Page 65 of The Lake of Lost Girls

The older woman gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Whoever he is, he ain’t worth the tears,” she said and I quickly wiped my face, realizing I was crying.

She was right. Ryan wasn’t worth it. But I wasn’t only crying about him. I was crying for the four missing women and how everyone had failed them. The police, the college, even their loved ones. What chance did they have when no one listened? The injustice was too much to think about. I could only hope that Lieutenant Jane Higgins kept her promise and solved their cases.

Tammy, Phoebe, Meghan, and Jess deserved it.

After the waitress left to get my coffee and pie, I turned my attention to the file, expecting piles of useless information, given the ineptitude Sergeant O’Neil had displayed in his investigation. To my surprise, there was much more than that.

The detective had, in some respects, been very thorough. There were photocopies of all of his notes. There were copies of official statements on old police forms. There were transcripts of interviews, some dozens of pages long.

And there were photographs. Lots and lots of photographs.

There were pictures of all the missing girls. A glamor shot of Tammy Estep with her frizzy brown hair. Meghan Lambert holding a hockey stick for an official school photo. A picture of Phoebe Baker smiling in her high school cap and gown. And there were pictures of Jess. So many pictures.

But there were also police photos of things the detective had thought relevant at the time. Snapshots of dorm rooms. Photographs of Doll’s Eye Lake haphazardly marked off with police tape. Pictures of Jess’s car, an older model of my own Toyota, parked in front of our house.

I flipped through the pages hoping to find something glaringly obvious. But there was so much that I decided to start at the beginning and work my way through it methodically.

A paper near the front of the stack caught my eye.

It was Ryan’s police interview. I skimmed the page and wasn’t surprised to find it disorganized and aimless. Sergeant O’Neil never followed up on anything that Ryan said. There were no probing questions. And given that Ryan hadn’t even bothered to have an attorney present, it was clear he didn’t feel that he needed one. Even though Ryan was a potential suspect, the whole thing read like it was merely a formality.

Mt. Randall Police Department

Official Interview: Ryan James McKay

Report Date: 04/28/1999

Time stamp: 14:45

Description: Interview with Ryan James McKay

Occurrence From: 04/28/1999, 14:45

Occurrence To: 04/28/1999, 15:50

Reporting Officer: O’Neil, Liam (Sergeant, lead detective of Mt. Randall Police Department)

Case/File Number: A413TR5

Sergeant L. O’Neil:Okay, Ryan, let me start by thanking you for coming down to the station today. I know things are probably real busy for you at school.

Ryan McKay:Yeah, it is, but of course, I wanted to come.

Sergeant L. O’Neil:Great, well let’s get started. First off, can you tell me what your relationship is with Jessica Fadley?

Ryan McKay:Jess is my girlfriend.

Sergeant L. O’Neil:And how long had the two of you been dating?

Ryan McKay:I don’t know,a couple of months.

Sergeant L. O’Neil:And were the two of you monogamous?

Ryan McKay:Yes, sir, we’re as serious as you can get.

Sergeant L. O’Neil:Did Jessica have any other boyfriends?

Ryan McKay:No, sir, only me.

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