Fear Collector

CHAPTER 38

Grace wanted to believe that her husband, her mother, her partner, would understand her obsession with her sister’s murder. And yet, she didn’t really understand it completely herself. Lisa’s and Kelsey’s murders and Emma’s disappearance were fresh, new. They called for her to help them claim justice, but it was her sister’s case that propelled her forward. She hadn’t slept for two days. She’d been living on coffee and junk food. While Paul was working the missing girls case file, she excused herself.

“I don’t feel so good today,” she said.

“Bug’s going around.”

When he said that, she thought of Ted’s VW bug. Every word now seemed tied to the serial killer.

“I’m going to head out, okay?”

Paul nodded. “Sure. Got things covered.”

Ted didn’t cover his victims, she thought. He left them out in the open.

She logged on to the DMV database and retrieved a name and address for Daphne Middleton.

She’d pay Ted’s old girlfriend a visit. Daphne was the girl that many in the media pontificated had been the catalyst for his murders.

Daphne’s cross to bear was bigger than Mt. Rainier.