Justin nodded his head, then opened the letter. “Hmm, this is interesting,” he commented after reading part of the message. “According to the sites researchers we must have created an error when entering the data. Listen, ‘Mr. Anders, We regret to inform you that we were unable to process you request as submitted. Your request for seven separate family trees is not possible, as according to our investigation we could only create three different trees. While researching the list you provided, our team discovered multi-layered familial ties among the named people. We have included the family tree for the related persons and preliminary trees for the other couples. If the trees are not correct, please let us know and we will continue our research. Management of Family Trees R Us.’”

When he finished reading the email, Justin opened the attached file and they reviewed the three trees. The first included Emma and Archibald’s family trees, while the Huntsbacker tree was second and included the infant girl, Hannah, along with a second generation, which named her daughter, Abigail. But, it was the third family tree that caused Justin to stare in disbelief at the screen. He glanced at his wife, who sat beside him in silence and asked, “Susan, did you know that all of the people who have been killed in the serial murders were related to each other and to Jebediah?”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to form words with a mouth that had suddenly gone dry with shock. Reaching around Justin, Susan grabbed a semi-flat, warm can of soda that had been set aside and long since forgotten and gulped down the remaining liquid. Regaining her voice, she said, “After seeing Hannah Huntsbacker’s family tree, the third one didn’t affect me at all.” She reached over and tightly clutched his arm and he noticed that she was trembling. “Justin, we need to get the rest of these family trees; I don’t care what it will cost.”

“Why? What was so special about her tree?” he asked while accessing the Huntsbacker file again.

Raising a shaking finger to point at a name on the screen, Susan answered his question without taking her eyes off the chart displayed there, her voice only, slightly louder than a whisper. “Abigail Rogers, she was my maternal grandmother.”

To Be Continued …