Page 51 of Widow Lake

“No, he said he would report directly to you.”

“I’ll give him a call next. Meanwhile, I need you to pull visitor and phone logs and compile a list of everyone in communication with Radcliff. Also, include his former prison cell mates.”

“Of course,” the warden said. “It may take a few minutes. Although, upfront, I can tell you that the only visitor he’s had these last few months is a woman named Odessa Muldane. She’s one of those groupies obsessed with violent criminals. We caught her trying to sneak him in a shank and blocked her from the visitor list. She’s also been writing him love letters.”

“Interesting. Do you have her address?”

“Yes, she had to supply that when she first applied to visit. I’ll find it and send it with the other list.”

“Thanks.” Derrick hesitated, thinking. “Did Radcliff have computer privileges?”

“Not on death row, no.”

“Did he make friends with anyone inside? Another inmate or guard?”

“I’ll verify that, but I don’t think so. He’s been in solitary confinement for the last year and only allowed an hour outside his cell for exercise each day.”

“He’s been seeing the mental health counselor?”

“Yes. But as you know, she was unable to extract information from him about the victims.”

That was what she’d reported to him. “Hopefully Dr. Morehead had better luck. Get that list to me ASAP,” Derrick said. Meanwhile he’d look for Wahlburg, Pockley and Odessa Muldane.

Moments later, the warden texted him her contact information, and he called her cell number. The phone rang five times then went to voicemail. “Ms. Muldane, this is Special Agent Fox. Please call me back. It’s urgent I speak with you.”

If she wasn’t a conspirator, perhaps she could get the information he wanted from Radcliff. Or… he had to consider another possibility. Perhaps she’d used his MO to murder in his honor.

SIXTY

Doing her due diligence, Ellie searched for coed murder victims across the States, starting three months prior to Amy Dean’s disappearance and extending it to three months afterward. She checked the dates on Radcliff’s cases and found he was in jail awaiting trial at the time of Amy’s disappearance. Next, she began with each death marked suspicious.

A suicide popped up, a young coed who threw herself off the Lady in Blue bridge two weeks after Amy disappeared. According to the police report, suspicions surrounded her death, although drugs had been found in her system and her friends stated she’d been depressed for months. With no evidence of a homicide, they ruled it suicide and closed the case.

Two other drownings at the lake raised interest, although again, alcohol and drugs were involved, coloring the case. And they had no evidence of foul play.

Scratching her head, Ellie narrowed the search to focus on coeds who’d been stabbed.

Ten days after Amy disappeared, a girl named Zelda North had been found sixty miles away, disposed of in a ravine. Her throat had been slashed, knife marks marred her body, but no mention of bloody smiley lips or hair having been cut.

Still, there were similarities with Radcliff’s victims.

The girl’s boyfriend had been arrested. Although he pleaded innocent, the fact that he and Zelda had broken up the week before and that he had no alibi condemned him. Circumstantial evidence—her DNA in his apartment, his in her apartment, an eyewitness’s testimony they’d had a bad fight the night Zelda died, and her blood in his car—had convinced a jury he was guilty. He was currently serving a life sentence in prison for pre-mediated murder. His case was awaiting appeal.

Digging deeper, she found that over the past ten years, two more girls had gone missing in a fifty-mile radius of Widow Peak College. Across the state of Georgia, there were at least five more that were unaccounted for.

Some had been dubbed as runaways but in three instances, family and friends insisted there was foul play. These girls were happy, well adjusted, belonged to sororities, were popular and were excited about their futures. Two had already been accepted into desirable master’s programs and the third was transferring to a more prestigious college.

Digging deeper, she discovered another body was found outside Dawsonville almost a year to the date after Amy disappeared. Her name was Vanna Michaels. This time she was found, throat cut, naked, left in the woods on the AT. No bloody smiley lips or chopped-off hair mentioned in the report. Several persons of interest had been questioned but police decided Ms. Michaels had been murdered by a drifter, one that had never been found. That case was still open.

Another open case in South Georgia had a similar profile—Kitty Korley, her throat cut, body left on a park bench in front of the Coastal College of Georgia’s campus.

“Listen to this,” Ellie said to Derrick. “I found two cases of coeds from different colleges in Georgia murdered within months of Amy’s death.”

“No, at least not divulged in the reports. But I’ll check with local law enforcement for details. Although Waycross was already dead at the time of those murders.”

“And someone killed him.” Derrick released a frustrated breath. “That leaves us with Pockley and Wahlburg as our two primary persons of interest.”

The break-in at Beverly’s taunted Ellie. A killer was still out there. One who’d been taking lives for ten years. And no one had even connected them.

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