Before She Was Found(41)

Cora’s door opened and Kendall poked her head out. “What’s going on?” she asked in a whisper. “You’re being really loud.” She was a striking young woman. Tall and lithe with the stature of a ballerina.

“Did we wake Cora?” Mara fretted. “It’s nothing.”

“It is something, goddammit.” Jim brushed roughly past Mara, sending a wave of coffee across the front of her T-shirt.

“Ouch!” Mara jumped backward and pulled her wet shirt away from her skin. “Jim,” she hissed, “let her rest. Don’t bother her.” But Jim had already swept past Kendall and into Cora’s room with the rest of us trailing after him.

“Cora,” he said, trying to keep his voice low and composed but instead it came out as brusque and exasperated, causing Cora to startle awake. “Cora, the police need to know who hurt you. Can you tell us what you saw?”

“Mom?” Cora called out uncertainly.

“Stop it, Jim, you’re scaring her! She’s not ready to talk. Leave her alone!”

“Mr. Landry,” I said, keeping my voice even but authoritative. “The more upset Cora is, the more difficult she may find it to remember the important details of the event.”

“Event?” Jim swung around toward me, causing me to take a step backward. “Event? This wasn’t an event. Someone targeted our twelve-year-old daughter, beat her and stabbed her with a knife. That is not an event, it’s attempted murder!” His breath came out in ragged puffs.

“I understand,” I said, trying to lead him from Cora’s bedside. “It’s very upsetting.”

He didn’t move but continued to speak to Cora. “This is very important, Cora.” He leaned down so that his lips were near her face. “Violet told the police that Joseph Wither hurt you. Why would she say that? Was someone down at the tracks pretending to be him? Can you remember what he looked like?”

“I don’t remember,” Cora whimpered. This was not helping. Cora was clearly distraught and forcing her to try to remember what happened could make her shut down, making it more difficult for her to recall important details of the crime.

“Dad, stop it,” Kendall cried before I could step in to try to redirect the conversation. She pulled at his arm but he shook her off.

“But you must have seen something,” Jim insisted. “You had to be facing him when he stabbed you. Try to think.”

“Jim, please,” Mara whispered.

“Mr. Landry,” I said firmly and pressed the call button for the nurse. “Look at Cora. You’re scaring her. Going about it this way won’t give you the answers you want. Let’s step outside and talk about it.”

My words seemed to bring him to his senses. He stared down at his daughter, who was crying silently. “Shh, Cora,” he said. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He cradled her bandaged head in his hands. “I’m sorry. I just want to get the person who did this to you and I know it wasn’t some stupid legend. It was a real person and I don’t want him to hurt anyone else.” He kissed her cheek and this seemed to soothe her.

A nurse stepped into the room and I watched him leave, knowing that he was overwhelmed and feeling helpless. Still, I didn’t like Jim Landry much. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I moved away from Cora’s bed so the nurse could take her temperature and examine her bandages. “What’s your pain level?” the nurse asked. “Zero being no pain and ten being the worst.”

“A nine,” Cora said, her chin trembling. “Everything hurts.”

When the nurse left to get something to ease Cora’s pain, Mara dropped into a nearby chair. “The girls did a school project on Joseph Wither,” she said weakly. “Last November. For Mr. Dover’s class.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t grow up around here so I don’t really know who Joseph Wither is. Was,” I said. “A character of some sort?”

“An urban legend,” Kendall said. “Mr. Dover assigned the same project to us when I was in sixth grade. We had to research an urban legend and present it to the class. Cora and her friends made a movie.”

“On this Joseph Wither person?” I asked and Mara nodded. “So lots of people could have known that the girls worked on this project?”

“I guess.” Mara shrugged. “Mr. Dover and Cora’s classmates would have known for sure.” Mara rubbed her arms as if trying to warm herself. “Do you think someone might have pretended to be Joseph Wither and lured the girls to the train yard and attacked them there?”

“Oh, my God, that’s horrible,” Kendall said, chewing on her thumbnail.

“Or perhaps, because of the project they worked on, the Crow girl’s thoughts immediately went to Joseph Wither,” I suggested. “It sounds like the police are looking into all the possibilities. The important thing to remember is that Cora is safe now. No one can hurt her here.”



Text Message Exchange
Between Jordyn Petit and Violet Crow


Thursday, December 21, 2017


Jordyn: Can u believe Cora did that to me?
Violet: Yeah, that was crazy!

Jordyn: She ruined the whole thing
Violet: It was pretty bad. Poor Kaley