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As she waited for her oldest brother Jason to pick her up, Cara held the wrapped Baby Alive doll that she could not wait to give her niece Gabriella as she stood in the lobby of Viking Hall. It was all Gabby wanted for her birthday and Cara made it very clear to everyone else that they better not buy it for her.
In addition to the feeling of anticipation, Cara also could not shake the uneasy feeling she had ever since seeing the CMZ story. In an instant, the world that she had always felt she could blend in to changed.
I wonder if anyone is hiding in the bushes waiting to snap more photos?
Cara had already logged on to CMZ at least a dozen times in the short time she was back at Viking Hall. Apparently, her identity was still a mystery.
Maybe nobody I know even saw it?
Just then she saw her brother’s car pull up to the front of the building where she was waiting. She put her head down and felt herself walking a little faster than she normally would to his car. It did not go unnoticed.
“You must really want to get to the party,” he mused as she got in the car and gave him a hug.
“You have no idea…”
Jason gave her a quizzical look.
“Everything okay, Carebear?”
“Just one of those days I guess...”
Jason knew his baby sister well enough to know that she was lying through her teeth, but he also knew her well enough not to push the issue.
“I wish I could say that my day was anything other than boring. I swear I’m living the real-life version of that movie ‘Groundhog Day’ ever since I started working on this goddamn Edgewater case. Every day is a repeat of the day before...”
The Edgewater Park Murders had captivated the public’s attention ever since the first body was found on the beach of the public park on Lake Erie in 2005. In the year since, two additional bodies have been found at Edgewater, and Jason had been assigned as lead detective on the case.
All three of the victims were young women who likely had illegally immigrated, and all had been strangled to death. The last two victims also appeared to have been mutilated by a knife or some other sharp object. Jason was concerned that the killer, known as the Edgewater Park Killer or EPK, was starting to become even more violent in his tactics.
“I’ve been reading a lot about that case. I’m not going to lie, it’s cool to see my big bro’s name in the newspaper. That’s some scary stuff. What was that girl’s name? Stoya something?”
“Fedorov. Stoya Fedorov. Ironically, her name means ‘Gift from God’, but this case certainly hasn’t felt like that,” Jason replied.
Only one of the victims, the first one, was ever positively identified. Stoya Fedorov had only recently immigrated, albeit illegally, to the United States prior to her demise. The only reason she had been identified was because she needed an emergency appendectomy and was rushed to MetroHealth for the surgery.
The autopsy showed that the victim recently had an appendectomy, and Jason had a hunch to see if MetroHealth had any record of his Jane Doe. Since Metro was a county hospital, and likely would’ve been the only local hospital that would’ve performed her surgery, it was worth a shot. County hospitals, like Metro, are publicly funded and will not turn patients away - even if they do not have insurance. Had she not had that operation and been entered into the system, there would’ve been no record of Stoya Fedorov on US soil.
“You’ll solve it. I know you will,” Cara said.
“I wish the public had as much faith in me as my little sister does…” Jason chuckled.
“Jason, I have to tell you something…” Cara suddenly stated.
“I knew something was up, Carebear. Talk to me…” Jason replied.
For the remainder of the drive, Cara proceeded to fill her eldest brother in on the events of the past few days. She told him everything.
After Jason got past the initial shock that his sister was dating arguably the past decade’s best pitcher in baseball, he turned his attention to the matter of the paparazzi.
“What’s this photographers name?” Jason asked, already imagining different ways he would like to arrest him for harassing his baby sister.
“His name is Gary Boardman,” Cara responded. “Maybe we can get a restraining order against him?”
“That won’t happen, unfortunately,” Jason responded. “He didn’t break any laws by being at the lake where you were fishing. Unless he crosses the line, there’s nothing you can really do from a legal standpoint.”
“Well that’s just shitty,” Cara said.
