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"Maybe I'm just overthinking it," she said aloud, more to herself than to Skunk. But her gut told her otherwise. It was a feeling she couldn't quite shake – like an itch she couldn't reach, gnawing at her insides.
She replayed the evidence in her mind: the series of elderly women brutally murdered and left with their teeth missing. The cryptic messages sent to the FBI, taunting them with every gruesome discovery. And now, Johnny – a man who seemed almost too obvious a choice, yet who ticked all the boxes in their profile. But the doubt continued to fester, a nagging voice in the back of her mind that refused to be silenced. What if they were wrong? What if the real killer was still out there, free to continue their spree while Johnny took the fall?
Morgan flopped back onto the couch, her heart still pounding from the nightmare that haunted her sleep. The faceless little boy, the distorted man, and those teeth... She shivered involuntarily, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead.
It was just a dream, she reminded herself. Nothing more.
But something about it lingered, nagging at her subconscious. Combined with the uneasiness she felt over Johnny's arrest, the tension was becoming unbearable. She glanced at her phone, hoping for some reassurance from Derik, but there were no missed calls or messages.
"Damn," she sighed, rubbing her temples. Sleep would be impossible now; her mind raced with images of murdered elderly women and their empty smiles. A sudden thought struck her – Mildred Bennett, the woman whose teeth had been mailed to the FBI. But she hadn't been murdered like the others. No, Mildred had died of natural causes.
Morgan opened her laptop. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she pulled up Mildred's records. There had to be a connection, something they'd overlooked.
Morgan scanned the document, her eyes catching on a few key details. Mildred had been widowed young, never remarried, and had no children. Up until her death, she'd lived in a retirement home in the city before being relocated to the hospital. It wasn't much, but it was enough to fan the flames of her curiosity.
Maybe it was nothing, she reasoned, her own voice sounding small and uncertain in the silence of her apartment. Or maybe...
Her thoughts trailed off as she considered the possibility that Mildred's case held the key to unlocking this mystery. If Johnny wasn't the killer, then they needed to find the real one – fast.
"Skunk," she called out to her loyal Pitbull, who looked up from his bed with a curious tilt of his head. "I'm going out for a bit. Keep an eye on the place, okay?"
Skunk barked in agreement, settling back down as Morgan slipped on her coat and grabbed her keys. She didn't know where this hunch would lead her, but she had to follow it – even if it meant chasing ghosts in the dead of night.
It was time to visit Mildred’s retirement home. The truth was out there, waiting to be uncovered, and she wouldn't rest until she found it.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
The chill of the night air bit at Morgan's skin as she stepped out of her car, a stark contrast to the stifling heat of her apartment. The retirement home loomed before her, its shadowy outline casting an eerie pallor over the landscape. She shuddered involuntarily but pushed forward, her resolve unwavering.
Let's just hope I'm not too late, she thought, pulling her coat tighter around her as a gust of wind whipped through the parking lot. The sound of gravel crunching beneath her feet seemed to echo in the quiet night, each step drawing her closer to whatever answers awaited within the retirement home's walls.
Morgan stepped into the dimly lit retirement home, the faint scent of antiseptic mingling with a pervasive air of melancholy. The quiet murmur of nurses' voices and the occasional soft moan of pain from unseen residents echoed through the sterile halls. Despite the months that had passed since her time in prison, Morgan couldn't help but feel a familiar sense of confinement and despair permeating the atmosphere.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" A nurse approached her, the nametag on her uniform identifying her as Beth. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her eyes were tinged with the weariness that came from working long hours.
Morgan flashed her badge confidently. "I'm Morgan Cross, FBI," she said, meeting Beth's gaze unflinchingly. "I'm here to ask some questions about someone who used to stay here – Mildred Bennett."
Beth's face darkened at the mention of Mildred's name, as if a shadow had fallen over it. She glanced around nervously before nodding. "Alright, let's talk in private," she agreed, leading Morgan down the hallway into a small office cluttered with paperwork and dated furniture.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Morgan wasted no time in asking about Mildred. "What can you tell me about her? What was she like?"
Beth hesitated for a moment, as if searching for the right words to describe her former resident. "Mildred... she was an odd one. Quiet, kept to herself mostly. Lived a very solitary life."
Morgan studied Beth's face, trying to gauge her honesty and sincerity. She needed to know more to understand why Mildred's name had surfaced in connection with her case. "Did she have any visitors? Friends or family?"
"None that I can recall," Beth said, shaking her head. "She had no family, and as far as I know, she didn't have any friends either."
Morgan frowned, her mind racing with questions. Why would someone so unassuming be connected to a string of brutal murders? What was it about Mildred Bennett that linked her to this case?
"Did Mildred ever have any visitors?" Morgan asked, narrowing her eyes as she tried to piece together the puzzle.
Beth hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "There was this one young man who came by quite often. Called himself Cal. None of us knew much about him, but he was...strange. He made some of the nurses uncomfortable with his intense stares."
"Did anyone ever ask him who he was or how he knew Mildred?"
"No," Beth admitted, shifting her gaze to the floor. "We didn't want to pry, and Mildred never mentioned him either."
"Is Mildred's room still available?" Morgan asked.
