Chloral hydrate capsules were found in an unmarked vial in a bathroom cabinet. A syringe. A dish and pestle for mixing the powder with water.

Drawstring plastic bags were recovered from a kitchen drawer. Content analysis demonstrated that those remaining in the box were from the same manufacturer and batch as the one McGee had taken to Sharon Hall to asphyxiate Mary Louise.

A purple wool coat was collected from a hook in the bedroom closet. Fiber analysis linked it to the threads snagged on Ajax’s backyard hedge.

In addition to Lizzie Nance’s other ballet slipper, the box on McGee’s desk contained news clippings covering the murders of Gower, Nance, and Estrada, and the disappearance of Donovan. And more pictures of me.

Mary Louise seemed unscathed, more than willing to talk about her ordeal. On her way home from school, she’d stopped by the annex to give me a picture of Birdie she painted in art class. Getting no response to her ringing and knocking, she’d decided to read her book on the patio and wait a short while.

She’d barely settled when a woman appeared, claiming to be my friend. The woman said I’d been taken ill and that I’d asked her to contact Mary Louise about minding Birdie, whom she had in her car. Trusting the woman, who was wearing scrubs and therefore a nurse, Mary Louise went to gather the cat.

Mary Louise remembered sharing apple slices as she and the woman walked to her vehicle; after that, “only swimmy bits from the romp on the lawn.” Her words.

Ironically, at the time Mary Louise was being abducted, I’d been two blocks away, at the Marcus home.

Remains of an apple were found in Tawny McGee’s Impala. Tox analysis showed portions contained chloral hydrate. The injected slices had been notched at one end.

An old MacBook Pro was dug out from under the car’s front seat. Pastori and his IT pals were dissecting it every which way but Sunday.

McGee was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and a dozen other offenses with regard to Leal and Nance, kidnapping and assault with regard to Mary Louise. Vermont was waiting in the wings with Gower. Deciding what to do about Pomerleau. Quebec was in line with Violette and Bastien. The upside to homicide: no statute of limitations.

McGee was interrogated daily, mostly by Barrow and Rodas. Slidell was on administrative leave, routine in any officer-involved shooting. He watched via remote hookup, smoldering, jotting notes so fiercely that his pencil lead often snapped and went flying.

Tinker—who had been discharged from Mercy and was recovering nicely—and Slidell gave differing accounts of the incident. Both versions and witness statements agreed on core facts.

Tinker had been at the home of Verlene Wryznyk, Slidell’s former girlfriend and Tinker’s flavor of the month. Tinker wanted to tango, Verlene didn’t. She asked him to leave, he wouldn’t. Frustrated, Verlene called someone she trusted.

Slidell stormed in breathing fire. Hoping to neutralize Skinny long enough to allow him to cool down, Tinker drew his weapon. The two struggled and the gun discharged. Tinker caught a bullet in the shoulder.

Slidell visited me at the MCME a week after McGee’s arrest. God knows why, but he felt compelled to share the true story. After demanding stick-a-needle-in-my-eye confidentiality, he told me that Tinker had shown up drunk and become aggressive, and Verlene had capped him.

I told Slidell he was a sap for taking the hit. Got “Eeyuh” for an answer. Clearly, Skinny was not over Verlene.

McGee waived her right to counsel, even when she was assured that efforts would be made to secure a female attorney. Barrow and Rodas nearly wet themselves with joy.

Along with Slidell, I observed most of the questioning. Throughout, McGee was cool and distant. But her eyes were empty as glass, never connecting with anything or anyone in the room.

McGee admitted to stealing Kim Hamilton’s identity. Talked freely of the girl with whom she’d been imprisoned. With whom she’d whispered, naked in the dark.

In 1998, Alice Kimberly Hamilton and four older teens made a clandestine trip from their hometown of Detroit to Toronto for a night of Canadian fun. At that time no passport was required to transit the border, so she carried a birth certificate in one shoe.

The secret trip turned deadly when Hamilton’s path crossed that of Pomerleau or Catts/Menard. McGee didn’t know why either would have traveled to Ontario. I suspected we never would.

Hoping to keep the sole link to her life out of the hands of her captors, Hamilton hid the birth certificate behind a cell wall, in a gap between the wood and cement. McGee listened to Hamilton’s hushed secret, stored the information for possible future advantage.

Hamilton lasted only nineteen months in captivity. McGee had no idea what happened to her body. She was sixteen years old at the time of her death.

Once freed and in therapy, McGee pressed for a visit to the house on de Sébastopol. When Lindahl finally agreed, she went to the basement and dug out Hamilton’s carefully concealed ID.

The document proved useful sooner than McGee could have anticipated. After storming from the Kezerian home in the summer of 2006, she spent a week on the streets and eventually hooked up with a group of girls from the University of Vermont. Drunk or stoned, they offered her a ride south. Passports were still unnecessary for vehicular crossings, so McGee entered the States using Hamilton’s birth certificate.

For several months she crashed at one student pad or another in Burlington. Using the money she’d stolen from Bernadette, and the name Alice Hamilton, she enrolled in a quick-trip online course and obtained certification as a CNA1.

McGee had learned of the Corneau farm by overhearing conversations between Pomerleau and Catts/Menard. More info stored for future advantage. In early 2007, using what remained of Bernadette’s stash, and perhaps more obtained by the same means, she bought the aged Impala and set out for St. Johnsbury. One can only imagine that first meeting between former predator and prey.

By McGee’s account, she and Pomerleau lived together for a while, making maple syrup and playing in the snow. All sins forgiven. One night Pomerleau died in her sleep. Saddened, McGee left Vermont for North Carolina to fulfill a long-standing desire to thank me properly. Thus the clipped photos.

Not sure if she’d flourish in Dixie, and wanting backup options, McGee kept paying the bills on the Corneau property. Pomerleau had explained the scam, the accounts at the Citizens Bank in Burlington. Or, more likely, McGee had extorted the information and stored it for future advantage.

I suspected a far different reality for the time in Vermont. McGee pursuing much darker desires. For payback. For torture. Eventually, for blood. One day we may learn how she overcame her former captor, how she harvested Pomerleau’s tissues, how she killed her. Or we may not. That will be up to McGee.

When questioned about Gower, Nance, Leal, and the other girls, McGee switched to abstractions. Talked of angels, of sunlight, of eternal peace and safety. Only then did something remotely human soften her eyes.

When asked why Pomerleau was in a barrel, McGee stared blankly.

When asked about human tissue in her freezer, she stared blankly.

When asked about chloral hydrate, she stared blankly.

When asked about Hamet Ajax, she stared blankly.

Incredibly shrewd or crazy as a loon. I couldn’t decide.

“Ready?”

Mary Louise’s voice snapped me back to the present. I was wrong about her intake capacity. The kid had cleaned her tub.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, bunching my napkin.

While driving, we discussed the latest project. Mary Louise was creating hats to honor each of the murdered or missing girls. A knitted stocking cap for Nellie Gower. A chignon-wrapping thing for Lizzie Nance. A seashell affair for Shelly Leal. A cloche with a fleur-de-lis on the band for Violette, an Acadian flag for Bastien. The other designs were still on the board.