Page 49 of Make No Mistake

“The doctors said I had been struck twice on my head and once in my back.” She turned and pointed at her right shoulder blade. “Luckily, he didn’t hit my spine.”

“How are you feeling now?”

“I’m still sore and I’ve had a headache since I woke up in the hospital, but the doctors said that’s normal.”

“Do you know how you got to the hospital?”

“Yeah, another girl from my dorm building was about twenty minutes behind me. She found me and called nine-one-one.”

How scary that must have been, for both of them.

“Thanks, Nikki. Is there anything else you remember from that morning?”

She shook her head. “No, sorry. I wish there was more.”

“No, you were great. Thank you for meeting me. I promise, I will do everything I can to find this guy and make sure he’s punished for what he’s done.”

“You’re on the newspaper, right?”

I nodded.

“Are you going to print everything I’ve said?”

“No, I don’t want to give the suspect too much of what we know. Would it be alright to use some of it though? I want to warn others.”

“Of course. I don’t want this to happen to any more girls.” She paused. “But it already has.”

“I want this to end before anyone else can get hurt.”

She nodded and stood. “Thanks, Mckayla.”

“Thank you. If you need anything or want to talk, please call me.” I handed her a card with my number and email on it.

“Thanks.”

She walked away while I reviewed my notes. I’d been right about the area. He’d been hiding again. How did we catch a guy that’s always hiding in the darkness? He didn’t fight fair.

I added in my notes from Christina and closed my laptop. We needed to end this before anyone else got hurt.

Before I left, I checked my phone to see if Larson had set up a time for me to meet with the latest victim. So far there was nothing, but hopefully I could see her soon.

I was sittingon my couch, eating late lunch, when my phone buzzed next to me. I picked it up and saw a text from the detective. The latest victim, Kensie, was already home from the hospital and agreed to meet with me. He gave me her number and told me to call to make sure she was awake before heading over.

I didn’t waste a moment. If I could get her interview done today, I could get all the information put together tonight to be sent out in tomorrow’s paper.

The phone rang once before she answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, Kensie, this is Mckayla Page from the paper.”

“Oh hi.” She sounded so tired.

“Detective Larson told you I wanted to do a brief interview, right?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“What time would be best for you?”

“You can come over now. I’m number 244.”