Page 46 of The Girl and the Lies

“He just told me that Tracy Ellis is planning on having a talk at a local church about the murders. I need to tell her that she can’t do that. The investigation is still far too early for her to be making more speculations that will cause as much chaos as her talking about Terrence Brooks,” I say.

He nods. “Agreed. I’ve got to get going, but call me if you need anything,” he says.

“I will.”

He heads back into the house, and I dial Tracy Ellis. I’m surprised when she doesn’t answer. Deciding that it would be more impactful for her to hear from me in person, I go inside and get dressed. Smoothing my hair up into a bun away from my neck, I put on my usual black slacks and white button-up shirt, opting to leave the jacket off in deference to the steamy heat and humidity promised for later in the afternoon.

When I walk into the lobby, Estelle smiles at me, and I wave.

“I need to speak with Tracy,” I tell her. “Is she in her office?”

“She’s in a meeting right now,” she tells me. “But you are welcome to wait for her.”

“Thank you.”

I go to Tracy’s office, intending to wait outside, but I find the door standing partially open. I step inside and stand, waiting for a few moments, before my eyes fall on a piece of paper sitting on her desk. Bold, block letters spell out, “Destroy the false believers.” I pick up the note and stare down at it.

“Can I help you, Agent Griffin?”

I turn around and see Tracy Ellis standing at the doorway to the office, staring at me with steel in her eyes. I don’t back down. I hold up the note.

“When did you get this?” I demand.

“You just decided you can walk into my office without my permission and touch my belongings?” she asks. “This is why I need Ander. He needs to figure out a way to get here.”

“Your door was open, and this was sitting in full view on your desk. You can let go of your defensiveness now and answer my question. When did you get this note?”

“I didn’t get it,” she snaps, walking further into the room with a slight swagger in her step. “I wrote it.”

“Excuse me?” I ask.

“I saw some of the notes that were sent to my employees, but I foolishly threw them away without thinking about the value that they hold. People have heard all about these notes and how much fear they are causing. I want the world to see them. To have the visceral reaction of actually seeing what these people have had to face. I am creating a series of them to use as a visual aid for the talk I’ll be doing this weekend,” she says.

“You won’t be using anything like this,” I tell her.

She gives me a withering look. “I beg your pardon?”

“This,” I say, giving the note a shake for emphasis, “is not yours to show to anyone. You might have written this, but you have no place passing it off as real evidence. Even if you tell the people there that you made it yourself, you do not have authorization to discuss the details of this case and its investigation with uninvolved people. None of the notes have been shared with the media or shown to the public. Doing so could compromise the investigation.

“These are people’s lives you are planning on using for entertainment value. They aren’t just stories. Two people, real human beings, have been murdered, and others are terrified because they’ve gotten the threats too. Now is not the time for you to trot them out and cause them more pain and misery by turning them into fodder for one of your performances.”

“They are not performances, Agent Griffin,” Tracy sneers, obviously angry at the way I’m talking to her. “I’m not playing a part. I am a teacher. I am a voice of guidance and reason for those who are lost.”

“And you are also not a member of this investigation. This isn’t a teaching moment. This is an active investigation into two murders and multiple threats. The details of the notes are to be kept confidential. You will not be using them as a visual aid for this talk or any other. I hope I make myself clear.”

She glares at me like she expects me to back down under the sheer force of her will, but I just stare back. Finally, a bemused smile crosses her face, and she takes a step back, opening her hands out to her sides.

“Fine, Agent Griffin. If you feel that there is something damaging behind telling people the truth in this way, then I will respect that. But you can’t stop me from addressing the deaths of these two people when I do my talk. I do still have the right to freedom of speech, and I won’t be silenced. The deaths have been covered on the news, and if they are able to talk about them, then so am I.”

“As long as you are only talking about things that have been shared with the public and not exposing any information about the victims or their families,” I say.

She huffs indignantly. “Fine. Now, if you will excuse me, I really do have work to do.”

I leave the office with a tight feeling in my stomach. It seems like Tracy Ellis is almost relishing the deaths and the content it gives her. She’s savoring being able to rage about another death, drawing a crowd to hang on every word—and pay for tickets. It’s obvious she is eager for all the attention this is bringing to her ministry. It no longer seems like a question of how much she is doing this for the benefit of other people—and how much she is doing this for herself.

That night the house is quiet after Bellamy and Eric have gone to bed, and I’m up still going over my notes as I watch the news. A new report on the murder of Sabrina Ward comes on, and it’s obvious it wasn’t just his mother’s house that the media swarmed. Interspersed with shots of the outside of his mother’s house as the media waited for Ander to come out are images of the house he shared with Sabrina. The reporters repeat the same information they shared on the initial story last night, emphasizing that police and FBI were still looking for any leads in the situation.

Just as I feared it would, the coverage is leaning heavily into sensationalism, focusing on the frightening details and regularly repeating the link to the Tracy Ellis Ministry. They artfully weave in a mention of Terrence Brooks, stopping short of saying they think the same perpetrator is responsible for all the deaths but making sure to draw enough dubious parallels that it would be easy to confuse the situations as being tangled up together.

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