The Book of Cold Cases

Shea Collins is 29 years old and works as a receptionist in a doctor's office. She has been divorced for nearly a year. She is quiet and reserved and takes the bus to work while listening to thrillers and true crime podcasts. Her sister Esther calls and asks her for dinner at her house. Shea agrees to dinner but threatens to talk about true crime when Esther wants to set her up with a date for the evening. Shea ends the call, finishes her grocery shopping, and begins the walk home. Even though it is raining, she walks because Shea never gets into cars.

In the evenings after work, Shea manages her true crime blog called "The Book of Cold Cases." She writes articles about unsolved crimes and mediates the blog's community. She is working on an article when Michael De Vos, a private detective, calls. Although he is on a stakeout for another client, Michael often works for Shea in her true crime investigations. Shea and Michael have never met in person because of Shea's rules around meeting strangers, which are the result of her escaping an abduction at the age of nine and that man immediately killing another girl instead. They talk about a case that Shea is currently writing an article about and then hang up. Shea checks all the locks in her apartment and then settles back into writing her article.

The next day at work, Shea sees a woman who seems familiar. The other receptionist tells her that the woman's name is Elizabeth Greer. Shea then immediately recognizes the woman as Beth Greer, the daughter of Julian and Mariana Greer. Her father had been shot during a home invasion, a crime that was never solved, and then two years later her mother had died in a car accident. In addition, Beth is Claire Lake's most infamous murderer, accused and acquitted of murdering two men in 1977. A witness to the second murder, that of Paul Veerhoever, identified Beth as the woman he had seen at the crime scene. The Veerhoever murder happened just four days after another man, Thomas Armstrong, was murdered in identical circumstances.

Beth was arrested and named the Lady Killer by the media. She was beautiful, rich and very reserved, so, even though she was acquitted of the murders, the community and the larger public have always considered her guilty. Shea has looked deeply into the case over the years but was never able to discover any more than what had already been investigated. She has requested interviews with Beth Greer but has never been given one. No one else in the waiting room or staff recognizes Beth because it has been 40 years since her trial.

When Beth leaves the doctor's office, Shea takes her lunch break and follows the woman. Beth surprises Shea and asks why she is following her. Shea introduces herself as an amateur crime writer and asks Beth for an interview. Beth tells her she will consider it, as Shea is so different from anyone who has ever asked before. When Shea gets back to the doctor's office, she considers reading Beth's file, which is illegal, but decides against it.

Shea and Michael talk about Beth Greer on the phone that night. Although Michael is a former Claire Lake police officer, he did not work on the case. Michael thinks that Beth is guilty, but Shea points out the lack of evidence, which eventually acquitted Beth. Michael brings up the idea that she might be a sociopath and reminds Shea that if Beth agrees to the interview, she will have an agenda.

At one o'clock in the morning, Beth calls Shea. She has been reading Shea's blog article about her and says that she got some things right but not others. She tells Shea that she will convince Ransom Wells, who had been her attorney, and Detective Joshua Black, who had led the Lady Killer investigation, to speak to Shea. Shea has tried to contact both men before but had been refused. Then Beth tells Shea to come to the Greer mansion on Sunday to begin their interview and hangs up.