Page 125 of We Are All Guilty Here

You carried those memories with you for the rest of your life.

Cole stifled a yawn. He stood up from the conference table and went into the tiny kitchenette at the back of the room. Jude followed him for the chance to stretch her legs. She was glad to see he was making a fresh pot of coffee. The disturbed look on his face was new. He’d probably thought he was being brave by volunteering to take on reading Dale Loudermilk’s case. Emmy had kept out the pornographic photos of children that Dale had downloaded onto his laptop, but sometimes the stark descriptions could be just as haunting. Prosecutors were incentivized to make them as lurid and disgusting as possible.

Jude asked, “You okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, but man, what an evil bastard.” Cole started scooping coffee into the filter. “Mr. Loudermilk taught at my school. I’m glad Jonah made me sign up for band instead of chorus.”

Despite the circumstances, Jude felt herself smile, because of course Cole had taken band. “What did you play?”

“Tambourine.” The sly grin was back on his face. The boy certainly loved pissing off his father. “Why don’t you sound Southern?”

“It comes out when I’m angry, drunk, or tired.”

“I heard it when you were angry at Brett, that’s for sure.” Cole filled the carafe with water from the sink. “It’s hard to believe that guy taught in the same school as Tommy and Celia, but they never knew how gross he was.”

“The thing about pedophiles is, they don’t just groom their victims. They groom everyone around them.” Jude stepped back so he could fill the reservoir with water. “It’s a standard part of their playbook. They’re the nicest guys you know. They’ll help you move a couch or cut your lawn or volunteer to drive you to a doctor’s appointment. That way, when a child finds the courage to tell the truth, no one believes such a good guy would ever do anything so unspeakable.”

“His wife stuck by him until she died a few years ago.” Cole punched on the coffee maker. “Even after Dale confessed as part of his plea deal, she wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency.”

“I’m sure Dale told her he was only taking the deal because he had no choice, and it was all a big misunderstanding.”

Cole looked surprised. “How did you know?”

“Because that’s what they all do, sweetheart.” Jude rubbed his arm. She was pleased that he didn’t pull away this time. “Let’s get back to work.”

Emmy looked up from the trial transcript when Jude returned to the conference room. As usual, she dove right in. “You said you need a body to accurately profile a killer. You’ve read the autopsies. What’s your profile?”

“The same.” Jude couldn’t sit down anymore. She crossed her arms, stood at the head of the table as if she was teachinga class. “He’s a white man who works in a skilled position that requires some education or training. He has frequent contact with children and is trusted in the community. He’s likely married, possibly with a family of his own.”

Cole said, “To cover himself, right? So nobody suspects him.”

Jude nodded. “Right.”

“Here’s the problem.” Emmy sat back in her chair. “That’s not Adam. He’s not skilled. Never married. Always in trouble. Driving around with an open bottle of Jack and a joint in the ashtray and no driver’s license. He was incredibly suspicious. Kids called him the Perv because he was always hanging around high schoolers.”

“She’s right.” Virgil looked at Jude over his glasses. “I know this is your specialty, but even if you take Adam Huntsinger out of it, that profile doesn’t exactly narrow things down, especially in a state of eleven million people, roughly half of them men.”

“He’s local to Clifton County,” Jude said. “He had time to develop a relationship with Madison and Cheyenne. He left their bodies in a very public place. I’m shocked Millie didn’t see him weigh down the girls in the pond. When I was a kid, she was always looking out her kitchen window to make sure no one was cutting through her yard.”

Virgil said, “Millie was out with everybody else searching for the girls.”

Emmy added, “She went home to take her blood pressure medication. I had nearly a dozen voicemails from her that day, but I didn’t call her back until we realized that Cheyenne would’ve cut across her property to get to the backroads. That’s when she told me that Adam was called the Perv. Should’ve called her earlier.”

Jude could hear the self-recriminations in her voice. Missing something right in front of you was a terrible guilt to carry. So was spinning your wheels in a conference room full of boxes. Jude had a decision to make.

She said, “We’re going to get case blind if we keep staring at documents. Let’s turn this around. Stop looking at the crime through Cheyenne and Madison’s eyes. Look at it from our killer’s perspective. I want us to start fresh and pretend thatAdam doesn’t exist. We’ll call the perpetrator the Bad Guy. When did the Bad Guy meet the victims? How? Where?”

Virgil said, “Cheyenne’s first burner phone came online in August the year before, so that’s probably the time that she met him.”

Emmy said, “Madison got a birth control prescription from Dr. Carl in September. Cheyenne was the one taking the pills, though. I found the blister pack in the attic above her closet. She started them October first. My guess is the Bad Guy met her at the outlet mall. That’s where kids hang out. He took his time grooming her because he knew she’d keep showing up.”

“Your feeling is that he met Cheyenne first?” Jude asked.

“Yes,” Emmy confirmed. “If the Bad Guy really was local, it would be stupid to approach Madison. Everyone knew Hannah was my best friend.”

Jude could hear the same note of regret in her voice. “Does Cheyenne fit the Bad Guy’s victim profile? Controlling parents, rebellious teen?”

“Yes,” Emmy confirmed again. “I guess Madison did, too, but not as much. Paul, her father, had a tracker on her phone. Hannah tried not to helicopter, but it’s hard not to smother a kid who’s pulling away. Then Cheyenne moved to Clifton and she and Madison were Velcroed to each other. Virgil tracked hundreds of texts and calls a day between them.”

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