Marion was shaking her head, but Steel kept going. “At some point the drugs come into it. Maybe he starts with some kind of party drug that gets them high—teaches them there’s a whole world out there they don’t know about. I think he sleeps with them, too. There’d been evidence of that in previous cases. It’s all fun and games and a big fuck you to all the other adults in their lives who still treat them like children. But then things start going awry.”
“In what way?”
“He plays on their insecurities. Their jealousy. I’m not sure about this part yet, but some of the victims knew each other. I’m wondering if he tells them to invite a friend or two along next time. Says they’ll party together. When his current mark goes along with the suggestion, thinking she’ll finally get to show off her secret boyfriend, he gets them all high—and hits on one of her friends. Maybe he tries for a threesome. I don’t know.” Rena and Sue had known each other. Lily had been jealous of Rena—and suspicious of Sue. Sue had run off from the pit thrilled to be picked up. Days later she’d been devastated.
He noticed the distress in Marion’s eyes.
“Girl number one gets mad,” he went on. “They fight. He drops her off. Girl number two sticks around. Now he’s got her hooked on the drugs—and the drama.”
“Where does the killing come in?”
“Our man likes the feeling of two girls fighting over him, but he knows there’s a limit. If girl number one gets too angry—and tells her parents…”
“Then he’s in trouble.”
“So he pushes it to the brink, gets high on the danger he’s causing by his own actions, but when he senses girl number one is about to break, he texts her again. Tells her he’s sorry. Asks her out again—she’s the one he’s always wanted.”
“And he gets her high one last time,” Marion said slowly.
“And watches her die.”
“Why don’t any of the girls report him?” Her voice was thin. Hardly audible. Steel understood her pain.
“Because now girl number two is caught up in the story. She’s the special one now. The girl who came before her was too dumb for her own good. Took too many drugs and overdosed. Girl number two thinks she’s too smart for that.”
“Until it’s too late,” Marion said.
“This guy, whoever he is, is reckless, but he’s not stupid. He knows he’s getting to the end of the line. If we don’t catch him soon, we won’t catch him at all. He’ll go underground again, just like he did last time.” He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he did. As the details of Sue’s death got out and combined with what people knew about Rena and the others, it would be clear the killer had a type, which would make it harder for him to find more victims.
A tear slid down Marion’s weathered face. Steel could only imagine the pain of thinking about her granddaughter’s last days. Could only imagine what else had gone on in her family that Abigail had slipped into the fringes of society even before the killer got to her. Did Marion blame herself for some part of what happened? Steel figured it was all too easy for those left behind to do so.
“You were living in Chance Creek at the time? When your granddaughter was killed?” That was where the first cluster of deaths had occurred.
She shook her head. “Livingston.”
Steel straightened. Livingston was west of Chance Creek and had never been mentioned in the investigation. “We never looked at deaths in Livingston,” he admitted to Marion.
“I told Abigail’s mother to go to the Chance Creek sheriff when girls started dying there thirteen years ago. I told her those deaths were related to Abigail’s.”
“Where is Abigail’s mother now?” Steel wished he didn’t have to ask.
“Dead. Didn’t take care of herself once Abigail was gone.” More tears ran down Marion’s face. He crossed to the kitchen, found the end of a roll of paper towels and brought it back to her.
“Sorry. All I have.”
She took the paper towels and tried to mop her face with them, but her grief got the best of her, and she sobbed into her hands. Steel let her cry it out. He knew she wouldn’t want him to touch her. Knew she’d hate herself for showing weakness like this.
“It’s the same man back at his old tricks, with a few new twists. I’m sure of it. I’m trying to track him down, Marion. I’m undercover asking questions, gathering information, doing everything I can to find the connections and bring him in.”
She wiped her eyes. “I thought you were just another Cooper. Another criminal.”
“Like my father? You’re right—Dale broke some laws in his time. But he was trying to help at the end, too. If you saw him hanging around Silver Falls, it was because he traced the killer here.”
“Dale was tracking the killer?” she repeated.
“Trying to,” Steel said.
Marion’s fingers pleated the soggy paper towels in her lap. “And he’s still here. Abigail’s killer is still here—walking around scot free.”
“That’s right. You want to help me catch him?” Steel said, inspiration striking.
Marion went very still. “Help how?”
“Doing what you do best.”
When Stella took her seat at the dining room table, she found Noah, Olivia, Maya and Lance had joined them. Mary had placed herself at one end of the table and Jed at the other, as usual. Each couple
