Terry McDonald stared at his daughter and then lifted his gaze to Livia. There was something in his eyes that took Livia a moment to define. But then it clicked. She made the connection to her own father, realizing every father who had lost a daughter to abduction likely carried a similar look of fright and guilt in his eyes. With Terry McDonald, though, there was something else. Something rooted, Livia was sure, in the fact that his daughter had been found, while Nicole and these other girls were lost forever. Had her own father appeared in the doorway, Livia got the sense that Sheriff McDonald would break down and cry.
“Other missing girls?” he finally asked.
Livia nodded. “Possibly, yes.”
“You’re working with detectives in Raleigh on this?”
“No, sir. Just myself and . . . Megan’s been a big help, as well.”
Terry McDonald looked at his daughter, then back to Livia. “Let’s see what you’ve come up with.”
They sat at the desk and Livia pulled from her bag each of the documents she had collected over the past few weeks. They spent an hour cross-referencing the information that tied Nancy Dee and Paula D’Amato together, and then spent time on the links to Megan’s case—the ketamine and the burlap fibers. Finally, Livia presented what she knew about Casey Delevan, who had arrived on her autopsy table at the end of summer. She revealed the profiles of Nancy Dee and Paula D’Amato discovered in Casey’s abandoned desk drawer, and told Sheriff McDonald everything she knew about the Capture Club. She revealed her guess that Casey played a role in the disappearance of the girls and was also present the night Megan and Nicole were taken from the beach party.
They covered the leg fracture and that it matched the height of Nicole’s car bumper. Livia left out the tuft of Casey’s shirt found under Nicole’s car, and her theory about the barbecue set with the missing fork and the piercings to Casey’s skull. To present everything she had found would be to implement herself, and Megan, in evidence tampering. If it meant finding the answers she was so desperate for, in the end she would do it. For now, she’d use everything else she had to gauge Sheriff McDonald’s willingness to help.
She presented her case for an hour while Terry McDonald listened with patience. When Livia finished her argument, he asked the same question his daughter had.
“But this fella is dead, right?” He pointed to Casey Delevan’s picture. “He showed up in your morgue. So what are you looking for, Dr. Cutty?”
“Casey was killed more than a year ago. The last time he was seen was the weekend Megan and Nicole disappeared. Nancy Dee’s body was found six months before Megan and Nicole were taken. But Paula D’Amato, who had been missing for more than two years, just turned up in Georgia. Dead for roughly two days, according to the ME down there. If we all agree these cases are connected, then there has to be someone still out there who killed Paula. Someone who was keeping her. Who abused her. I don’t have all the answers, Sheriff. Just enough questions to make me suspect something is happening out there that needs to be sorted out. Enough questions so that I can’t sleep at night. And enough suspicion to make me think there’s someone who’s still taking girls—other sisters and daughters.”
Terry McDonald was silent as he studied the documents laid out before him. “How did you find out about this club? The one that does the mock abductions?”
“We talked to an old club member. He confirmed that Casey and my sister were members.”
“When you say ‘we,’ who does that include?”
Livia looked at Megan.
“We talked to him together, Daddy.”
Terry folded his hands and took a deep breath. “Megan, how long have you been doing this without my knowledge?”
“Daddy, it’s fine. It’s good for me.”
He shook his head. “Look, I went over all this nonsense about the Capture Club during the investigation. It never led anywhere. All we ever found was a group of kids who pretended to kidnap each other. They talked about missing people, and got off by chewing on other people’s misery. Unfortunately, there’s no crime in that. I tried that summer, Dr. Cutty. I tried to find my daughter, and I tried like hell to find your sister. I looked at this club from every angle. And if you want me to open my books, I’ll show you a hundred other leads we looked at that are much stronger than a bunch of burnouts in a secret club. I’ll show you the sex offenders we are still watching. The three convicts paroled two months before Megan and Nicole were taken. One of whom is suspected in an assault outside of Raleigh. I’ll show you the interviews with the informants we have inside the jails who tell us about anyone bragging to high-profile crimes.”
“But now we’ve got more to go on,” Livia said. “We’ve got the forensics. We’ve got science that shows these girls are connected.”
“You’re talking about getting three different states involved in the same investigation. Reopening old cases and getting everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction. Once we cross state lines, we’re talking about involving the FBI. A very tall order. And you say you want my help? I won’t be able to do a thing once the Feds are called in. Hell, once I get detectives from Georgia and Virginia involved, I’ll be pushed to the side. I’ve been through that process before and I didn’t like it.”
“Daddy, that’s why we’re asking for your help. We know you can’t do it all by yourself. I know if you ask for help from all those people—the detectives and the federal agents—they’ll take things from you like they did before. But it wasn’t your fault, Daddy. It wasn’t your fault that I was gone for two weeks. It wasn’t your fault that no one could find me. Nicole is not your fault. I know that, and Livia knows that. But you can help. You can make a difference. All Livia wants is some attention put on these cases. On Nancy and Paula. And on Nicole.”
Megan ran her hand across the information on the desk. “All of this evidence will generate that attention. And I know it will bring attention to me, too. I’m okay with that. I want that. I want to be more than the girl who made it home, Daddy. I want to be the girl who found the man who took her. I want to be the girl who helped other girls, Daddy. Really helped them. Not in the way we’re all pretending my book is helping them.”
Terrence Scott McDonald ran his hands through his strawberry blond hair and slowly nodded his head. His eyes darted around the information and photographs on his desk. Finally, he looked at his daughter. “I’ll make some calls. See what I can do and who I can convince.”
Megan smiled and looked at Livia, grabbed her hand in victory.
“Thank you,” Livia said.
Terry nodded. “Don’t thank me yet. Let’s see where this goes first. This is good work you’ve done.”
Livia nodded a gracious thank you and packed her things. She stood and walked with Megan to the door while Terry McDonald remained at his desk.
“Dr. Cutty,” he said. “If I could have brought your sister home that summer, I would have. I did everything I could to find her.”
“I know you did.”
Terry McDonald pursed his lips. “I’ll be in touch.”
CHAPTER 39