Beneath Her Skin, Gregg Olsen [ereader with android .txt] 📗

It had not been opened by the bridge tender, as previously reported.

Among the dead were Christina Lee, 7; Sarah Benton, 6; Violet Caswell, 5; and Emma Perkins, also 5. Also killed was bus driver Margie Jones, 29. Jones, according to the North Kitsap School District Records Office, was an exemplary employee. She was completing her master’s degree in education and was working as an activity bus driver. She’d planned to teach next fall.

“She wanted nothing more than to do something for kids,” said Barry Jones, her husband of five years.

Three of the survivors remain hospitalized. One, a 30-year-old Port Gamble woman, has been released.

Moira activated a few more links, some showing photographs of a barge transporting an enormous crane to the crash site, another as it raised the short bus out of the water, and finally a close-up of an exhausted pair of state divers standing at the rail. Their haunted eyes and grim expressions said more than anything a reporter could write.

Another article highlighted the joint memorial service held at Port Gamble’s church.

She recognized Kevin Ryan in one of the photos.

Finally, she thought, as her eyes scanned the computer screen and the next article. The names of the survivors.

VICTIMS’ NAMES RELEASED. TWO IN COMA

The names of the survivors of the Hood Canal Bridge bus accident were released this afternoon. Sandra Berkley, 30, and her daughter, Katelyn, 5, were thrown from the bus as it went off the bridge. Ms. Berkley suffered cracked ribs and abrasions. She and her daughter were treated and released from Harrison Medical Center, Bremerton.

The two other victims, 5-year-old twin girls Hayley and Taylor Ryan, remain hospitalized. Their parents issued a statement yesterday.

“Our daughters are fighters. Please keep them in your prayers. Believe in miracles.”

The parents indicated that the girls are still in a coma.

Visibly shaken, Adam Larsen, 34, spoke to reporters outside his home in historic Port Gamble.

“We are grieving for the families who have lost their children and for the bus driver’s family too. This touches all of us here. I doubt many of us will ever get over it.”

Larsen’s daughter, Starla, also 5, was a member of the Daisy Troop. She, however, did not go on the outing due to minor illness.

The last site Moira visited was one called Kitsap Kalamities, a forum devoted to—as its banner indicated—“happenings of the rotten kind, right here in our own twisted backyard.”

There was nothing really new on the site. In fact, after skimming it, it was apparent that all of the content had been copied and pasted from other websites. Moira sniffed at that. It was the fate of journalism today. Why do any legwork when you can just cut and paste? Not her. Not Moira. She was going to do whatever it took to create something original. Notice-worthy. Star-making. And if her tip paid off, the Ryan girls were going to get her just where she needed to be.

Kitsap Kalamities was created by someone named Maxi Taxi using a WordPress blog. Moira clicked on the comments field and scrolled through the missives people posted, mostly of the “that sucks” or “your blog is Maxi Stupid” ilk. A few were more thoughtful.

One was very, very intriguing.

Sweet Data File 31: I’m not surprised those two survived. I knew them when they were babies. There was something scary about them back then. Something different.

Scary? Different? Babies? Moira looked at the name of the online commenter. “Sweet Data File 31”. She typed it into Google, figuring that whoever used that handle had done so on more than one blog. Finding a person on the Internet was no different than going door to door asking for one little piece of information at a time. She likened it to digital legwork. One thing always led to another.

Moira sipped the dregs of her sparkling water and twisted the top of its understudy. She tipped it back and drank while her eyes studied the results of her search.

Sweet Data File 31 also posted on More Than Words, a site about slanguage and how words are evolving faster than ever.

Sweet Data File 31: I used to be a linguistics researcher—in another life—for a major university. I think changing language is a good thing. Human beings are creating all the time. New words are a solution to a genuine need.

Comments were closed on that site, so Moira moved on.

As the hands on the clock whirred around on her computer, which searched for more Sweet Data File 31 entries, the thought filled Moira’s brain: What’s scary? Does it have to do with something I have been leaked?

A farm-to-table site popped up, and its feature article, “Our Valley Is Green,” was local, from the Kitsap Peninsula.

Sweet Data File 31: Every weekend I drive past the family farms between Bremerton and Belfair, and I am astounded that we don’t have more farm stands. Come on, people! Local, sustainable, green is our food future.

Moira thought about it a moment and then posted a follow-up comment on the same thread.

News Star: Sweet Data, I’m Moira Windsor, a writer working on a big piece about the importance of farm to table. Would you like to talk to me for my story?

She added her email address and waited. She figured anyone lonely or self-righteous enough to post a comment like Sweet Data did would answer her comment. People like that always wanted to be in the paper. It was only a matter of time.

She looked over at the TV and saw that the chef was making some deep-fried apple dumplings. They looked so good she could feel her stomach trying to eat itself. She got up, went to the freezer, pulled out two Lean Cuisines (Butternut Squash Ravioli and Apple Cranberry Chicken) and headed for her aunt’s obnoxiously large microwave.

Next, she looked up Sandra Berkley’s number. She’d waited long enough to make the call. With the microwave beeping that her meal was ready, Moira quickly left a voice mail message.

“Mrs. Berkley, Moira Windsor calling from the Herald. I’m a friend of