Before She Was Found(70)

Deputy Porter slides his eyes to the sheriff’s deputy who was assigned to assist with the collection. “What about the jacket?” the deputy asks.

“Jacket?” Thomas asks.

“Yes,” Officer Porter says with exaggerated patience. “The jacket she was wearing in the photo. It was light blue...”

“I haven’t seen it,” Thomas says. “Maybe she left it in her book bag.”

“And where might that be?” Thomas senses that Officer Porter is losing patience.

“Jordyn said she dropped it the other night, on her way home from Cora’s house. She was really upset when she realized she didn’t have it. Her social studies book was inside.”

“How does someone lose a book bag?” the deputy asks as two large sweat stains appear beneath his arms. The room that once smelled like his granddaughter now is stuffy and smells of body odor and gun oil. Thomas feels his chest constrict and he longs to open a window. “Wouldn’t she realize she wasn’t carrying it?” the deputy gripes.

“I don’t know,” Thomas says. “Maybe she set it down to tie her shoe and forgot to pick it up.”

“Speaking of shoes,” Deputy Porter says. “Where are the shoes Jordyn was wearing Sunday night?”

“On her feet,” Thomas says shortly. “She only has that one pair of tennis shoes.”

Deputy Porter looks into the closet and sighs. “We better take them all, just in case.”

“In case what?” Thomas snipes, forgetting for a moment that it isn’t wise to antagonize the people who just arrested his granddaughter.

“In case there is blood or other evidence on the bottom of them,” the deputy shoots back as he begins to gather each pair of Jordyn’s shoes and place them in evidence bags.

“So you’re telling us Jordyn’s book bag and fleece jacket are not in this house?” the deputy challenges.

“No, they are not,” Thomas says, matching his tone. “I wish they were because they would tell you everything you need to know. Jordyn had nothing to do with what happened to Cora Landry.”

“I’m afraid there’s evidence to say otherwise, Mr. Petit,” the deputy says. “Any other computers in the house besides this one?” He points to the laptop on Jordyn’s desk.

Thomas shakes his head no. He usually just uses the one over in the office at the bar. Jordyn uses it once in a while, too. But he’s not going to tell the deputy that.

Thomas drifts from the room, not able to stand watching the deputies dismantle his granddaughter’s room piece by piece. Maybe there was more truth to what Kendall Landry said than Jordyn was owning up to. If he was being honest with himself, he would admit that he had his doubts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered washing the blood out of the jacket and gone to all the trouble to hide the book bag so carefully. Why else would he have gone to such lengths to protect his granddaughter?



Case #92-10945


Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry


Jan. 15, 2018

I’ve been eating lunch in Mr. Dover’s classroom ever since school started after break. He usually just works on his computer but once in a while he’ll pull out his lunch and eat with me. We talk about random stuff like homework assignments and what books we’ve been reading. It’s been nice having somewhere to go instead of the lunchroom but I still really miss Violet. Jordyn, not as much, but I even miss her a little.

Mr. Dover says I should try and talk to them again but I don’t know. I don’t think having friends should be this much work. I mean, I know it takes work to be a good friend but it shouldn’t hurt this much.

I told Mr. Dover that being friends with Jordyn and Violet was just too much work and I came this close to telling him about Joseph and how easy it was to talk to someone over the computer. But of course I didn’t say anything because if I did that Mr. Dover would probably call my parents, or worse, call the police.

Before I left his room today, Mr. Dover told me not to give up on friendship, that it’s worth it to invest in other people. He also said that if I wanted someone to talk to, he’d always be there for me. He told me to keep my chin up. I’m trying, I said.

Then he grabbed a sticky note, started writing something on it. “I usually don’t do this,” he said, handing the piece of paper to me. It was a phone number. “Call me if you need to talk. Anytime,” he said. “And how about not saying anything to anybody about this. The administration frowns—” and Mr. Dover made a silly sad face when he said this “—on teachers sharing their personal phone numbers.”

Then he gave me a hug and told me to get to class.



Dr. Madeline Gideon


September 14, 2018


At the time I thought it would be helpful to Cora and Violet that I was able to talk to each of them about their experiences in the train yard. I thought it would help shed some light on the events of the night. At first I wondered about the wisdom of this and even ran it by one of my colleagues. He assured me as long as I didn’t share any of what Violet or Cora disclosed to the other, it would be fine.

When I arrived for my next session with Cora it was to find her sitting up in the reclining chair in her room. She was still attached to an IV; a fleece tie blanket was draped over her legs. “You’re up,” I said in surprise. “How does it feel?” I asked, pulling up a chair so that we were sitting knee to knee.