Despite closing last night, JS had a morning shift today. She took the 7:30 a.m. bus and entered through the front doors at just before 8:00 a.m.
I waited an hour before entering the store. Today I wore a baseball cap and glasses. I picked up pastries at the bakery and then waited in JS’s line to pay.
It was quiet in the store and only two registers were open. Like yesterday, JS smiled and made small talk with each of her customers. With me, she noted the pastries.
She said: “Blueberry muffins, my favorite.”
I paid for my items and went straight to the trailer park.
I drove past JS’s trailer. In the daylight, it looked even more rundown.
I made note of the other trailers nearby. None looked occupied.
The rear of the trailer park is woodland. A quick GPS search on my phone showed a shopping mall on the other side of the woods, approximately a quarter mile away.
I drove to the shopping mall and parked near the edge and slipped through the trees. It took me less than ten minutes to come up on JS’s trailer from behind.
All of the windows were closed, locked, and shaded by curtains. The rear patio sliding door was locked with a wooden dowel rod on the bottom track.
I walked around to the front of the trailer. The lane was still deserted. Now wearing latex gloves, I picked the lock on the front door and entered.
The trailer had a distinct odor of cigarette smoke. An ashtray was on the coffee table, as well as two empty packs of Pall Malls. The living area was mildly cluttered with books and magazines and mail. I noticed a few past due notices and several issues of US Weekly.
In the kitchen area I found several empty beer and rum bottles in the trash. The fridge was sparse, but there were six bottles of beer inside.
On the counter was a grocery list. Comparing a photo of one of the Seraphina letters to the grocery list, it appears that the handwriting is a match.
I found a legal tablet in a drawer. Some pages had been ripped off, and the yellow coloring of the paper, as well as the dark blue lines, match the paper of the letters mailed to Seraphina.
Under the mattress on the floor in the bedroom, I found several pictures of Seraphina torn out of magazines. In every picture, her eyes had been scratched out.
A few of the pictures also included Seraphina’s mother. In those pictures, her mother’s entire face had been cut out from the pages.
I returned the photos to where I found them and exited through the rear patio sliding door. I propped up the wooden dowel rod against the side of the door so that it would fall in place once the door was closed. I returned to my car in the shopping mall to type up this note.
JS may be less stable than she appears to be on the surface. Uncertain of next steps. Will continue to observe.