getaway place for fear he’d inadvertently mention it to Shanna. She got no mail there, and all of her bills were still sent to her mom’s home. “I felt safe there at first.” Then a small package, addressed to her, arrived at the new apartment. The formula company had sent her another sample. Melissa felt queasy. She’d taken extreme measures to keep her address secret. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure she received that package. Her stalker was sending her a message, and that message was frighteningly clear: I know where you are.
It was the last “gift” from her stalker. Apparently, Shanna lost interest in her sometime after that, though it’s hard to pinpoint when. It was many months before Melissa realized she no longer had to glance over her shoulder to see who might be watching.
While Melissa Strom and Amy Flora had never met, they had some things in common. Both were wonderful mothers. Both worked hard at their jobs. Both had had a healthy sense of fear when it came to Liz. And both had been chastised for that fear to the point where they were made to feel as if they were foolish and paranoid. The similarities did not end there, for each had a loyal friend with amazing wisdom.
Melissa had Valerie. Amy had Brandie.
The stalker targeted Brandie Bates with some odd messages from a Facebook page, identifying herself as Cari Farver. They weren’t insults or threats, but requests. Could Brandie babysit for “Cari’s” child?
How in the world did “Cari” know that Brandie babysat? She sometimes watched kids, including Dave and Amy’s kids, but that was not public knowledge. She never posted about it on Facebook, and only a small circle of people was aware of it. Not only was it odd that “Cari” had known Brandie babysat, it didn’t make sense that she’d contact her. Brandie had heard that the missing woman’s son was a teenager, way too old for a sitter. She felt the hairs on the nape of her neck prickle to attention as she recalled Dave had once brought Liz along when he picked up his kids. Something clicked. In a solemn voice, she told Amy, “I don’t think this is Cari messaging me. I think it’s Liz. Cari is not alive.”
The friends pondered the possibility for a moment and then brushed it off. “We decided we’d watched too many Lifetime movies,” says Amy. The Lifetime Network’s slogan is “Lifetime—Television for Women,” and the channel features dramatic films about women in jeopardy. The heroines often find themselves in harrowing and bizarre situations, and while many of the stories are based on real-life events, few viewers expect to find themselves in similar scenarios. Lifetime movies are popcorn-chomping escapes, and the danger vanishes the instant the TV is turned off. Even when the movies are touted as true stories, few believe that such things could happen to them. Not to them. Not to anyone they know. The ninety-minute dramas are carved from the tragedies of women living far, far away—women they have never met and never will meet. But for a sober moment, Amy and Brandie wondered. Could they be living in a world as scary as a made-for-TV-movie? No! The idea was ludicrous! They laughed, but their laughter was leaden, weighed down by an underlying dread.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
GARRET SLOAN REMEMBERS the moment he first suspected his girlfriend was cheating on him. It was the Fourth of July 2012, and he’d taken her and her two kids to watch the fireworks at Lake Manawa State Park in Council Bluffs. The park was crowded with spectators. Some had brought lawn chairs, and many had spread out blankets to sit on. It had been hot that day, with the temperature peaking at a sweltering ninety-five degrees. The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, and it was cool enough now that people slipped into sweaters and jackets as they watched the spectacular show over the lake.
Most of the crowd had gathered by the water’s edge to watch the dazzling lights exploding in the black velvet sky, but Liz suggested they sit on a grassy area, halfway between the lake and the car. They could still see the fireworks, had the space all to themselves and could get to the car quickly to avoid the traffic jam when the show was over.
Garret was accustomed to Liz’s aversion to affection in public, especially around her kids, but that night she was more aloof than