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“Thank you for sharing that with me, Lark.” Her mouth tipped up in a small smile. “I know this has got to be hard for you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She turned the page of her notebook, something she’d been doing throughout the interview. “I’m moving into the ending portion of the show, which is usually my thoughts or theories on the case as a whole after I’ve gone through everything.”
“Okay…”
She clasped her hands together. “I’ve talked about this case a lot, Lark. I’ve been through every speck of information I could get my hands on and hearing this story from your point of view has only solidified my theories. This case has always been linked with the Shadow Stalker, I know that, but I can’t get rid of this gut feeling that maybe…maybe it wasn’t him.”
“They had his mark,” Reid said, gaining Emersyn’s attention.
Her brows narrowed. “I know that.”
“The details of that mark were never released.”
“Again, I know.” She gritted her teeth. “Please, don’t interrupt when you’re not on camera.”
Reid crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. His eyes shifted to me and he raised his eyebrows as if to say, “Can you believe her?”
I blinked at Emersyn. “If you don’t think it was the Shadow Stalker, then how do you explain the mark the police found on the bodies? I’m not saying you can’t be right, but the details of the mark were never released to the public.”
There was a slight lift on the corner of her mouth. “Thanks for repeating the question and making my editing work easier.” She paused. “I realize the mark makes that theory controversial. However, I’m sticking by it. This case has such a different MO than the rest. Sure, Thea fits his overall victim profile, but nothing else fits. Why would he break into a home, when he usually abducts them out in public? Why kill Delainey?” Her voice wavered slightly on the name of her sister. “And most of all, why would he kill them instantly when he’s always held his victims and kept them alive for a period of time before he killed them?”
Her rush of questions was overwhelming, but none of them were new to me. I’d asked them many times to myself. “What’s your theory, then?” I asked, genuinely curious. I hadn’t listened to any of her past podcast episodes, so I wasn’t sure whether she had shared that information with her audience or not.
Emersyn held my gaze, her eyes hard. “I think that the Shadow Stalker doesn’t work alone.”
My gut twisted. “You think that he has an accomplice?” I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of it before.
Her pointed chin dipped in a slow nod. “I do. It makes sense. This person holds his victims for days, sometimes weeks at a time before he kills them. That’s a lot easier to do if you have someone to help you.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It was hard to fathom that one person could do something like that, let alone two.
“I don’t know why your house was targeted that night, but I don’t think it was planned. I think it was one of the Shadow Stalker duo, and I think it caused a problem. That’s why the killings stopped after it. Whoever did it had gone off script. They messed up.”
My chest tightened. “Maybe,” I breathed. The thought of there being more than one killer in Ember Hollow had a spike of cold fear running down my spine.
Emersyn continued talking as she finished up the podcast episode, mostly without me. I was mentally and emotionally spent for the night, and the new possibility of yet another killer had me reeling.
The moment Emersyn snapped her notebook closed and announced the interview was officially over, Reid was on his feet, making his way toward me. I wasn’t sure he could feel the tension and toil going on inside me, but all I wanted at that moment was to be held by him.
He made it a few steps before his phone rang. Frowning, he slipped it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. His frown deepened.
He glanced up at me. “I should take this real quick. I’ll be right back.”
Before I could say anything, he headed toward the outside door of the walkout basement and slipped outside onto the patio.
“Is everything all right?” Emersyn asked, when I didn’t take my eyes off the door.
I slowly turned my head to look at her, feeling numb and empty.
Her lips thinned. “This was a lot. I’m sorry. I really, really appreciate you doing this, Lark. I truly believe that this is going to make a difference. Whether this helps find Lily or not, it’ll get her story out there and raise money for her family.”
Lily. That’s what this was all about. I started to nod, but then a door opened.
My head whipped around, thinking Reid was back, but the door to the outside was still closed and an unfamiliar voice came from the other side of the basement.
“Hey, Emy, who the hell does that car parked outside belong to?”
