“I can swear on that Bible a hundred times,” the murdered woman’s friend said, “that she never would have bought that for herself. Not her style and not her budget.” She then told how the young woman wore only black and kept a low profile, which made her an exception to Shelley’s idea about what might keep you safe, proof that sometimes there is no way out. That’s what Shelley’s brother had said to her. He said there was “no way out.” He’d said he was sorry he wouldn’t be there to help her clean up the mess.

Harvey told her he has also seen the Dog House Girl in their yard, moving from tree to tree. He says it is hard to sleep when you know things like about her, and about Lyle and Erik and what they did, and Lizzie Borden and what she did, the Beast of Bladenboro, right down the road, and the statue in the cemetery that will chase you at night. He says he tries to think about happy things, to have a party in his head for just nice people who are still alive, but the others all keep coming anyway. He’d asked her if she thought the Dog House Girl knew she was being killed, and Shelley said she hoped not.