Chapter 1: The Day My Life Changed
Hi, my name's Holly. Holly Quagmire. This is my story of how I tangled with Charles Lee Ray, The Lakeshore Strangler. It began on a hot, autumn day, back in 1988.
October 14th 1988
I walked downstairs into the kitchen, where my husband, Jack Quagmire, was making breakfast for me and our 4 year old daughter, Elizabeth Quagmire. Elizabeth had inherited Jack's blond hair and my green eyes, Elizabeth sat in her highchair, eating some cereal. Jack was flipping pancakes, for breakfast. Bearing in mind, I was 8 months into my 2nd pregnancy, Jack stopped flipping pancakes and kissed my cheek. "Morning, Holly!". I kissed him back and I said to him
"Morning Jack!". I walked over to Elizabeth, and kissed her, I hugged her.
"Morning honey". She giggled and looked at me, her hair was tied back in two pigtails
"Morning Mommy!". Her vocabulary was good for a 4 year old, she was my pride and joy. Jack placed 3 plates onto the table, I kissed his cheek as the three of us sat down for breakfast. He asked, whilst chewing his food "Guys, we've been invited to John's barbecue". I smiled at him,
"Let's go then". Elizabeth clapped her hands, smiling at Jack. He kissed my cheek, "It starts at 12, so we'd better get ready". Jack picked Eliza up and the three of us went upstairs to get ready. Eliza wore a yellow dress that day with a pair of blue sneakers, I wore a coral-colored dress with white flats, Jack wore a blue sweater with a pair of dark blue jeans and black sneakers. I put Eliza's hair into a little braid, which suited her. I tied my hair into a bun, not a formal one, a messy one. The three of us went downstairs, to entertain ourselves before the barbecue started.
2 hours after, we drove to John's house, his house had a huge backyard. Lots of kids running around, Eliza loved playing with them. I stuck around with Jack and the other adults. John asked me
"So, when's Fiona due?". I chuckled, Jack's hands on my stomach, I looked at John.
"Fiona's due on the 17th November". Jack and I were having another daughter, we'd decided on Fiona because it was Jack's mother's name. John took a few pictures of Jack, Elizabeth and I, as a family. I loved being around friends and family, I saw a man in a red shirt and black sunglasses looking over at us, I thought nothing of it, I was used to being looked at because of my pregnancy.
John took one final picture of us and turned over to the man looking at us and said to him "Charles! Come over here, I want to introduce you to some people". Charles walked over to us, taking his sunglasses off and putting them in his shirt pocket. He looked older than me, I was only 35, he looked around 38 or 37. John looked at him
and said "This is Holly".
I shook his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Charles".
He shook my hand "It's lovely to meet you as well, Holly". John said to Charles
"This is her husband, Jack".
Jack shook Charles' hand "It's nice to meet you, sir". Charles shook Jack's hand
"Hi Jack, it's nice to meet you as well". John turned to Elizabeth and said "And this is Elizabeth". Eliza grinned and chuckled, Charles observed her, quite well. He looked over at us
"She has her mother's eyes".
I chuckled at him, "Yeah, she does". He stood up and concentrated on us and said
"Such a lovely family".
Jack looked at him, saying "Thanks Charles. Your so nice".
He chuckled unervingly, looking at me "You have no idea...".