The Hunted Girls by Jenna Kernan (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

arrest and when Skogen replied that he was not, their suspect kicked over a chair and departed without his phone.

As Skogen left to see a judge about gaining permission to release Kilpatrick’s medical records, Nadine went to meet Demko for a debrief.

Clint had stopped at a food truck that he said had the best Korean barbecue he’d ever tasted and brought her beef tacos with caramelized kimchi and sriracha mango, topped with shredded purple cabbage, and a dish of pot stickers on the side. The fusion of foods was amazing.

They sat at a picnic table behind the sheriff’s office under the shade of an enormous old oak beneath fluttering Spanish moss. The day was dry and clear with a pleasant breeze from the north driving off the humidity.

Molly found a branch and flopped down to chew on it as they focused on their meal. Her protection kept her in view, sitting on a bench near the door.

Midway through their meal, Skogen returned with the judicial order.

“Medical records should be up on the file share soon,” he said, heading past them and disappearing inside.

A few minutes later, a jeep pulled into the lot and a gaunt young man exited, smoking and pacing until the arrival of a gray Mercedes. He met the occupant at his driver’s side and the two men began a conversation.

“Who’s that?” asked Nadine.

“The guy from the gun shop. I’m guessing the other is his attorney.”

Nadine eyed the potential suspect. His olive-green tank top made it easy to see how painfully thin he was.

Demko studied him as well. “Not him,” he said as the two passed them and entered the station.

She turned to face him. “How do you know?”

Demko finished his last pork dumpling. “Santander got into a pickup truck. This guy drives a jeep.”

“Could have used someone else’s vehicle.”

“True. But the driver had a medium build and wore short sleeves. His arms were visible.”

“No tattoos,” she said as the realization struck.

“And that one has a full sleeve on his left arm.”

She nodded and sipped the remains of her water as Demko finished his last taco.

“I canvassed the neighborhood back at that town house. No one owns a Jack Russell terrier,” said Demko. “But animal control recorded one recovered tied to a mailbox two streets over.”

“Is it okay?”

“Yeah. Has a microchip. The owner’s been contacted. The interesting part is that the collar and leash were missing. Whoever it was secured the dog to the post with a lightweight chain and clip.”

“You think I saw him again?”

“Very possible. I gave the information to Skogen.”

“Why use a chain?”

“Let us know it was him, maybe.”

They shared a long silence as Nadine thought of the chain marks found on the torso of both Nikki Darnell and Rita Karnowski.

“Prints?” she asked at last.

He shook his head. “Special Agent Vea said maybe they’ll get DNA.”

She very much doubted that.

“Did they find the guy from the hotel? The one who left without notice?”

Demko gave her a grave look and shook his head. Clearly, he thought the man was dead.

She lowered her gaze and it fell upon Molly, who had fallen asleep with the stick still in her mouth.

“I heard from Arlo’s attorney,” she said.

Demko lifted his eyebrows.

“He told me that the DA is willing to recommend early release, but that’s no guarantee. They’re going to charge my mom with two more counts of homicide. She’s denying it, of course.”

Demko used the napkin briskly on his hands and wadded it into a ball before tossing it into the empty paper container before him.

“She’s trying to leverage a confession for a reduced sentence.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

She conceded that point. “I checked the timelines. Dennis Howler would have been in the army when my mother got pregnant with me.”

Demko nodded.

“It could be anyone. And Arleen won’t tell me.” Nadine sighed. “If she even knows.” She’d already shared with Demko her conversation with Arleen and the one with Arlo, including her brother’s promise to try and remember any men who had been with Arleen when he was five. It was a lot to ask for many reasons, among them that he’d been so young and that there had been so many men.

“You going to look for him? Your dad?”

“I was thinking of doing that DNA thing. Maybe get lucky and find a stepsister or cousin or something.”

Demko scrunched up his face.

“Or find one and get unlucky,” he murmured.

“What does that mean?”

“Nadine, you’ve taken considerable pains to distance yourself from members of your family. And with good reason. Do you really want to know who your dad is, or is this one of those sleeping dogs?”

There was a myriad of possibilities. Her father was someone her mom knew back when she was drinking too much, hopping from dead-end job to dead-end job and murdering couples. It was doubtful that he would resemble one of those sitcom dads she’d latched onto as a kid. More likely the DNA match would be an unknown unsub wanted by authorities.

“You’re probably right. It’s just… It’s a hole in my personal history.”

“Like being adopted.”

“Yeah.”

“Just think about it. Carefully.”

Her computer chirped. Nadine checked the alert and found the first of Simon’s medical records had appeared.

Everything Nadine saw in Kilpatrick’s medical records was deeply troubling. Simon exhibited a hatred of women. His inability to follow orders from a female officer resulted in his discharge from the military. Psychological reports delineated Kilpatrick’s hatred of his mother stemming from her constant belittlement, which Nadine had witnessed firsthand.

As she scanned the clinical notes, she discovered that each of Simon’s known attempts to engage in a sexual relationship had been universally humiliating. She was surprised to see he had a higher-than-average IQ, but despite that, his low self-esteem had driven him to a suicide attempt with a bizarre contraption designed to shoot arrows at him. It was this detail that caused Nadine to request that Skogen detain him.

Even worse, both she and Demko agreed that he resembled the man captured on the hotel’s security cameras the morning of Santander’s abduction. Yet