The Nobody Girls (Kendra Dillon Cold Case Thriller Book 3), Rebecca Rane [best book club books of all time txt] 📗

In July of 1978, a group of college kids was hitching from the University of Toledo to a party they knew of at Bowling Green State University, about a forty-five-minute drive south. They were walking along I-75. Cars whizzed by as they thumbed for a ride.

Something caught their eyes, far enough off the road to miss if you were driving, but not too difficult to see if you were walking.

They got closer and found Linda Kay Ellis.

Authorities say she wasn’t there long. She was still identifiable.

But the truth was, no one reported her missing. No one could be sure who had grabbed her or what had happened.

“We didn’t know until the policeman came to the door. That’s never good when a policeman knocks. My mother answered with her typical bad attitude. Like our staff was off or something, and she was slumming, doing normal things, like answering the door. I watched her, still can see her standing there. Her back was to me, and the policeman was trying to be calming and talking to her. They were telling her that Linda Kay was dead. And that it was an awful death. It was the moment I went from being a kid to an adult. I hadn’t seen my sister in a year. I knew she was living a dangerous life. But the idea that I’d never see her again, I still can’t get my head around it. I expect to see her, long hair, great earrings, swaying to ‘In My Room.’ Almost every day, I expect to see her.”

Linda Kay’s story is an old story, an old crime.

But this old crime deserves new attention.

Two weeks again, crews found a body, mostly decomposed, wrapped in a garbage bag along I-75.

But even after all this time, there was something familiar to the way the body looked, was wrapped, was placed. There were tights around the victim’s neck, wrapped the same way Linda Kay’s bellbottoms were wrapped around hers. There was enough of a similarity to prompt an old-timer, who wanted to remain anonymous, to say this:

“It’s like The Nobody Girls.”

On this episode of The Cold Trail, we’re going to try to show you that Linda Kay Ellis wasn’t a nobody girl. She was loved, she was missed, and her little sister still mourns her.

It’s been decades. But Linda Kay Ellis, this nobody girl, deserved our time, your time.

Here’s her story.

I’m Kendra Dillon, and this is The Cold Trail.

They sent the episode to Art. If he signed off, this would be their new season.

Did two episodes make a season? No, but hopefully, what that had so far was enough to move ahead.

Time was up, though, on their leeway. Kendra had made a commitment that started on the side of the highway with the High Timbers discovery. It had solidified with Linda and then Sincere.

After Art had listened, Kendra and Shoop sat in front of him again.

“Before you decide, we have another,” Kendra told him. “The episode is almost ready. This is Ophelia.”

Kendra played a portion of the interview with Ophelia.

“Wow, she’s good.”

“Right? And thanks to Ophelia, we know more about Sincere, at least a little, and even after all this time.”

“So, the time’s up, you both in on this?”

“Yes. Each episode, a new Nobody Girl, until we know them, as best we can.”

“Fine. Shoop, get some clips to Miles. We need to get rolling on promotions.”

Kendra hated that part but knew Art was a big part of their success too. He’d brought them in when they were down and out, he’d trusted their instincts, and ultimately, he’d found the money to fund them via J.D. Atwell.

A little promotion was in order, even if Kendra hated it.

“We can use Wanda’s sound,” Shoop said.

“And Ophelia’s, she’s incredible,” Art added.

It was decided, The Cold Trail: The Nobody Girls, was officially their season.

Now all Kendra had to do was find more people who knew them.

The season hinged on it.

Chapter 13

I-75 is the major north-south Interstate Highway that connects the northern tip of the United States to the southern part of Florida. It’s one of the longest highways in the nation. It passes through six states. It winds through the stunning vistas of the Smokey Mountains and cuts a path along miles and miles of flat farmland.

It takes travelers over the waters of Lake Michigan and the Ohio River.

Planning for it started in the 1950s, and the final stretch in Miami-Dade County and Broward County was not finished until 1986. It roughly follows older routes and offered a faster, better way for others, like Dixie Highway.

Maybe Route 66 is more famous, but no U.S. highway is more traveled.

In Ohio, I-75 passes through several major cities, Port Lawrence being one, right before it hits Michigan.

Midwesterners, Shoop and Kendra included, travel I-75 during the cold of the winter in pursuit of the warmth of the south. From Dayton to Daytona, Kendra remembered the rallying cry when they were kids on spring break.

While they waited for their FOIA requests and the FBI to provide them with someone to interview on camera, Kendra decided to retrace Sincere Anderson’s steps.

Wilma Kay didn’t know much about her sister’s day-to-day life once she moved out, but Ophelia knew everything about Sincere Anderson’s in her final days.

Kendra was armed with the names of the establishments that the two women frequently worked and planned to visit each one.

Of the four places Ophelia named, two were still in business. Two others were out of business or had been replaced.

Easy On Plaza was the first on her list. From the looks of it, the plaza hadn’t undergone much in the way of upgrades. It included a huge fueling station, a convenience store where you could buy anything from breakfast cereal to nudie magazines, and a huge lot for truckers to rest up. Or, well, whatever else they wanted for their downtime.

Kendra wandered around the store. There was the classic row of road trip snacks. There was a hallway that led to restrooms and a shower stall