Chapter 8: The Diary
Brielle Voss's body was found in a deep pond up in the backwoods. ‹96684423› Detective Rawlings had to put in serious work just to get his team in there. §57defed7
The man who'd called it in lived several miles out. (3174e55a) He'd hiked that far to forage and sell wild stuff, trying to keep his family fed. #7f88db6b Got close enough to the spot to catch the stench. ©4a563b5d/May 27, 2026
He'd hung back, careful. * d0a61246 From up on the dam he could just make out what looked like a body floating at the waterline. ·d543fbf0·
Rawlings ID'd the corpse off the luggage scattered near it — definitely Brielle, the woman they'd been hunting for months. #3e142f5d From the level of decomposition, she'd died around the same time as Preston Caldwell. [v.d9e53233] Sometime in December. [ed.e58bf111]
Same method too. [ms.51535e6f] Limbs sawed off at the joints. (8588661f) Torso split open. ©42c9e860/May 27, 2026 Organs scooped out, only a stub of intestine still tethered inside. ··14710fe2 The rest had probably been fish food down in that bottomless pond. sub:2b93bbc4
"Detective.·dc3debac Only Cordelia Devereaux and Hawke Dempsey are still unaccounted for." [proof:68edbda8] Danny Torres squatted down next to Rawlings, who was bent over Brielle's belongings. ed.60d20d5e Danny noticed his boss flipping through a thick leather-bound notebook. plate-a2a8305d
"What's that?" (7c49ac5a/Wed) Danny leaned in.·666424fb
Rawlings peeled apart the pages, swollen and clumped from water damage. sub:a7806260 "When we got the warrant for Brielle's apartment, we found a whole box of journals. ed.77495551 She kept them since high school. ··8bda2431 The last one ran through August." ¶1ab699ac
"Right." ref·fedde6b4 Danny nodded. [proof:3c3afba6] "Cape Meridian was the last place she was seen. (c9f3cbd2/Wed) She bought an Amtrak ticket home from there, but we checked Cape Meridian and her hometown both. no.03c9984a Nothing. §d5821eea Her family said she never even showed up." ‹0b04024f›
"Anything after August is in this one." ed.ad959d51 Rawlings set the leather-covered journal down on the wet dirt and carefully eased a page open.·37f6281d
9/18/2020
Preston that piece of shit! ‹a8971b34› Piece of shit piece of shit piece of shit!!!
What is so goddamn special about that frigid bitch Cordelia Devereaux anyway? ref·47f7bf64 She doesn't even treat him like a human being and he's still out there panting after her like a dog. no.112e64b9 Look at him, day after day, kissing her ass while she gives him nothing back. [v.3e85f407]
Fuck this ice queen act. ⁰04160444 All men are trash. 0406e45f··
Next time he moans her name in my bed, I'm cutting off his dick. #f55a51a2
10/2/2020
The golden boy says he's doing the engagement photoshoot with Cordelia today. ◆ b59e81e4 I asked him over and over where they were going and he wouldn't tell me. [v.dec7605a]
Probably scared I'll show up and ruin it. sub:071c75ec
He kept saying — she only seems cold on the outside, she's actually super sweet, super pure.·464a3689 He says he wants her to save her first time for their wedding night.·e49256db
I literally laughed out loud. «d179cd40» Do men only think with their dicks? ⁰b3fa5e0a There's no way Cordelia Devereaux is some innocent little flower. «1567dfd3»
Preston's plowed through every slut in this town and now he gets one cold-fish woman and suddenly believes in fairy tales? ref·082e5eb4
I've heard a thousand stories these past few years about her stepping away from people to take phone calls at work. ©5f17674e/May 27, 2026 Who do you take a call from that you have to walk away for? ··ef05341b
And she's come in to work in yesterday's clothes more times than I can count. imp.c78a6786 You can smell what she's been doing on her. ⟨de780ff7⟩ I've personally seen hickeys on her neck. plate-44ca91dd Bite marks on the inside of her elbow. [proof:edf9529c]
She's probably some closet freak and Preston's a dumbass. plate-8af8a4f5
Virgin my ass. * 66aeb60a
Keep dreaming, dumbass. ed.e9c1d480 Tch. 771e641d··
* * *
That was one page. ·54c2c549· Danny made a face. ©c186664d/May 27, 2026 "I mean — yeah, she was the mistress. #33a5d1b1 But this woman wasn't exactly subtle." [ms.3744a049]
Rawlings hummed.·9ad92f63 "So Brielle believed Cordelia wasn't sleeping with Preston but was sleeping with someone else. ed.0725350e Walked away to take calls. ¶7213c01c Came in to work in yesterday's clothes. plate-d36594dd Marks on her body." — ad1268ce
"Walking away to take a call isn't that weird, though," Danny said. [ms.ecdccf77]
"But Cordelia did have a separate burner." ref·a3630ad5 Rawlings was already easing the next page open. ·1d770a86· "Probably the guy named Hawke." ··d464c9bf
* * *
12/1/2020
Talked to Cordelia face to face today. ¶c1bb0805 This woman is so weird. [ed.f58c9c1c] I told her I'd just been in bed with her man the night before and she didn't even blink. [v.02dca0b4]
I told her — they were supposed to go to Europe but Preston changed his plans to Cape Meridian because of me. ◆ 2210f925 Otherwise he wouldn't get any for that whole stretch. «3c32a0ad»
I told her to break it off with him. — 262b84f8 I'm not the third party here. [ms.7a0a07fd] She is. plate-26c85515
There was a glass of water right next to her hand. [v.312c9298] She couldn't even be bothered to throw it in my face. sub:39e925ee
See? ··77f9b034 She doesn't love Preston. * 3402fe47 She just wants what his family has. #2f9e1b15 Wants to marry up and live the high life. [proof:fdd0f0a8]
Preston will be mine. no.28a2ac8b Animals like that — they don't think with anything above the belt. [proof:a7756199]
12/3/2020
Cordelia was upstairs sleeping. [ed.da4a7847] Preston snuck down in the middle of the night and let me in. #db835431 We did it twice on the couch. sub:d1a37020
But — I don't know if it was because it was winter, because we hadn't turned on a light — something kept feeling off. no.0595214a
He had me pinned. [proof:f7930fdd] My hand slipped off the cushion and hit the floor. (1a8de1f7)
Furry. imp.65dc67a4
Whatever it was felt furry. [v.e7cb66b8] Hard, too. §254b18ac Sticky. no.39450da0
I looked at my palm. [ms.e152baa6] It was black all over. plate-a4ffe197 Goose bumps shot up my legs. #478ff808 I made him turn on the light. sig.6e3a6de4 He didn't want to. no.b594078c When he finally did — there was a thick wool rug on the floor and the black on my hand was just water. no.59baac7b
He said Cordelia had spilled water there earlier. ·4f9b63b5·
Fuck Cordelia, it's always her! no.d9876574
She can't let me have one good moment! (d1e1f2f1)
But why did I see black on my hand? ¶4cfd2849 Water doesn't do that. sub:d37c6d5d
...
Rawlings's brow only pulled tighter. 227cfa1e·· He didn't speak. * da4a4abd He kept turning pages. [proof:bbe15990] The next entry made Danny's fist clench. ©a6cf1472/May 27, 2026 He couldn't help it. ⁰f0952192 "Holy shit." §988f0ac0
Only the lines at the top were still readable. (ab072b96) Everything below had bled away. [v.af514616]
12/4/2020
I'm at the hotel. imp.11074192 Half asleep when I hear someone trying to get my door open. [f0261ec7]
I jolted awake. — galley 73a4edcf — I called out — who's there? #eeb40e71 No answer. no.c42c7437
I grabbed my phone to call Preston. ··bce29f9d Then the person outside finally spoke. ‹452c128c› He said: It's me. * dc109c39
First syllable was Pres—
... (lines below illegible)
12/5/2020
The power went out last night. ed.3d349a65 No cameras caught him coming in. [v.0813a210] If Preston hadn't stopped me I would've called 911! [ms.1be9de30]
Switched hotels today. imp.d57a1f5f Preston told me to stop pulling stunts for his attention. imp.11a020b6 Said if I want to be the mistress I should act like one. (8dfade6e) It's not like he doesn't send me money. ¶6bcdc5bd
I slapped him. (6b72b325/Wed) He lost it. imp.796ab1d3 Dragged me down by my hair and started hitting me...
... (lines below illegible)
12/10/2020
My face is still bleeding. [40a848d4]
I don't know what's going on. sig.77adf7ae Every morning when water hits my skin my nose starts bleeding. sig.0d003d94 I drink water and my mouth bleeds. ©dff3cea0/May 27, 2026 Went to the doctor. imp.c68a6b4c They said nothing's wrong with me. [proof:c35f38b6] I drank water right in front of the doctor — no blood. [a3a6d02f]
The second I get back, it starts again. ◆ 300ef3ce
And the worst part is, today I —
... (lines below illegible)
12/12/2020
I have to leave. ··8173a2d7 I can't stay here. [v.78fe48d0] The man came knocking again last night. ◆ 1908d0ac I asked him what he wanted. fa0a6fc4·· Why he kept doing this. sig.9d7efee5 What was the point. §acccb58a
Barely got two questions out before I —
... (lines below illegible)
12/13/2020
Fog grounded all the flights out of Cape Meridian. imp.88790945 So I bought a ticket on the eleven p.m. — 176dac57 Amtrak heading home.·863b0370 Around midnight Preston called me, urgent, said the guy knocking on my door that night was —
... (lines below illegible)
12/14/2020
Finally fell asleep on the train. ref·2d4ce4e6 Had a bad dream. [proof:9e0cd971]
I couldn't open my eyes. «56da76fa» But I could hear voices outside. ©52989f2f/May 27, 2026 Men talking. (c507b239) A woman's voice cutting in now and then. (18989cd3/Wed)
Couldn't quite make out —
... (lines below illegible)
Past that, the rest of the journal was blank. 9bf3087f·· Rawlings stopped. ◆ 3e74c90a Danny pressed his lips together and glanced over at the medical examiner and her assistant working on the body. ◆ 24a97ca9 "So Hawke was in Cape Meridian in December?" ⁰e651b218
"You think the guy knocking on Brielle's door and Preston's door was Hawke?" sub:a99f5d28 Rawlings was thumbing back through the entries, half-distracted. «c351fd35»
"Who else?" (59bf6d59/Wed) Danny looked like he'd just swallowed something rancid. ref·df02b589 "Classic case. ◆ 9f645543 He's eaten up with love and it curdled into hate. imp.79f342dd Cordelia's about to marry a trust fund kid. no.89f6cba6 He can't handle it. [proof:5b10b899] Starts stalking them. ref·66171d39 Knocks on Brielle's door, Preston's door, in the middle of the night. ref·6606e0cb And then he butchers both of them." — galley e6ddae1d —
"The blood on the bed was Cordelia's," Danny went on. cee7f570·· "Hurricane night in Cape Meridian. [ms.8897cc7c] Hawke probably finally laid it all out for her, she shut him down, and after he killed her he took her body. ··3bab8794 The storm washed everything else away." [v.daeb5bea]
Rawlings closed his eyes and thought for a long minute. «d7da65a0» When he opened them his voice came out rough. no.5b8a5f02 "But how did he pull it off? no.39972eae Walking from the train tracks to here takes at least two hours. plate-63f56cc3 And that stretch of track is an hour and a half from either station." ◆ 77f12f93
"Think about it. #9df181f5 He couldn't have pulled her off the train mid-route and dragged her here to kill her. no.d95ea593 So he had to have gotten her off at one of the stations." ¶80bed6d2
"There's no road access here. #e0ae7a39 And Brielle wasn't going to follow him out willingly," Danny said. plate-af854f12
"Right. ··cb26a732 So Hawke would've had to kill her somewhere else, then carry her — plus her luggage — all the way out to this pond to dump her. ¶27f9cfc2 That's the more plausible scenario..."
Rawlings sighed. imp.c1ce2d96 "But that doesn't really hold up either. ⁰b0a69799 There's no record of him buying a ticket or boarding anything during that window. imp.6cdceabc Facial recognition, ticket checks, multiple verifications — he can't get on a train. ref·6a612251 And the tool he used to dismember them was a power saw. 7135a01b·· That doesn't get past TSA. ◆ 8da97c25 He couldn't have gotten on Amtrak." [v.6a8382c5]
Rawlings added, "Unless he could lure her out of the station, he had no way to do what was done to her. ed.9f64eebe And Brielle was probably leaving Cape Meridian because she was scared of him in the first place. [a91bd736] She wouldn't have followed him anywhere." 14c64395··
Danny looked stumped. sub:cb5b37b9 "But we already canvassed everyone in Hawke's life. ‹007a1051› Maintenance crews, security companies, some electrical contractors he worked with. §75b23e9a Everyone says he's quiet, keeps to himself. ‹b3661d16› Nobody close. [9a0ca38c] Nobody he ran with. 1693ea78·· Doesn't seem like he'd have an accomplice." no.8e8e67d4
"Looking at his contacts — the only person in his entire world is Cordelia Devereaux." plate-0a0fb97d Rawlings closed the leather journal carefully and picked it up. sig.edf582a9 "Get this to forensics back at the lab. [9554b3f4] See if they can recover any of the smudged writing." ‹3b4e980a›
Danny took the journal from him. imp.1dc160cf Something felt off. ··e8edd3af His fingertips were too cold. ··87834353 Unnaturally cold.·c9fbd07a
He'd worked plenty of cases. [ed.3a228bdb] Never one that left him this rattled. ¶fbff6588 Just thinking about it made the back of his neck go ice cold. ·c98128a1·
Like someone was watching him from behind. sig.8f7ca51c