Before She Was Found(57)

“Violet isn’t hurt, look at her.” We both watch as the EMT helps Violet into the back of the ambulance.

“Listen, Beth. You have to admit, something isn’t right here. The three times I’ve encountered Violet, she’s had some kind of episode.”

“She’s terrified. Of course she’s not handling this well. Please, just let me take her home.”

Grady presses his lips together. “Can’t do it. We have to get her checked out by a doctor. Make sure she’s okay and then we’ll go from there.”

“Listen.” I lower my voice so no one else can hear. “Violet told me that Cora and Jordyn Petit had a fight at the train yard. Jordyn pushed Cora down. Have you questioned her? She made Violet promise not to say anything. Don’t you think it makes more sense that Jordyn and someone else are pretending to be Joseph Wither and lured the girls to the train yard? What about Clint?” I nod toward the police car where Clint is staring daggers at us. “He’s the crazy one. Who teases a little girl like that?”

My comment about Jordyn seems to have gotten Grady’s attention because he pauses to write something down in his notebook. “We’ll check that out, I promise, but she has to go to the hospital. It’s the rules. She was in my custody and then got loose. I’m sorry.”

“Then she can come home?”

“Then I can finish asking her questions about the other night and then we’ll see what happens next. Come on, you can tell her you’ll meet her at the hospital.”

I feel like Grady is finally starting to listen to me. We walk over to the ambulance where Violet is sitting on the loading deck. Violet looks up at me apologetically. “I’m sorry,” she says, pressing her face into my midsection.

“I know, honey. The EMTs are going to take you to the hospital just to make sure you’re okay.”

“I don’t want to go,” she cries. “I’m sorry. I told them I’m sorry.” She clutches me desperately.

“You can come and sit back here with her the entire way,” the EMT assures me.

“Can I go tell my son to meet us at the hospital?” I ask and the EMT nods.

I tilt Violet’s face so she is looking up at me. “It’s okay, Vi, it’s okay.” I kiss her on the cheek and take a step back. “I’ll be right back.”

Blindly, I walk to the car where Max is waiting for me. “What’s that?” he asks.

I look down at the jar tucked under my arm. I nearly forgot about it and am surprised that Officer Grady didn’t ask me about it, too.

“I don’t know,” I say as I hand it to him. “But I think it might be important. I’m riding with Violet. Bring it with you to the hospital. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”



Case #92-10945


Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry


Dec. 21, 2017

I don’t know what I’m more nervous about—giving the report to the class tomorrow or that Joseph wants to meet me in person. It’s weird but I feel like we’ve been friends forever. I feel like I can tell him anything. Talk to him about everything.

Now that we’re finished with the project I won’t have an excuse to be on the computer so much anymore. I wish I had my own cell phone, then I can talk to him any time I wanted to. I have some money but there’s no way that my mom will let me have one, even if I pay for it myself. Sometimes I hate her so much.

Violet is still pretty much ignoring me and Jordyn is being awful. I’m not sure how she figured out my locker combo, but I’ll come walking down the hallway and find all the stuff in my locker thrown on the ground and people don’t just walk around the pile. They walk on top of everything. My coat has footprints on it and someone crushed my calculator. Like I said, I’m not sure how Jordyn got my combination but I’m sure she’s the one who’s dumping my stuff on the ground.

I kind of wonder if Gabe might have been the one to tell Jordyn my locker combo. I only told him it that one time he helped me open my locker but he’s seen me open it a ton of times since. He’s been acting weird to me, too. He doesn’t talk to me at lunch anymore and only says hi to me if I say it first.

I almost don’t care anymore. If Jordyn and Gabe think I’m such an awful person (I know, I am), then I don’t want to be friends with them. At least I have Joseph. I wake up at 1:15 in the morning on the dot and sneak down to the computer hoping to find a message from him.

I’ve even started wearing makeup. But only at school. My mom didn’t let Kendall wear makeup until she was fourteen and even then it was only mascara and lip gloss. I stole a tube of mascara and some eyeliner out of Kendall’s bathroom and put it on once I get to school. I don’t know why. I guess it makes me feel older.

The other day, after I put my makeup on and was coming out of the girls’ bathroom at school, Mr. Dover was there. He looked at me kind of funny and later he said, “Wow, Cora, you’re looking all grown up.” I have to admit that made me feel kind of good and bad at the same time. He’s my teacher. He’s not supposed to say things like that, right?

I asked Joseph if he liked it that I started wearing makeup and he told me that he thought I was beautiful, with or without the makeup, and that made me smile for the first time in a long time. Then he asked me what color bra I was wearing. I didn’t know what to say. But then he wrote, Just kidding. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell when he’s joking and when he’s being serious. I know I’m doing something wrong by talking to him, but I don’t want to stop.