Thanks to Laura, I now know what he looks like. A gorgeous monster! The next step in my plan is to find out his name, where he lives, works and what his motives are for killing these girls. This guy is puzzling. Storing dead bodies, then moving them and coming back to store formaldehyde, along with mannequins is beyond my comprehension.
After about 10 minutes inside the shed, he gets in the all too familiar blue pickup and drives away. "Come on girls, let's go investigate what else is inside the shed," I say eagerly. My desire to see what's inside is outweighing my fears of seeing dead bodies. I must know what else is in there. I have a hunch that we're not far off from finding out what he's done with these girls.
Chaney shakes her head nervously. "I'm not so sure I want to see what's in there," Her voice is trembling with fright. "I think I will just go wait with Happy."
"Okay, honey. Do what you need to do, but be careful and wait there for us." Laura says lovingly.
"I will mom." She pokes her head out from the dumpster and glances both ways, making certain no one is coming. She heaves herself out and runs out of sight to the back of the building.
"Let's go," Laura says with excitement.
I nod my head in agreement. "Let's do this."
We both jump out and walk stealthily towards the shed. He left it unlocked. My guess is to taunt me. However fearful I may be of him, he clearly isn't afraid of me or what I may find. I'm beginning to wonder if he saw me hiding in the back of his truck. "He just leaves it unlocked?" Laura questions in disbelief.
I nod. "He's done it before. He doesn't care if anyone finds out. His arrogance is what really makes my blood boil," I say through gritted teeth.
Laura laughs quietly as she slowly opens the shed door. "God, almighty. It smells rancid in here."
"Yeah, but it's not a dead body. I puked in here, remember?" I walk in and Laura follows suit. My eyes scan the shed and I notice there are more mannequins in here than before, but that's not what catches my attention. There's a stack of pictures under the foot of the mannequin. He's left me another clue. I walk over and retrieve the pictures. I gasp and cover my mouth.
"What?!" Laura asks. Peering over my shoulder at the pictures.
"It's pictures of the girls he's killed. Including my sister." Her picture is at the very top of the stack. She is bound and gagged with duct tape, with tears streaming down her face. The background of the picture is some sort of warehouse, with loads of merchandise. The picture was taken in the evening because the ceiling has numerous skylights and they are dimly lit from the disappearing sun.
"Is that your sister?" Laura asks gently.
"Yes."
"Oh my god! What a sick fuck!" She shouts.
I start sobbing and sit on the floor, examining the pictures, one by one. The others are definitely the dead girls I saw stored inside the garbage bags. That means my sister was brought to the shed and I was too late to find her. Her cell phone ping proves she was here months prior to me living in the shed.
"She was here. She had to be,' I whisper.
"Why did he leave those here?"
"He left them for someone to find. For me to find," I state.
"So he knows you're trying to catch him?"
"He knows someone is. I'm not certain whether or not he knows who I am, though."
'This is surreal. I mean, what the hell? This guy has gotten away with killing this many girls. There must be at least sixteen pictures here. He's been doing this for a while, Tibby.
"Yeah," I wipe my tears away and stand. "That's why we have to catch him, Laura. Chaney's in danger of being taken."
"God, you're right!"
"We should go check on her."
I leave the shed and Laura follows. There's a hollow pit in my stomach. We were only in the shed for ten minutes, but Something may have happened to her. Ten minutes was all it took for Solia to be kidnapped. We both start running desperately towards the building to check on Chaney and Happy.
Laura reaches the back door first, yelling Chaney's name, "Chaney, where are you? This isn't funny!" Laura gets no response and starts to panic. "Oh God!" She screams
"Happy! Chaney! Where are you?!" I shout. Happy comes running up to me from behind one of the shelves, with a sloppy smile on her face. Her tail and entire body is wiggling from side to side with pure excitement.
"Hi, girl! Where's Chaney?"
Laura and I follow Happy where she came from and search everywhere. The only things here are the blankets Happy and sleep on and empty food cans.
Laura starts wailing and I walk over calmly to diffuse the tension that's been building since we entered the back of the building. I'm worried too, but I try not to show it. "Laura, calm down," I say softly. "We'll find her. He definitely hasn't come back since we went inside the shed." I rationalize. Saying it out loud makes perfect sense. Those pictures, especially the one of my sister, with her bright red hair shining through, had me on edge. I take a deep breath and begin searching the empty building for Chaney.
I decide to toughen up in front of Laura and Chaney, when we find her. I don't want them to see me cry. I would rather cry alone, anyways. "Chaney!"
Laura's head is in her hands and she is sobbing uncontrollably. "Tibby, you have to find her," She begs.
"I will. Don't worry."
As I check the old bathroom and the empty spare room, I take another deep breath. "Where is she?" I whisper. "She has to be here somewhere."
I turn around and scan my surroundings. There really isn't any other place to check. The rest of the building is one giant room. Our problems just got bigger. I walk back to Laura and tell her, "Laura, I can't find her. Chaney's gone."