Page 115 of Forever Gone

Connor read over Selena’s shoulder. “That could’ve put Karen in the cabin.”

“Karen had already found it,” Dana said.

“But this account encouraged her to go,” Kelly replied. “The killer might not have stumbled across the victims on HearthSpace. She could’ve helped shape the choices that left them alone.”

Selena opened MorningGlory44’s complete history.

The account had once posted almost every day. Hundreds of public replies filled the archive, most aimed at women doubting whether they should leave. The last public post appeared eight months earlier. After that, MorningGlory44 stopped contributing to group threads but continued using the account for private messages.

Eight months.

The account read like someone who had crossed through a broken marriage and decided other women needed guidance.

“We need her name,” Selena said.

Dana checked the registration record. “Disposable email. No profile details. Recovery questions are blank.”

Connor dragged the account-activity table onto his screen. “HearthSpace kept login times even after the source addresses were deleted.”

“The regional provider kept the other side,” Selena said.

Dana understood first. “We compare MorningGlory44’s activity to subscriber connections reaching HearthSpace during those exact windows.”

“Start with the last logins,” Selena said. “Fewer records, better chance the provider still has detail.”

Kelly called the Commonwealth’s Attorney, who obtained an expedited extension from the on-call circuit judge authorizing the provider to identify subscriber connections during those precise windows. When the return arrived, Connor and Dana worked through it. The first two timestamps produced several residential accounts. The third matched a fixed business line. So did the fourth and fifth.

Connor enlarged the subscriber name.

“Bell County Public Library,” he said. “Middlesboro branch.”

The registration email led nowhere, but the library connection did not. MorningGlory44’s last three traceable sessions had all come from the same public terminal network.

“Kelly…” Selena said, almost hating that she had to ask. “I need you to pull some strings again.”

*

Kelly had asked the Commonwealth’s Attorney to obtain a second order covering Bell County Public Library’s computer-area records while Dana contacted its systems manager and sent an immediate preservation request. The signed order and reply arrived within the hour. Terminal reservation logs were no longer available, but archived security footage covered all three login windows. Following repeated thefts from the computer area, the library had moved to a service retaining recordings for twelve months.

Three login dates gave them three blocks of footage. Several patrons used the computer area during each window, but only one woman appeared at a terminal during all three.

Connor took the video review. Selena, Kelly, and Dana continued through MorningGlory44’s early posts, searching for a name, workplace, town, or relative.

The afternoon shortened around them.

At three, the sunlight no longer reached the table. Long shadows crossed the parking lot outside, and school buses moved along the road beyond the station. Cheryl brought sandwiches and left them near the door after receiving no answer to her first knock.

Selena ate half of one without tasting it.

Somewhere in the county, the killer still had freedom. Three women had believed they were speaking inside a protected community. Their words had exposed fears, routines, relationships, and the moments when they would be alone. Other members had offered the same information. MorningGlory44 might already have chosen another target.

“I have one person who appears in all three windows,” Connor said.

Everyone turned.

He froze the library recording at 4:18 p.m. A woman sat at a terminal near the rear wall. A plain brown coat covered a dark blouse. Brown hair reached her jaw, cut without any distinctive style. The camera angle showed her in profile as she typed.

Connor opened a second recording. The same woman entered in different clothes, selected the same bank of terminals, and left forty minutes later.