They settled in for a long, miserable morning of paperwork. Josie wrote up her reports from the morning’s gruesome discovery and then she began researching Russell Haven Dam. She started with Google, adding the words “Denton, Pennsylvania” to the search terms. Thousands of results turned up. She scrolled past the hundreds of headlines about the addition of the hydroelectric power station to the existing dam, then several headlines about the possibility of adding a whitewater park to the hydro dam. Then came the stories about the kayakers who had perished in the same chute where Josie had lost her grip on Eden Watts. Those deaths put a stop to talks of installing a whitewater park on the dam.
Several pages back in the results she found a story from the WYEP website from thirteen years earlier. The thumbnail showed a photo of Trinity, microphone in hand, wearing her WYEP polo shirt, standing in front of Russell Haven Dam. Josie fished some earbuds from one of her desk drawers and plugged them into the computer. She clicked on the link and the video began to play. The chyron announced, Renowned Psychologist Dies By Suicide. Trinity, looking impossibly young, stood at the site where the huge hydroelectric station building would eventually be built. At that time, it was just a mud lot overlooking a sizeable drop-off. Behind her, the water of the Susquehanna River coursed over the spillway, whitecaps rising from it as it crashed into the river bed.
Josie checked the timestamp. She would have been on patrol then, inexperienced and relegated to traffic stops. She didn’t remember this, although there were thousands of accidents, crimes, and other incidents in Denton every year. It would be impossible to remember them all. She turned the volume up so she could hear Trinity’s report.
“Earlier this week, authorities recovered the body of renowned psychologist, Jeremy Rafferty, of Harrisburg, from the Susquehanna River. It was here, at Russell Haven Dam, that his body was discovered by kayakers after he had been reported missing by his family. It is believed that Dr. Rafferty died by suicide. His vehicle was located by police a couple of miles upriver. Authorities believe that he jumped into the water there, taking his own life, and that his body washed downriver to the dam. As our viewers will recall, Dr. Rafferty was a guest on our network locally and nationally many times. He specialized in couples’ and family therapy. He had a private practice, taught at the prestigious Preston Hill College, had written several books, and was in talks with a cable network to develop his own show. Although some colleagues and patients had noticed that he wasn’t quite himself in the last several months, no one expected such a tragedy to unfold. His family has said that although he seemed to be dealing with some low-grade depression, they weren’t worried that he would try to harm himself. As to why he chose Denton to take his own life, some of his friends speculate it’s because he grew up here before moving away permanently when he entered college.”
The screen cut back to the anchors sitting in the WYEP station, both looking appropriately saddened and confounded. They asked Trinity a few questions. Then a suicide hotline number flashed across the screen before the video ended. Josie started a new search for Dr. Jeremy Rafferty which brought up hundreds of articles about his death and thousands of results for his books and television appearances. He was in his late fifties when he died. Josie did some calculations, realizing that the Watts children would have been teenagers at the time of his death. Amber would have been about fifteen or sixteen years old at that time. Eden would have been thirteen or fourteen.
Was there a connection? Had Amber and her “toxic” family gone to him for counseling? Had they been living in the Harrisburg area at the time of his death? One of the real estate listings on both Amber’s work tablet and Eden’s laptop was from Harrisburg. Answering those questions would require more research but for now, Josie knew that one of the best sources of information on what WYEP didn’t include in their story was her sister. She tugged her earbuds out and snatched up her car keys. Gretchen and Noah had left to get their warrants signed. Then they were going to see Dr. Feist about autopsy results. The Chief hadn’t come back from Russell Haven yet.
Ten minutes later, Josie pulled into her driveway. Her parents’ vehicle was gone but Trinity’s rental was still there. Inside the house, she gave Trout some attention, let him out, and refilled his food bowl. Then she went upstairs, where Trinity was still fast asleep in one of the guest bedrooms. Cell phone in one hand, Trinity was sprawled across the bed in a pair of long flannel pajamas. She’d probably been waiting for Drake to call when she fell asleep. Smiling, Josie nudged her shoulder until she blinked awake. She stared at Josie, unseeing, for a long moment, then at her phone. She groaned when she saw it was almost eleven a.m. “Why would you wake me up? I never get to sleep this late. Ever.”
Josie climbed onto the bed and sat next to her. “I’m sorry. I needed to talk to you.”
“I haven’t seen you in days. I’m a guest in your home, and don’t say you had to work. You always have to work.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t always have to work? Do you really want to go there before you’ve had your morning coffee?”
Scowling, Trinity sat up and pushed her hair around on her head. It didn’t matter what state she was in; somehow she always managed to look glamorous. It defied reason that they were twins. Josie could never get her hair to look that glossy, especially if she’d slept on it for several hours.
“You could have brought coffee,” Trinity said.
“I’ll make it up to you.”
Trinity laughed. “Sure. Okay. ’Cause we both have time for that. Just tell me. What’s up?”
“When you worked for WYEP—”
“That’s ancient history,” Trinity cut in.
“Just listen. You did a story about Dr. Jeremy Rafferty. He died by suicide.”
It took a few seconds, but then Trinity’s head bobbed as she remembered. “Yes. The famous psychologist. That was horribly tragic. Of all the people you would think would know how to ask for help—a psychologist. Why are you asking me about him?”
“His body was recovered from Russell Haven Dam.”
“Oh right, and you’re working a case now where a woman was just killed there.”
“Two women, as of last night.”
Trinity’s eyes widened. “What? Really? Murders?”
Josie nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d done a story on it after the first victim?”
Trinity elbowed her lightly. “You should really try coming home at a reasonable hour. Like I said, I haven’t seen you in days. You have basically been gone since Mett came here the other night. I haven’t had time to talk to you about anything, much less that. You think there’s a connection between Rafferty’s suicide and your two murder victims?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” said Josie. “What do you remember from that case? The stuff that didn’t make it into your thirty-second TV spot?”