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

whatever.” It was just that kind of sensationalizing that turned the killer into the celebrity. “What about the other thing?”

“You’re going to want to hug me. I consent to the outpouring of affection that I am about to inspire.”

“Noted.” Kendra smiled at Shoop’s ability to bring light into the dark work they had to do each day.

“So, I’m the best. I’ve set up an interview for you with Cynthia Hawkins’ husband and one of her daughters.”

This was incredible news, especially since none of the stations had gotten there first. They wouldn’t be jaded by coverage or burned by a misquote. Shoop had done a huge thing, getting them to talk to her for The Cold Trail.

“You are the best,” Kendra said and then added, “How?”

“I just totally ignored the press clipping and worked on the daughter, the younger one. She’s a caregiver for the dad. It took two conversations, and I sent her a link to the interview with Suzette Marshall.”

Suzette was Annie Walter’s aunt. She had been key to doing what they were trying now, revealing something about a victim other than just their association to a crime. Suzette had helped them tell Annie’s story.

“Annie Walters is helping us. She’s making the way, so we can do for these women what we did for her. I feel it.” Kendra was overwhelmed for a second. She could clearly see Annie, the subject of their first season.

“Oh, man, now I’m going to cry.”

“I know, it just came to me in a flash. Her opening a door for us.”

Shoop reached out, and they squeezed each other’s hands. They let the thought wash over them.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Kendra mumbled. “It just came to me how sometimes these things are all connected. I know, sappy.”

“No, not sappy,” Shoop reassured her. “I think about Annie all the time. What I learned on that season helped us with Sister David and Sister David with Ethan. It’s not separate. It’s connected.”

“Right, okay, so, where are we?” Kendra dabbed the corners of her eyes. The burst of emotion had taken her by surprise. She’d bottled up her emotions surrounding a lot of events in recent days. She’d pushed through them. But in this safe space, with her best friend, some of that stressed leaked out. A little pressure escaped. Perhaps that slight vent was an important key to helping her keep the lid on. For now, anyway.

“Well, after she heard how we handled Annie’s story and how Suzette came across, she called back and said she could trust us to do a respectful interview.”

“This is exactly what we needed, Shoop.”

Cynthia Hawkins’ family was a way forward for the podcast. That was an all-consuming goal for Kendra.

Kendra looked at the Hawkins files. The initial autopsy reports fit the ones they’d read in the cold case files. Though Cynthia Hawkins’ body was discovered decades after it was buried, that meant the report was sparser. Especially when it came to any examination of soft tissue. There just wasn’t any after all this time.

Kendra looked through the old reports and laid them out side by side.

The autopsy sections revealed the injuries to Cynthia Hawkins’ throat. An examination of her skeletal system revealed broken bones in her neck and her face. The femur they’d found on the site that had triggered the full-scale search was likely not broken during the commission of the crime, but when the heavy construction equipment dislodged the remains.

Kendra scanned down through the evidence of injury section. Several entries listed results as inconclusive due to decomposition.

The gastrointestinal section of the autopsy report was blank. Kendra looked at the other reports.

There were redacted lines under the gastrointestinal section of several of the reports.

“Do we know why there are any redactions at this point? After all this time?” Kendra asked Shoop.

“Not sure if they’re just there from the copies or what?”

“I’m calling Agent Price.” Kendra dialed the agent, and to her surprise, got a fast answer even though it was after hours. She cut to the chase. “I’ve got a question on some of the files.”

“Okay,” Agent Price replied.

“You’re at the office?”

“Yes, I have a tendency to work late and forget what time it is.”

Kendra realized Agent Price was cut from the same cloth as she was.

“It looks like there we’ve got inconclusive gastrointestinal results on Margo Kasinski,” Kendra explained, “but the others, the lines are redacted. The results on Ellis, Anderson, Hodges, and Jackson, along with the two Jane Does, don’t have the gastrointestinal results redacted. It isn’t much, but I was wondering if there was any reason, after forty years?”

“Hang on. Let me pull the originals. What I provided you are the copies that were released during the initial investigation. Can I put you on hold?”

“Sure.”

Kendra waited a moment. But the speed at which the agent handled her request made Kendra feel like they had an ally in the FBI. Kendra gave Shoop a thumbs up to indicate Price appeared to be helping them out on this.

Before long, Agent Price was back on the line. “I’ve got the originals here, now. The stomach contents are the only thing redacted. The initial investigators used it as a possible way to identify a suspect or sift through credible tips. But nothing came of it. I’m going to send you the unredacted portions.”

“Anything interesting?”

“No, pretty standard.”

“I appreciate your help and how fast you were. I was expecting a runaround.”

“The files are on my desk, thanks to the Hawkins case. And I listened to your podcast on that missing boy. The Ethan Peltz case. You’re a good investigator. I’m happy to help you. Even though the stomach contents aren’t bombshell or anything, I’m afraid. Looks like snacks you could find anywhere.”

“Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.”

A few minutes later, Kendra opened her email, and the files she’d requested were in her inbox. She sent them to the printer. Soon they were poring over the unredacted files.

“Hey, this is a better list here, the stomach contents, on uh, four of the victims.”

Kendra read through the new