the one who got away

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"So, who is this Ellie person?" Andrew demanded, pacing between Beatrice and Connor with his arms folded across his chest. "And why did neither of you think this information was important enough to tell me?"

Beatrice had finally confided her interaction with Ellie to Andrew. Her and Connor agreed to keep the matter a secret at the time as they believed it served no significance to the murder investigation. However, seeing Ellie at the crime scene gave Beatrice a breakthrough in the case that she had never thought about. She was going to frame Ellie for the murders she committed. She wasn't positive if Ellie was the person who murdered Julia, but Beatrice was sure she would work her way into a confession for the other five victims as well.

"We don't know her last name, but we've seen her on two separate occasions now, sir." Connor explained, chewing the inside of his cheek. "Our first interaction was when she harassed Beatrice at the bar and now, she just-so-happened to be at our latest crime scene as well? That can't be a coincidence!"

"What evidence do you have that this woman committed these crimes?" Andrew argued. When neither Beatrice nor Connor said anything, he threw his hands up in exasperation. "Listen, kids. You can't just go around accusing random people of murder, no matter what she did to you all."

Beatrice slammed her fist on the table, that made Connor jump from the seat beside her. "She has been watching me for over a week now, and you don't think she's the slightest bit suspicious? She was sitting outside my window and left a damn handprint on the glass. She knew my last name at the bar when I never told her."

She needed to continue the act; it was working. "Andrew, please." Beatrice's voice cracked as tears burned in her eyes. "I've been too scared to fall asleep in fear she would hurt me. She's been following me. At least let us find her and bring her in for questioning."

Andrew rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked at Connor, who had been fallen silent. "What do you think about this?"

"I-I don't think it really matters what I think, sir." Connor kept his eyes focused on the floor as he spoke. "I think it is suspicious that Ellie was at the crime scene yesterday, as if she were revisiting the scene of the crime she committed. We know we're looking for a female offender, who is incredibly smart and skilled: two traits Ellie seems to have."

Beatrice reached across the table and grabbed the manilla folder that read "Julia Thixton" on the front. She flipped through the pages inside before finding the images from Julia's profile and matches from Tinder. This was her final option of convincing Andrew to look into Ellie's background and she was sure she was right. Just as she expected, Ellie and Julia had been a match for one another. They had texted and planned to meet on September 17th, two days before she was murdered.

She pulled the paper from the stack and slid across the table to Andrew. As he was reading the paper of the girls' text messages, Beatrice found a photograph of Ellie's Tinder profile. Except, it wasn't Ellie. The girl in the picture had her face, but she had features Beatrice didn't recognize. Instead of a full head of hair, Ellie had a buzzcut. She had brown eyes instead of green as well. Had she gone out of her way to wear contact and a wig at the bar?

"Her name isn't even Ellie." Beatrice clenched her jaw together as she read the name in bold print on the picture. "Her name is Eleanor Roberts, and she was wearing a disguise at the bar."

Beatrice paused and looked at Connor. "What did that bartender tell you the other night?"

"That she likes scrawny men?" Connor asked.

"No, you dingus. She said that Chris Green left the bar with a woman with blonde hair." Beatrice waited for the gears to turn in Connor's head. "Who else did we see who had blonde hair?"