‘Liz,’ Beck interrupted, leaning forward on her seat. ‘You cannot repeat to others what we are about to share with you in regard to this case, as it could jeopardize bringing the perpetrator to justice.’ She glanced at Andie and said, ‘Actually, Andie, would you mind stepping out of the room for just a moment? There’s a lot at stake with this case and we have to be really diligent about containing the flow of information.’

Andie looked at me anxiously, clearly not wanting to leave the room.

‘Please, can she stay? We spend so much time together and if I’m related to someone dangerous that may put her at risk too. We both promise not to tell anyone what you share with us.’ Andie nodded vigorously in response.

The agents stared at us for a beat before Hannigan gave Beck a short nod. ‘Okay,’ Beck said, looking back at us. ‘But this really must not leave the room.’

‘We promise,’ I said, on the edge of my seat.

‘I know that we were vague about which case we are working the last time we spoke, but it’s time we bring you up to speed on who we are investigating.’

She paused, looking to Hannigan again. The suspense was killing me.

Hannigan crossed his hands in his lap, his expression hard to read. ‘Liz, the criminal that we are investigating is The Tri-State Killer.’

Andie gasped, sloshing part of her drink out of the glass and onto her leg. I was frozen. A chill rushed over me, like a wave swelling and crashing down over my head so I couldn’t breathe or see which way was up or down. A confusing, all-encompassing darkness. The Tri-State Killer was the boogeyman. The monster who had evaded capture for decades, stealing lives in the darkness. Of all the possibilities of which killer I could be related to, he had seemed too far-fetched. I hadn’t seen anything about him in the news for years, all signs pointing to him being dormant.

The last time I spoke with the FBI it had been a tenuous connection to a crime, something that had intrigued me as a person who needed to know every detail of the world around me. But now, there was no escape from the eerie truth at hand; a truth I didn’t want to be a part of. I could no longer deny or make up excuses about the level of evil someone in my family possessed. Someone that shared DNA with me was capable of abducting and murdering women for over forty years. Women not all that different from Andie and me. It was a hard concept to grasp, and now, it was my reality.