Question C

[Jonetta]

We learn early on that Donnie murdered Lee and Kate and get his warped point of view. Did you believe, as they did, that he was also blackmailing and threatening Ellie?

[Lauren]

No. I never believed he was the person threatening Ellie.
His misogyny and sexual comments suggested that if it had been him hiding in Ellie's car, he would have raped her. The blackmailer let her go, so it couldn't have been Donnie.

[Christina T]

I also knew there was someone else involved who was terrifying Ellie. With as nasty as Donnie's thoughts were I kind of thought he would be more involved in the case. I'm surprised he didn't kidnap Kate to torture/rape her to be honest. He was pretty impulsive to kill her so quickly...plus he was to get the info from her and later mentioned something about killing both her and Lee as a bonus to the one who hired him.

[Jonetta]

At first I thought they were one and the same. But Ellie’s tormentor wore a hoodie and Donnie wore a ball cap. And, there’s no way he would have released Ellie without making a sexual overture. I’m not sure of when but I did reach the right conclusion before the reveal.

[Christina T]

I thought they were the same guy at first as well until Donnie's ramblings came out. You're right, he never would have let Ellie go without some sort of sexual threat to her or her daughter.

[Robin]

At first I thought it was the guy threatening Ellie was the same guy who killed Lee and Kate. But, as everyone mentioned, he just didn't act the same as the Donnie we were introduced to.

[Anita]

I thought it was Donnie and he was doing everything he could to get the information whoever was paying him wanted so he would get the rest of his money.

[Sharon]

I thought they were the same, except I didn't feel something different when Ellie was involved. For awhile, I thought Ellie was responsible for Lee & Kate's death, but I couldn't figure out what she did.

I make more wrong guesses than right, but my head writes stories while I read the author's story.

[Lauren]

Now that I think of it, another clue that Donnie and Ellie's blackmailer were not one and the same is the fact that Donnie searched the Barrett house himself, so he would not have needed Ellie to do it.

[Jonetta]

Good clue!

[Sharon]

Good catch Lauren.

[Karen ♐]

At first, I thought they were one and the same but as the story went on, there were too many differences. Great catch, Lauren.