The Outsider

Holly has dealt with an outsider before. She starts her investigation by determining that the white van had been abandoned and probably restolen two days before the Maitland family arrived in Dayton, so Terry would never have had access to it.

Looking through local news headlines, Holly finds a reference to two little girls reported missing and found dead and mutilated the same way Freddie Peterson had been. Dayton police arrested Heath Holmes, an orderly at the memory care facility where Terry’s father lives. They had unimpeachable evidence that he was the murderer, but his mother insisted he had been with her 30 miles away at the same time.

At the memory care unit, Holly finds an employee willing to talk to her. During the time Terry was making his last visit to his father, Heath Holmes was acting strangely unlike himself. Ordinarily, Heath is particularly kind and empathetic. Walking down the hall, he slipped on the wet floor just as Terry was leaving his father’s room. Holmes caught hold of Terry’s arm to steady himself and scratched Terry’s wrist.