work at Hi-Fi Grocery. I’ve been there five years. That’s where I first heard of her.”

“From who?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to talk to her,” Bjorn says.

“From who?”

“I truly don’t know. My guess is it was Peter Lords. He tried to join the Vann Guards but he’s…too much. We stopped hanging out with him months ago. Listen. Please.” Zach’s eyes fill up and he can’t stop himself from crying and he can’t lift his hands to wipe away the tears. “I showed Kennedy Lichtenstein. It’s my fault she died.”

“Showed her what?”

“Someone wrote ‘Daphne Lives’ on the breakroom wall,” Zach says. “Okay? I was told to scrub it clean. But it keeps coming back. It’s everywhere back there. I showed Kennedy because I thought it was cool. I—”