Page 5 of See How They Hide

“Those are pine trees, but I couldn’t say where it was taken.”

“I’d like to take the box, if you don’t mind. Maybe our forensic shrink can glean something from this.”

He nodded. “The sheriff said to give you anything you need.”

As Kara was putting everything back in, she felt something slick against the side, wedged into the box seam. She pulled it up. Pressed between two sheets of thin plastic was a preserved red poppy, practically invisible against the dark wood of the box.

Okay, this is creepy, Kara thought.

There was nothing to indicate why Jane had the poppy preserved, what it meant, who had given it to her. But it was in the box, and her body was found covered with hundreds of red poppies.

Definitelycreepy.

Ken frowned. “Honestly, I can’t tell you whether that was in the box or not when we first came in here.”

“It was wedged down the side, see?” She put it back. She couldn’t even see it unless she angled the box just right in the light. “I’m going to take a video of the room for our shrink.”

“I’ll wait outside.” He closed the door behind him.

Kara took pictures of the room, the bookshelf, then a three-sixty video.

Jane Merrifield didn’t have a large footprint. She didn’t leave much behind. Did the boy in the picture kill her? Maybe an ex-boyfriend? Someone else? A stranger?

According to Ken’s interview with Ashley, Jane was a homebody. She went to class, worked at a local bakery three mornings a week, and spent a lot of time reading.

Why did it feel like Jane Merrifield was a ghost even before she was murdered?

2

Ashland, Oregon

When Kara stepped into the living room, Ashley was sitting on the couch, her laptop on her crossed legs.

“Um, Detective Kinder went outside,” Ashley said.

Kara sat across from Ashley. She put the box on the table and asked, “Have you ever seen this before?”

Ashley shrugged. “Once or twice. Jane sometimes had it on her desk—it’s a pretty box. I commented on it, asked where she got it. She said a friend made it for her when she was little.”

“Did she talk to you about her childhood?”

“Not really. She was an only child. She never talked about her parents, and I didn’t pry. I mean, not everyone has a good relationship with their mom and dad, you know?”

Kara knew. She hadn’t spoken to her parents in years.

“You know,” Ashley continued, “Jane was always sort of sad even when she looked happy, if that makes sense.” She shrugged.

“Do you have an example?”

She thought, then said, “I invited her to come home with me for Thanksgiving. She didn’t want to, but I pushed—I knew she’d have fun, and she finally agreed. I have a huge family—aunts and uncles and lots of cousins. We play games and have tons of food and my uncle Ted always drinks too much but he’s a funny drunk, and my aunt May sings Christmas carols—she has an amazing voice, and we do a scavenger hunt. It’s always a blast.

“I didn’t think Jane was having fun because she just sort of hung back, you know? She talked to people, but only when they talked to her first. But when we drove back here the next day, she said she had the most fun she’d ever had in her life. And...I think she meant it. It wasn’t hyperbole. I kind of thought then that she had a rough childhood, you know? Like maybe her parents were mean or abusive. She told me I was lucky.”

“And other than Riley Pierce, she didn’t have any close friends?”

“She was friendly with everyone, but, yeah, no one she hung out with regularly. She planned to move to France when she graduated. I don’t think she wanted to.”

“Why?”

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