Page 104 of Another Girl Lost

Her brows furrowed. “Why would she?”

“Might help her make sense of what happened to her.”

Lynn shook her head. “I didn’t know anything about her. I had no idea she was in the basement.” She shifted her stance.

“Nothing ever hit your radar about Tanner?” Dawson asked. “Nothing?”

“No. He was normal with me.”

Many men like Tanner could cleave their dark and light worlds in two. Some could live a double life for years and no one noticed enough inconsistencies to sound an alarm bell. But in most cases, Dawson found if he pressed, family members or loved ones could look back and identify warning signs.

“Never heard muffles, odd sounds, or even banging on the pipes?” he asked.

Lynn slowly shook her head but stopped. “The pipes,” she said, more to herself. “The pipes clanged from time to time. Tanner told me he had bad pipes, but after I mentioned it, I never heard the sound again.”

“What did you hear exactly?” Dawson asked.

“Random clanging. It only happened a few times.”

“You were at the house often?”

“A couple of times a week in the spring of 2014. We usually made dinner and watched television. Tanner wasn’t always the most amorous guy, if you know what I mean.”

“He didn’t want to have sex with you?” Dawson asked.

“Sometimes he did, but it was never really super sexy.” Lynn glanced toward Dawson. “I offered to spice it up many times.”

“How, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Her gaze flickered down. “I don’t know. The usual ways.”

“What’re the usual ways?”

“Role-play, costumes, devices.”

“But that was tame for him, wasn’t it? He had girls locked in the basement to satisfy his spicier needs,” Dawson said.

Her fingers curled into fists. “I thought he had a problem with me or was a prude.”

“When exactly did you hear the pipes?”

“April or May. I don’t remember the actual day.”

Sandra was last seen April 1, 2014, so if Tanner had her, that fit into the time frame. “How did he seem after you heard the pipes?”

“Annoyed. Said he’d have to fix them.”

The fatal blow to Sandra’s head could have been unintentional. She’d tried to alert Lynn for help, and he’d lashed out and killed her in the process. “You’re sure it was April or May?”

“I remember it was spring. Still chilly outside.”

June 2014 had seen record-high temperatures, so chances were if someone had reached out for help, it wasn’t Scarlett. “What can you tell me about Tanner?”

She threaded trembling fingers together. “I told all this to the cops ten years ago. Can’t you read the files?”

“Humor me,” Dawson said. “Sometimes the passing of time jostles memories. Whatever might have stressed you out then might have faded. It’s understandable you’d have been under a great deal of pressure after Tanner’s death.”

Frustration tightened her face before it melted into resignation. “That was the worst time of my life. I could barely think.”

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