Page 56 of The Lake of Lost Girls

Stella:Welcome back, true crime lovers, I’m your host Stella—

Rachel:And I’m Rachel.

Stella:And this isTen Seconds to Vanish: The Unsolved Disappearance of Jessica Fadley.

*Theme music plays*

Stella:Guys, we’ve been the number one true crime podcast on iTunes and Spotify for the past month!

Rachel:I can’t believe how people have taken to our show. I know it has everything to do with our girl Jessica.

Stella:I’ve opened a brand new bottle of red. You want some, Rach?

Rachel:Absolutely, and then let’s jump right into it, because things have really taken a turn this past week.

Stella:Have they ever! I’m having a hard time keeping up with the twists and turns in this case. So, my murder-loving beauties, I’m sure you’ve all heard that the police have finally issued astatement about those remains found at Doll’s Eye Lake outside of Mt. Randall.

Rachel:Who the hell names a lake, “Doll’s Eye”? What kind of crazy, nightmare fuel is that?

Stella:I know, it sounds like something straight from a Stephen King novel.

Rachel:Okay, so this new detective seems to actually have her shit together, which is a nice change from the sloppy police work that has dogged this case so far.

Stella:You can tell Detective Higgins is a bad-ass bitch. And that lady ison it. No stone unturned and all that.

Rachel:Detective Higgins has come out and said that those remains—the ones that we were all so convinced were Jessica’s—they’re not Jessica.

Stella:Nope. And it turns out that the bones found at the lake—this place that was one of Jessica’s favorite spots–well, it’s none other than Tammy freaking Estep.

Rachel:What the actual crap is going on here?

Stella:And that’s not all. It turns out Tammy was killed by a blow to the head! And, the underwater forensic team is now on site, diving into Doll’s Eye Lake to look for more remains. And guess what … sources say they’ve found something.

Rachel:More bodies?

Stella:Maybe. Police are being tight-lipped about it, which is really annoying. But I think we can deduce that more bodies have been found. Now, whether they’re connected to Tammy and Jessica has yet to be determined.

Rachel:It could be anybody floating around down there.

Stella:Maybe it’s one of our other missing girls.

Rachel:Maybe it’s Jessica.

Stella:Maybe. But back to Tammy. Why were her bones at this lake? From what I’ve read, this placeis really off the beaten path. You’d have to know it’s there to find it, and Tammy wasn’t from the area. To me, that obviously shows she was dumped there.

Rachel:If this is a place only known by locals, it narrows down the suspect pool considerably.

Stella:It sure does. But let’s move on because there’s another girl we need to talk about.

Rachel:That’s right. We’ve talked about Jessica, Tammy, and Phoebe. So that only leaves …

Rachel and Stella in unison:Meghan Lambert.

CHAPTER11

JESSICA

Late January 1999

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