*
Riley was just a little girl.
She was walking through some woods at night. She was scared, but she wasn’t sure why.
After all, she wasn’t really lost in the woods.
The woods were close to a highway, and she could see cars going back and forth. The glow from a streetlight and a full moon both lit her way among the trees.
Then her eyes fell on a row of three shallow graves.
The dirt and stones that covered the graves were shifting and heaving.
Women’s hands clawed their way out of the graves.
She could hear their muffled voices say …
“Help us! Please!”
“I’m just a little girl!” Riley answered tearfully.
Riley snapped awake in bed. She was trembling.
It’s just a nightmare, she told herself.
And it wasn’t especially surprising that she’d dream about the Matchbook Killer’s victims the night after she’d talked to Paula Steen.
She took several long, deep breaths. Soon she felt relaxed again, and her consciousness started to fade into sleep.
But then …
She was still just a little girl.
She was in a candy store with Mommy, and Mommy was buying her lots of candy.
A scary man wearing a stocking over his head came toward her.
He pointed a gun at Mommy.
“Give me your money,” he told Mommy.
But Mommy was too scared to move.
The man shot Mommy in the chest, and she fell down right in front of Riley.
Riley started screaming. She whirled around looking for someone to help.
But suddenly, she was in the woods again.
The women’s hands were still groping out of the three graves.
The voices were still calling …
“Help us! Please!”
Then Riley heard another voice beside her. This one sounded familiar …
“You heard them, Riley. They need your help.”
Riley turned and saw Mommy. She was standing right there, her chest bleeding from her bullet wound. Her face was deathly pale.
“I can’t help them, Mommy!” Riley cried. “I’m just a little girl!”
Mommy smiled.
“No, you’re not just a little girl, Riley. You’re all grown up. Turn around and look.”
Riley turned and found herself looking into a full-length mirror.
It was true.
She was a woman now.
And the voices were still calling out …
“Help us! Please!”
Riley’s eyes snapped open again.
She was shaking even more than before, and gasping for breath.
She remembered something that Paula Steen had said to her.
“My daughter’s killer will never be brought to justice.”
Paula had also said …
“It was never your case to begin with.”
Riley felt a new sense of determination.
It was true – the Matchbook Killer hadn’t been her case before.
But she could no longer leave it to the past.
At long last, the Matchbook Killer had to be brought to justice.
It’s my case now, she thought.