Before She Was Found(65)

I think about what Violet said about Cora communicating with someone claiming to be Joseph Wither online. “We’ll give the jar to Officer Grady. He’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“Why is Violet acting so crazy?” Max asks. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But she’s scared. Terrified. She keeps going on and on about Joseph Wither.” I just can’t believe that Violet thinks he’s real. She stopped believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy in second grade.

Max shrugs. “I don’t get it, either, but there are kids in my class who swear that Ouija boards work and that they can summon evil spirits. Maybe she just got caught up in it all.”

“Maybe,” I say, but I’m not buying it. “At any rate, someone attacked Cora and Jordyn Petit knows more than she is letting on.” My head is pounding and I search through my purse for some aspirin.

“This is all Officer Grady’s fault,” I say, wrenching the lid off the aspirin bottle. I tap out two capsules and swallow the pills dry. “He should be out looking for this guy and not harassing a little girl.”

“You got to admit that Violet has been acting kind of weird lately.”

“How? In what way?” I ask him, genuinely surprised.

“It’s embarrassing,” Max says, trying to act like the tough older brother but I can tell he is worried about Violet. “I don’t know, she’s just weird. She’s always drawing in her sketchbook and she and her equally freaky friends have been hanging around the train yard all the time. You know who hangs around the train yard? Tweakers and meth heads.”

The Primrose Sugar boxcar must be their secret hiding spot. I’m guessing that most of the older teens wouldn’t be able to fit through the door. I barely made it inside. It would be a spot where they could go and be left alone.

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me that your twelve-year-old sister was spending time in places like that? Really, Max?” I’m pissed. Max has done some stupid things but I can’t believe he wouldn’t tell me about this.

“When I saw them I told her that she better go home and never come back. She said that they had been there tons of times, said they were just doing research for their school project and that they wouldn’t come back. Sorry for believing her,” he says sarcastically.

“Which leads to my next question. What were you doing at the train yard?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer.

“Skateboarding,” he says. I raise my eyebrow and shake my head. Max laughs. “I promise. We were just skateboarding. The train yard is the closest thing to a skate park around here. Don’t worry, Mom, I’m not stupid enough to do drugs.”

I want to believe him but he hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to honesty. Besides that, I don’t trust Clint as far as I can throw him. I decide this isn’t the time to argue.

All those afternoons I thought that Violet was at Cora’s or Jordyn’s house, were they really at the train yard? It surprises me. I thought the Landry house would be the safest place in all of Pitch. Cora’s mom is definitely what people would call a helicopter mom. Violet said that Cora doesn’t have a cell phone and is only allowed on the computer to do schoolwork. Mara has never let Cora come to our house and all along it should have been the other way around. Why didn’t Mara know where the girls were spending their time? How could she let them sneak out in the middle of the night?

The receptionist, followed by a nurse, finally comes out from the treatment area and I pop up from my seat. “Ms. Crow,” the nurse says. “Come on back.”

“Can my son come, too?” I ask.

“Of course.” The nurse leads us back into the treatment area but instead of taking us to one of the examination rooms she opens the door to a small room, empty except for three chairs and a side table with an open box of tissues atop it.

This must be the spot where families get the bad news from the doctor. The news that their loved one hasn’t survived the car accident, the heart attack, the stroke. I don’t want to go in.

“Come on in and take a seat,” the nurse invites with a smile that I take as a good sign. “The doctor will be right in to talk to you.” Max and I sit down and wait and after a few minutes I see Officer Grady in the hallway talking to a tall, striking woman dressed in a skirt, heels and white doctor’s coat.

“What do you think is going on?” Max asks.

“I have no idea,” I say and we stand as Officer Grady and the woman approach.

“Beth, Max,” Officer Grady says. He’s got his cop face on.

“Ms. Crow? I’m Dr. Gideon.” She reaches out to shake my hand, then Max’s. Dr. Gideon appears to be in her midforties and is perfectly put together. Immediately I’m intimidated.

“What kind of doctor?” Max asks.

“Of psychiatry,” Dr. Gideon says.

I look up at Officer Grady lurking in the doorway. “What’s going on?” I ask eagerly. “Where’s Violet?”

“A nurse is with Violet right now. She’s calm,” Dr. Gideon says. “Please take a seat.”

“I don’t want to sit. Tell me what’s going on,” I snap, surprising even myself with my tone.