Page 150 of Everything She Feared

“So?” Benton said.

“So, I just got off the phone with my contact at the RCMP in Ottawa. Corporal Taylor. Apparently, she went further. She checked with the territorial, provincial and larger municipal databases. She also put out a request for smaller ones to run a check for absolutely anything that came up. Didn’t have to result in charges, could be a complaint, anything. The request took time.”

“And?” Acker said.

“We got a hit with Sara and Katie.”

“A beef in Canada?” Benton’s eyes widened. “Maybe that’s how we missed it, Art. Maybe this is the previous death?”

Grotowski nodded while consulting his notes.

“I just have a summary, no specifics. This is out of Delta, British Columbia, a suburb in Metro Vancouver. About two years back, Katie Harmon, who was seven at the time, was at a community swimming pool. She got into some kind of verbal exchange with a boy, who I think was eight. He bullied her and she may have threatened him.”

“That’s it?” Benton said.

“Not long after that, the boy was dead—he’d drowned at the bottom of the pool.”

The detectives glanced at each other.

“Man, oh, man,” Benton said.

“She was seven at the time?” Pierce said. “What were the circumstances, the result of the investigation? Were there even charges?”

“We don’t know any more,” Grotowski said. “I got a request in with Delta PD and they’re going to hook me up with the lead investigator.”

Benton whistled through his teeth. “This thing’s breaking wide open,” he said. “We gotta take all this to Heidi, Art, and move on Katie.”

Digesting the revelation out of Canada, Acker studied the sketch and nodded slowly.

“Alright, let’s go.”

72

Seattle, Washington

Ryan’s heart wasstill beating fast.

In the corner of his mind, his journalist’s voice warned him to be cautious, to get the facts on Sara Harmon. Just because Sara and her daughter were caught up in the tragic death of Anna Shaw, it didn’t make them descendants of Magda.

I have no concrete evidence.

Yet every instinct told him he was closer than ever to Magda. He needed to process it all. He needed to be 100 percent sure about Sara Harmon.

Then he needed a plan, he thought as he rolled his SUV into the car loading lot for the Bainbridge ferry. The trip across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island and back would be calming and help him decide on what steps to take.

He boarded, secured his car, and got out and took in Seattle’s skyline as the boat set sail.

They hadn’t gone far when his phone vibrated with a message.

Hi Ryan: I’m Owen Sikes withTell-Tale Hearts. Sonya Rule told me to get back to you re: your request concerning your episode and the woman who identified herself as Lynn calling from Chicago. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to obtain detailed information on people who contact the show. However, I can confirm that her call did not come from Chicago. It came from Seattle. Wish I could be more helpful. Owen.

“Seattle?” Ryan said out loud to his phone.

That’s strange. This “Lynn” gives me bogus information and she’s calling from Seattle? Of all places. What’s up with that? Could it mean I’m on the right track here in Seattle and this was an attempt to steer me away by getting me to believe that Magda’s dead?

He sent Owen a thank-you message.

For the next several minutes he assessed the new information further.

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