Axel explained, since they’d had a longer conversation with Mabel as they’d walked out of the Garden District. “There’s a young woman who was friends with a victim—she wasn’t a victim herself. She died of tuberculosis while still young, though. In life, the Axeman murders haunted her, and I believe she’s remained because she is still seeking the truth.”

“And I thought it would be hard to discover the truth after twelve years!” Katie said. “Now we’re looking at more than a hundred. You said her name was Mabel Greely? I’ll get to public records and see what I can find on her.”

“You’ve done that kind of research before?” Dan asked.

She grimaced. “Hey, I’m a guide. Licensed and all. We strive to tell the truth that goes along with our legends.”

“Who were the Axeman’s other victims?” Axel prompted.

“Okay, so next we have Joseph Romano, an elderly man. He survived the attack. His nieces came in when they heard a commotion, and like Anna Schneider, they could report on what they saw, a big man in a dark coat and slouched hat escaping as they arrived. Joseph survived the initial attack but died two days later because of the injuries he sustained. Then...”

She paused, wincing.

“Then...” Dan said in encouragement.

She shook her head. “The worst. He attacked Rosie and Charles Cortimiglia, and their daughter, Mary. Charles and Rosie survived, but Mary was found dead in her mother’s arms. Only two years old. Their lives were ruined. They had lost their baby daughter, and they divorced. Mary accused an old man, a neighbor, and his seventeen-year-old grandson. They were both arrested and did jail time, and the seventeen-year-old was sentenced to hang. Mary later recanted. And with good reason. The old man was too infirm to have committed the crimes, and the grandson was too big to have fit through the panel that had been chiseled away at the back.”

“Cortimiglia? No,” Dan muttered. Katie’s glance at him was hostile again. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Mabel Greely claimed her friend was a victim...”

He knew why Mabel had stuck around, why her passion to find justice had been so great that she’d stayed year after year. Her friend had been murdered by the man.

And he had gone on to kill again.

A child.

The Axeman had killed a baby.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “What was the surname of the first victims again? Maggio? I think Mabel said she knew a woman named Maggio, right, Axel?” He looked at the other man, who nodded. Dan went on. “She must have still been reeling from the loss of her friend when the monster struck again.”