One of the women gasped. The others glanced at each other with a shared disbelief, confirming in Tara’s mind that they weren’t suspects.

“Did she mention anything to you? Where she was going? Who she met, maybe?”

The tall, slender woman shook her head. “She didn’t mention if she met anyone, did she?” she asked as she looked at her friends.

They all shook their heads.

“She mentioned Hanover,” another woman with jet-black hair added. “She was heading there.”

“Did she say where she might stop?” Tara asked, already partially knowing the answer, but fishing for anything more.

The woman stared off at the empty lot, in deep thought, as if trying to picture the conversation.

“She mentioned she needed a water jug,” she started, and Tara nodded, already expecting that answer. “She said she was also looking forward to getting something to eat.”

“Did she mention any places to eat? Or did you guys suggest any?” Tara asked, feeling on the brink of getting somewhere, but the woman just shook her head in response.

A brief pause lingered between them.

“Did she mention heading back up north at all?” Tara asked. “Her body was found a bit north of here.”

They all shared a quick glance again and then the dark-haired woman who spoke moments earlier spoke again.

“That’s strange,” she began. “I did mention a waterfall a couple miles north up the trail. She didn’t sound interested, but maybe she decided to check it out after all?”

It was a new bit of information and Tara thanked them all before she and Warren turned and headed to the car. They both knew they had exhausted their efforts, and Tara mulled over the conversation in her head.

If the victim went to the waterfall, it would explain why her body was found where it was, but it didn’t make sense why she would head there after Hanover.

They knew she stopped in Hanover, that much was certain, but it seemed unlikely to Tara that the victim would stop there first, since it was south of the camping site, only to leave and travel north and go past it. It seemed more plausible that she would stop at the waterfall first before Hanover; otherwise, it would be a waste of time.

“You think it’s worth checking out the waterfall?” Tara asked Warren as they approached the car.

He pulled out the keys from his pocket.

“It’s possible she was heading there, but I think it’s unlikely,” he said over the hood of the car as he reached for the door handle. Tara knew he thought the same way she did, that it didn’t make logical sense.

“But I don’t think we’re done with Hanover yet,” he added, and Tara agreed.

Chapter Thirteen

Warren turned onto the main street in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Tara sat in the passenger’s seat, watching people pass by on the sidewalk. On the way over, they had decided that they would go into some stores to see if any of the victims stopped anywhere that they didn’t yet know of.