Chapter 23

While Grace was driving to her destination, she was running every possible scenario though her head. She wanted to make sure that she was full prepared for whatever could come her way. It was not going to be easy to convince them that she needed to speak to whom she needed to. She knew that it was going to be hard for them to understand, how someone from their past was going to want to kill them. She was not sure how she was going to make them understand how imperative it was that they listen to her but it was something that she was going to have to do.

With the music blaring, she kept trying to keep her mind open and her heart ready for the task at hand. As hard as it was going to be she knew it was the right thing to do. If the woman did not listen to her completely she could be signing her own death certificate and Grace could not live with that. She started to make her way towards her destination.

The housing development was not that far from the police station, but she drove around for a while to make sure that all of her thoughts were collected. If her instincts were correct she was going to be able to get to the next victim on “El Diablo’s” list. She did not know how she had figured out the connections but it had been there the entire time. It was simply hidden behind all of the other information.

It was while she was looking though the files for the final time, that it jumped out at her. Every single one of the victims had been adopted through the same agency. They were all adopted when they were at least three years old or older and so they had all be placed within foster care. They had not had an easy life, but each one of them had been in the same foster home just before they were adopted. She was not sure if her hunch was correct, but the foster mother had given up working for the state and had decided to work at Xavier School. It was this connection that she felt was the strongest.

If she was correct, then she had made the right choice. She wanted to make sure that she got to Milly Tillerman before “El Diablo” did. She wanted to speak with her to make sure that she understood how important it was for her to get out of the town and to not look back until they had caught the guy. She was hoping to get her out of the house and to a safe place where no one could touch her.

It was not going to be an easy task, but she believed that she could do it. As she drove up to the house, she was surprised to see that Milly was just entering the house with luggage. That meant that she had just returned from somewhere and that she would already have everything ready to go so she could leave at a moments notice.

Now came the hard part. Going up to Milly and convincing her that she was correct and that she was not some mad woman; that she knew what she was doing. Grace hoped with her entire being that she would be able to make her see what danger she was in and that there would be no questions asked. If she did have questions, Grace had brought along the police reports to prove to her that she was not crazy and that she knew what she was talking about.

Parking her car, Grace knew that she was taking a chance, but it was one that she was willing to take. If she did, and something happen to Milly, she knew that she would consider herself the cause of her death. The walk up to the door seemed like miles, but that was only because she was trying so hard to focus on what her opening line was going to be once the door opened.