The blood soaks through the white cotton and it reminds me of the blood on the snow outside.
“Julia,” I say. She looks up at me. “It’s over. It’s time to come home.”
Epilogue
“I grew up hearing about you,” Iris says. Her voice is powdery, and the words sound painful coming through her still-chapped lips, but she wants to speak. I have the feeling she hasn’t had much of a voice of her own in a long time.
“Mom told me about you, of course. But my father ranted about you. He was obsessed with how you’re able to solve crimes and angry because he never made it as an agent.”
“He wanted to be in the Bureau?” I ask, stunned.
“More than anything,” Iris says, adjusting herself in her bed. Fortunately, the doctors expect her to make a full recovery. Physically, at least. Mentally, emotionally? The realization that her father was a mass murderer who essentially kidnapped her mother and kept them both trapped? No one can be sure. “The FBI were like gods to him. But he couldn’t get through the academy. I barely even remember life before we ended up in the woods. Mom tried to help me remember the good times. Before it all changed.”
“I found out Les had murdered at least one girl, and I had to think there were more. I knew things were changing in him, but I had no idea what was really happening. When it all came together, I went to confront him. But Eleanor Murillo was there,” says Julia from her own bed just next to Iris.
I nod. “She told me she had only just realized you weren’t having an affair with the TA she was sleeping with. You were involved with Les Harris. She was there when you went to confront him.”
Julia nods. “She attacked me. I don’t remember much. All I know is when I woke up, Les had moved me to the woods and was taking care of me. That’s what he always thought he was doing. Taking care of me. We were going to have a future together, he told me. Be happy.”
Sam and I listen while Iris tells us about her childhood in the woods. How things were alright at first, but then Les began to get violent and delusional. Pressure got to him and soon he was tormenting both of them.
“I thought you might be the one who could save us,” she says to me. “But I couldn’t just reach out to you. I had to find a way to get your attention and steer you toward figuring out everything my father did.”
“So, you sent the email and started the Advent calendar,” I say.
Iris nods. “I never intended anything bad to happen. Then my father caught me. When he asked what I was doing, I told him I thought it might be fun to toy with you and prove that he is so much smarter. That he could fool the best agent in the FBI. He went with it. Only, he took it too far. When he killed Marissa so she couldn’t tell you about my mother or the scarf, I knew we had to get out.”
“That’s when my hand got crushed,” Julia says. “We were trying to escape, and the door to the cellar under the cabin fell on my hand. I told Iris to go and waited for Les. He wanted to help me. He thought he was smart enough to be anything he wanted, and right then he wanted to be a doctor. He cut off my hand and cauterized it with an iron from the fire.”
My stomach turns.
“I’m so sorry, Julia.”
She shakes her head. “Iris got out. That was what mattered the most to me.”
“I took the bracelet hoping you would recognize it,” Iris says. “I knew you were on campus. I just had to get to you and show that to you, and you would come get her.”
“Speaking of which,” I say and reach into my purse to pull out the bracelet. I wrap it around Julia’s wrist. “This is yours.”
She looks down at it and tears spill down her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“Are you ever going to explain that thing?” Sam asks. “What is a JMEG?”
Julia and I laugh.
“It’s a joke,” I tell him. “From Herman Melville’s Yelp review of the whale watching voyage. It was his screen name. Call Me JMEG.”
We laugh again, but the others just shake their heads.
The hospital staff cuts off our visit to insist Iris and Julia both need their rest. We promise to come back to visit soon, but all I can think as we walk across the parking lot is that I can’t wait to get home. We’ll see them again. For now, they need a chance to heal and figure out how to move forward.
“What about Harris’ other victims?” Sam asks on our way home.
I shake my head. “We’ll keep looking. Julia and Iris have some information and we’ll use the research from the club. We’ll figure it out.”
Sam smiles. “I love you, Emma. I can’t believe you were able to make all those connections so quickly and save Julia. Honestly, all my best detectives put together couldn’t have done that.”
“Yeah, I know,” I wink. “But I’m just glad to have my friend back. And maybe once she’s had a little time to recover, we can maybe pick up our friendship. A real friendship.”
When we finally get home, the house is so beautiful I almost cry. Sam has covered it in Christmas decorations, and the smell of all my favorite Christmas foods pours from the open from door as I approach. Dean, Bellamy, and Eric are on the porch by the time I get up the steps, and they gather me in tight hugs.
“You’re already here!” I say. “It’s so good to see you.”
“We had to come,” Bellamy grins. “After all that,
