The following morning, Katelen awoke to the sensation of Travis kissing her neck. "I have to go home and get ready for work," Travis informed her. Katelen gently caressed his face and inquired, "Can't you call in sick today?" Travis replied, "I would, but I can't." They shared a brief kiss before Travis headed to the bathroom, and Katelen descended the stairs with their pets, Beau and Grizz. As she departed, she called out to Travis, "You can use my toothbrush." While Katelen was feeding Beau and Grizz, Travis entered the kitchen. He hesitated before speaking, "Um, I'm not trying to scare you, but when I was washing my face, I looked in the mirror and, through the water dripping from my face, I saw the face of a man staring back at me. It could have been the water in my eyes, but it seemed very real." Katelen asked Travis to describe the man's face, and upon hearing the description, she said, "That's the same man I saw." Travis pondered, "I could have just had a hallucination because you told me about your experience, even though you never described his appearance." Before Travis left, Katelen warmed up a ham and egg sandwich for him. Approximately three hours later, her brother Ty visited during his lunch break, bringing food from Louie's Café, a restaurant cherished from their childhood. Katelen's face lit up when she saw the familiar bag. Ty handed her a bowl of banana pudding with the words, "Mama made this for you." Katelen's parents, Jonathan and Betty Jo, who married at 16 in 1996, had divorced when Katelen was 15 after Jonathan, who was 35 at the time, was discovered to be having an affair with a 19-year-old named Kyle. Katelen was the one who had walked in on them after returning from soccer practice. The ensuing court battles resulted in Betty Jo gaining custody of Katelen, Ty, and their siblings Owen, Billy, Peggy-Ann, and Rosie in 2015. Katelen was still 15 then, Ty was 16, Owen was 13, and both Billy and Peggy-Ann were 10, with Rosie being 8. Presently, Katelen is 24, Ty is 25, Owen is 22, Billy and Peggy-Ann are 19, and Rosie is 17. Jonathan went on to marry Kyle, and together they adopted a 2-year-old boy named Kevin in 2017, who is now 9 years old. Betty Jo met Katelen's stepfather Noah in 2018. They married in 2020 and have two sons together: Cash, born two months before the wedding, and Hunter, born in 2023. Katelen and her siblings have an estranged relationship with their father, speaking to him only occasionally and never referring to him as "Dad." They also do not acknowledge Jonathan and Kyle's adopted son as their brother, despite Kevin's expressed interest in meeting his siblings. Jonathan has not met Katelen's nieces and nephews. As Katelen and Ty dined, Ty revealed, "Jonathan's son Kevin called me on Jonathan's phone. I answered, thinking it was Jonathan, but once the voice on the other end said, 'Hi, it's Kevin,' I hung up the phone." Katelen responded, "When is Jonathan going to realize we want nothing to do with Kevin?" At that moment, a plastic glass fell off the counter. Katelen and Ty exchanged glances, and Ty remarked, "It was probably an air draft," despite the glass not being near the edge of the counter and the air vents being located on the floor, making it implausible for air to have knocked it down. Both admitted the incident was unnerving. Soon, Ty had to return to work. After picking up the glass from the floor, Katelen went upstairs to work on a new article.
Katelen sat at her computer, diligently working on her article about the unresolved murder case of 13-year-old Susan Guymon, who was kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered in 2003. Multiple suspects, including her 17-year-old brother, 19-year-old brother, father, and one of her uncles, were questioned but ultimately cleared of any involvement. No other suspects were interrogated. This case held significant personal resonance for Katelen, as Susan had occasionally babysat her and her siblings, Ty and Owen. Upon completing her article, Katelen descended the stairs to let her dogs, Beau and Grizz, outside. While standing on the front porch, her neighbor Jeffrey approached with his dog Tex, accompanied by another man and a young boy. Jeffrey greeted her, saying, "Hello, Katelen." She responded with a polite "Hi, Jeffrey." Jeffrey then introduced his companions: "This is my fiancé, Connor, and my soon-to-be stepson, Jason. They were visiting Connor's family, which is why you didn't meet them when you first moved in." Katelen smiled warmly and replied, "Nice to meet you, Connor and Jason." Jeffrey then mentioned, "Well, we're on our way to visit my parents, so we'll see you later." After Katelen and her dogs returned inside, she checked the time, noting it was 4:30 PM. Travis would be off work at 5 PM, and he had texted her at 3:30 PM, asking if he could come over again. She had, of course, agreed. Deciding to prepare a homemade stew, she set it on medium heat to allow ample time for it to cook until Travis arrived. Katelen then turned on another documentary about Ted Bundy. From the age of nine, she had been fascinated with Ted Bundy, her bedroom walls adorned with his photographs from childhood to the present. While she was also interested in other serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Rodney Alcala, her obsession with Bundy was unique. Ted Bundy had been her first crush during her adolescence. When people asked if she was disturbed by the fact that Ted Bundy was a serial killer, she would often respond, "I don't know." In 2016, during high school, her school counselor had suggested that her mother take her to a psychologist after a teacher discovered a four-page story about Ted Bundy in her backpack, along with a drawing of Katelen in a wedding gown holding hands with Bundy. However, her mother dismissed the concern, stating, "There is nothing wrong with my daughter being fascinated by a specific person; she doesn't need a psychologist if she's not doing anything wrong." Katelen never disclosed her dark fascination in her podcast, finding it peculiar that she was obsessed with a serial killer while working as an investigative journalist writing about murder victims. At the age of 20, she had managed to obtain copies of Ted Bundy's mugshots from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Florida. She had seduced the jail clerks at each location, who illegally provided her with copies of the mugshots. She was both grateful and astonished that the jails still retained the original mugshots in their file rooms. Additionally, she had a tattoo of Ted Bundy on her right breast and his name on her left breast. Occasionally, she would hallucinate, seeing Ted Bundy. By 5:40 PM, Travis arrived for dinner. Katelen fed Beau and Grizz a mix of dry dog food and leftover taco salad from a few days prior. She had decided she was ready to be intimate with Travis that night. As it approached 9:20 PM, and with Travis having the day off the next day, he brought two sets of clothes, planning to spend the night. Once they reached the bedroom, Katelen playfully smacked Travis's buttocks and declared, "I'm ready to make love." They undressed each other, and Travis lay on the bed while Katelen positioned herself over him, engaging in mutual oral sex. Subsequently, Katelen got on all fours, and Travis penetrated her from behind, moving with increasing intensity. The pleasure made Katelen moan loudly, and as Travis neared climax, he exclaimed, "Here comes the waterfall." Both sighed with pleasure as they both ejaculated with Travis ejaculating inside Katelen. He gently withdrew, and they lay beside each other, agreeing that their experience surpassed any they had with their exes. Beau and Grizz, accustomed to Katelen's intimate activities, were unbothered by the noises. Katelen and Travis slowly drifted off to sleep, with Beau and Grizz comfortably resting in their dog beds.