This man had to have been the one on the news: the one they called The Tri-State Killer. The reports said that TSK was likely very controlling and misogynistic, which fit this guy perfectly. She was sure the world couldn’t be so ugly that there would be more than one monster murdering in this way. He had gotten away with his crimes for so many years and they were just two more pawns in his sick game. A game he was outsmarting everyone in, continuously winning. Sarah squeezed the bracelet tighter, internally thanking the girl before her for leaving it. She hoped the man would be caught and punished but if he wasn’t, then she hoped that something from her own spirit would grant comfort to the next girl who found herself on this tattered mattress. They were like a sisterhood, this group of stolen girls. Dead but not forgotten.

CHAPTER 23

On the drive home after we’d finished lunch and I had gotten all the content I needed from the art exhibit, I replayed my entire visit with Cris and Rosie. Something was bugging me but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Too many opposing thoughts rolled around in my head. I pulled up to a toll booth and handed the attendant a twenty. She pulled out a stack of bills and thumbed through them. They were sorted by denomination and I noticed how she removed a misplaced bill and expertly inserted it back into the stack in the proper place. After pulling out two bills and handing them to me, the attendant carefully placed the stack into a plastic Tupperware that was the exact right size and snapped the lid shut tightly.