the dead man - 18. blue star

by nick nelson

part eighteen of 31

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when cissy sawyer suddenly left home and her home town after graduating from high school, everybody who knew her was surprised, because they all agreed that she was the most ordinary person they had ever known. cissy was not ugly or good looking, not particularly smart or stupid, and had always been a loyal member of the entourage of phyllis simmons, the third most popular and third best looking girl in town. everybody thought she would just get an ordinary job, marry an ordinary guy, and have one otr two ordinary kids. cissy’s mom, if anybody asked her, would say, yeah, i guess that is what i figured too. cissy was the second victim, after rain, whose body was discovered along the highway by sheriff jake brown. jacki kelly, the proprietess of the jacki’s donut shop, suggested to sheriff jake brown, that the two apparent murders might be connected, and the work of a serial killer. and that he, sheriff jake brown, should contact the state police for assistance. sheriff jake took a sip of jacki’s super hot coffee and said he would think about it. but he did not get around to doing it until the third victim was foind. a piece of lined paper was found in cissy’s backpack on which was written in bright blue ink: i am blue star i am myself but i am also everybody i am the sun the moon and the stars most of all i am the earth i am pleased to meet you even though you do not know me and you will never know me two more lines had been added but were crossed out and illegible. on the basis of this message, the state police classified cissy as a “hippie”, even though nothing else on her person, including her clothing, indicated that she considered herself such. reading annette walker davis’s account of all his, janey masterson was entranced. the book seemed to open out visions of a world she had never dreamed of, dangerous and yet fascinating… next