The Dells Read Online Free Page A

interviewed most of the men and older boys in the neighbourhood. The thing is, to the best of my recollection, there were no more assaults after Cartwright moved away.”
    â€œDid you know any of the victims?”
    â€œI was acquainted with three of them,” Shoe said.
    â€œHow many were there?”
    â€œFour, that I’m aware of.”
    â€œWhat can you tell us?”
    Shoe cast his mind back. “The first victim was a girl I knew from junior high school. Her name was Daphne McKinnon.” Shoe recalled a shy, slightly plump girl, a talented musician who played the violin in the school band. “She was a year behind me, which would make her thirteen or fourteen. One evening in late May or early June she was in the woods when she was attacked from behind, her shirt pulled up over her head, and raped. Her attacker then tied her up with her clothes and left her. She managed to get loose and go to the nearest house to report the attack. She wasn’t able to identify her assailant.”
    Lewis wrote in her notebook, then said, “Go on.”
    â€œThe second attack was two or three weeks later. The victim was a teacher from the junior high school named Hahn. I never knew her first name. She was my ninth-grade English teacher. About twenty-four or twenty-five. Similar MO, except that it happened at midday and in a different part of the conservation area. Her attack wasmore brutal than the first. She wasn’t able to identify her attacker either.”
    Shoe paused while Lewis scribbled in her notebook. When she nodded for him to continue, he looked at Rachel.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe third victim was Marty,” Shoe said gently.
    â€œOh, Christ,” Rachel said, the skin around her eyes turning pale. “That’s right. Marty — Martine Elias — was a friend of mine,” she added to Lewis. “But she wasn’t raped, was she, Joe? Just molested.”
    â€œShe got away from her attacker before he could rape her,” Shoe said.
    â€œNot that it was any less traumatic for her,” Rachel said.
    â€œHow old was she?” Lewis asked.
    â€œSame age as me. Eleven.”
    Lewis’s face tightened. “She wasn’t able to identify the person who attacked her?” she said.
    â€œNo,” Shoe said.
    â€œPoor Marty,” Rachel said. “She was my ‘bestest friend,’ as we used to say, until she was attacked. Then we kind of drifted apart. She — ”
    â€œExcuse me, Ms. Schumacher,” Lewis interrupted. “I’ll ask you more about your friend in a minute. First, though,” she said to Shoe, “tell me abut the last victim, the one you didn’t know.”
    â€œI don’t remember her name,” he said. “She was a university student who worked part-time for the city parks department. It happened in late July or early August.”
    â€œSame MO?”
    â€œAs far as I know,” Shoe said. “Except that she was strangled to death, perhaps because she saw her attacker.”
    Shoe didn’t remember much about Marty Elias’sattack or the park worker’s rape and murder. He’d been too upset by Miss Hahn’s attack. She’d been one of his favourite teachers, and because she’d been young and pretty, he’d had a massive schoolboy crush on her. The whole school had been in shock; her attack had occurred just weeks before the end of the school year.
    â€œDid Marvin Cartwright know any of the victims?” Lewis asked.
    â€œHe knew Marty,” Rachel said.
    â€œShe was one of the kids he invited into his house?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDoes she still live in the neighbourhood?”
    â€œI don’t know where she lives now,” Rachel said. “Like I said, we fell out of touch after her attack,” she added. “It … changed her. She was always a little precocious, but afterwards she turned slutty. She dropped out of school at