Page 98 of Everything She Feared

Her focus flicked up at the camera, like a snake’s tongue.

Ryan’s stomach tightened as he stared at her. How many times had he watched these videos? Here was Magda at twenty-three, practically the same age as Carrie and Willow. Magda wore no makeup; her tousled blond hair framed her face. And with her high cheekbones, she was attractive. But her eyes. Those stone-cold, dead eyes.

Were they the last thing Carrie saw?

“Magda,” Avelar said. “If you’re going to help yourself, you need to help us.”

“Where’s Hayley?” Magda asked.

“Before we answer that,” West said, “are you agreeing to talk to us?”

“Yes, I agree. Tell me what you did with my baby.”

“She’s safe,” West said. “She’s with the people at Family Services until you and Herman help us sort things out.”

“What things?” Magda’s voice broke. “I have no idea why I’m here.”

“Magda, it was all in the warrants,” West said. “You read them. You and Herman were present when they were executed at your home.”

Avelar opened a file folder and set down before Magda, one by one, color photographs of an engraved watch belonging to Frank Worrell of Boston, then Carrie’s inhaler. Then the rings belonging to the British couple, Sharon Lance and Jeremy Dunster of Manchester. Then a ring belonging to Brent Porter from Denver.

“These items are the property of people reported missing by their families, people last seen in Montana, Idaho and Washington,” West said. “Why did you have them?”

“I don’t know.” Magda shook her head. “I don’t know anything.”

“You don’t know?” West said.

For the next few hours, the agents detailed each of the missing person cases and the astronomical odds of their items being discovered with Magda and Herman Vryker. Over and over, with tears brimming, Magda said, “I don’t know anything. I want my daughter and I want to go home.”

Finally Avelar said: “We’ve talked to Herman, you know.”

Magda’s eyes registered a glint of surprise.

“What did he tell you?” Magda asked.

“Oh, he had a lot to say,” West said.

Thinking for a long moment, Magda’s tears evaporated.

“Did Herman tell you he got the items at flea markets?” Magda said.

The agents let her statement sit in the air.

“You know that’s not true,” West said.

“It is. He told me not to say anything because they could’ve been stolen. That’s why you searched our place.”

“Enough,” Avelar said. “You’re lying. You and Herman killed Lydia Worrell and Frank Worrell, Carrie Gardner and Willow Walker, Sharon Lance and Jeremy Dunster, and Brent Porter. And you kept their property as trophies.”

Magda shook her head.

“We know,” West said, “because there’s a living witness, a survivor, from your failed attack on her in Idaho, a few miles south of the Canadian border.”

“That’s not true,” Magda said.

Avelar turned to West, who put another photo on the table.

It showed a single toddler’s shoe, white with pink stripes.

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