Page 158 of Everything She Feared

Something’s up, Foy thought.

Meanwhile he’d succeeded in recovering two prints for comparison.

The first was easy; it was Benton’s.

The second print belonged to the woman who was in the park, Marilyn Hamilton. Foy was pleased because it was a detailed image, good enough to run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

After several commands and adjustments, Foy submitted Hamilton’s print to AFIS.

Pressing the last key, he said: “And away we go.”

79

Seattle, Washington

The handwriting was neat, legible on the lined pages of the journal belonging to Tracy Linda Loman, from when she was an inmate at Montana Women’s Prison in Billings.

The attachments had come through from Loman’s niece Michelle.

Ryan had checked them for viruses. Then he called the Montana Department of Corrections and an official there confirmed that Tracy Linda Loman, Inmate #3875647, had served time there.

Ryan began reading immediately, Loman’s observations taking him deeper into the darkness that had consumed Carrie.

He came to the first reference to Magda.

So as fate would have it, not long after my arrival, I’ve become friends with the infamous Magdalena Vryker, orMagdalena Kurtz, as she prefers after hubby Herman hung himself. She’s now got just 5 years to go and seems chatty.

He continued to other passages, reading carefully.

She tells me she’s learned Spanish, French, studied theatrical makeup so she can make herself look completely different (we have a very good library) and is working on a new life plan for when she rejoins the world.

Ryan slowed to reread the passage, then continued.

One day she tells me about her devotion and belief in the power of numbers, how the numbers told her of some great meaning, a sign, that her daughter was born on the date she was. How it was all woven into her destiny, or some cosmic thing. Then she said the date she met Herman Vryker, and what it meant, something about being selected to do great things. She’d go on about why things happened, what the numbers mean. She has this fanatical weird obsession with numbers.

So she’s fixated on numbers.

One time after lunch Magda tells me about all the psych sessions, tests and counseling she’s had. How she told every psychiatrist who assessed her what they needed to hear so it would help her. She told them that Herman abused her and made her go along with his sick fantasies. How she had to do it or he would’ve killed her and their daughter, Hayley, which was pretty much all lies.

A liar, no surprise there.

We were out in the yard, walking alone along the fence, when Magda stops and says: “The truth is I loved hunting and luring them. I loved the power of the kill. It was our destiny. It was written in the stars and the numbers for us. If it was in the numbers and the stars, I would do it again. I would have to.”

What the—?Ryan took a moment, then continued reading.

I asked her if she actually knew where the bodies of her victims were. She gave me a smile that turned my blood to ice. Oh, this woman is a piece of work. Very intelligent, manipulative and very dangerous. Very dangerous.

She knows where they are. She damn well knows where Carrie is.Ryan slammed his fist on his desk, then continued, coming close to Magda’s release and the final passages in Loman’s journal.

Magda’s time inside is short now, and she tells me about wanting to find her daughter, Hayley, who was taken from her and adopted by another family. Magda says she has no idea who the family is, where they live, their names, nothing. But she vows to find them. Magda says that with her sentence ending, she’s working with Women Healing in the Forgiving Light and her lawyer to find a way to find them. She wanted to find them so she could make a plea for reunification with her daughter, Hayley. How Hayley would be a grown woman now and Magda may have grandchildren.

Ryan couldn’t believe what he was reading.

Magda tells me that she finally was able to get a letter out to Hayley’s family through the group and her lawyer and she’s filled with hope.

Ryan skimmed ahead, past a few mundane passages.

Magda got a letter today. The family’s response. It has left her seething. At times when she tells me, her entire body shakes. “They stole my baby from me and this is what they say.” Magda showed me what they said: You are not her mother. She never wants to see you. Stay away. As far as we’re concerned, you have no role in our lives. You mean nothing to her. You do not exist. I looked at Magda and it was as if a switch had been thrown, something behind her eyes was burning.

---