Before She Was Found(92)

“I don’t understand,” Mara said. “What messages?”

“Online. On a website. We pretended to be Joseph Wither. But then I stopped and Emery kept doing it. I swear I didn’t know. She told Cora that Wither would be at the depot.” The tears fell and Kendall looked pleadingly at her sister. “It was just a joke. I don’t know who went to the depot but it wasn’t me. It wasn’t Emery.”

“A joke?” Mara furrowed her brow, puzzled, and looked to her husband for help. “What does she mean, a joke?”

Jim looked like he might explode. “She means that she and Emery lured the girls out in the middle of the night. It means that she tricked her sister into walking into a trap.”

“No.” Kendall’s eyes widened in fear. “No, it wasn’t me. I stopped after a few days and I told Emery to stop, too.”

Mara stared at her daughter as if seeing her for the first time. “Kendall?”

“Did you plan it together?” Jim asked. “Were you there?”

“No, Daddy,” Kendall cried. “You know I was at home. You know I would never do that. Emery would never do that.”

“I don’t know, Kendall.” Jim’s voice broke. “I don’t know you at all.”

I got ready to jump in before it went too far. Before someone said something they would forever regret, when I looked at Cora. She was just sitting there as if in a trance, hands lying limply at her sides, no expression on her face. “The messages weren’t from him?” she asked. “He isn’t real?”

“I’m so sorry, Cora,” Kendall choked out. “I’m so sorry. It was just a joke, a stupid joke. If I had known that Violet and Jordyn were going to hurt you—”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Cora said and abruptly pushed herself up from the bed. She looked blank, as if she hadn’t heard what her sister just told her.

“Let me help you,” Mara said, standing and going to her daughter’s side.

“I can do it,” Cora murmured and slowly wheeled her IV pole toward the bathroom.

“Let me call the nurse.” Mara reached for the nurse’s call button.

“No, I’m fine,” Cora said, her voice devoid of emotion. Once inside the bathroom, she gently shut the door and locked it with a gentle click.

“Dammit, Kendall,” Jim spat. “What the hell have you done?”

“I’m sorry,” Kendall moaned, rocking back and forth. “I’m so sorry.”

Jim grabbed Kendall by the forearm and began to pull her toward the door. “Get out,” he said between clenched teeth. “I can’t bear to look at you.”

“Stop it!” Mara cried and wedged herself between them. “Get your hands off her!”

I remember raising my voice, telling the Landrys to calm down. I remember suggesting that everyone take a break for a few minutes, then we could come back together to discuss what Kendall had just shared.

Jim Landry laughed bitterly. “I’m done talking,” he muttered and shouldered his way past Mara and out of the room.

“I’m so sorry,” Kendall wept as Mara gathered her into her arms.

It was then when I noticed that Cora hadn’t returned from the bathroom. I moved to the door and gently knocked. “Cora,” I called through the door. “Cora, are you doing okay in there?”

No response.

I knocked more forcefully.

Still no answer. That was when I saw the clear liquid seeping out from beneath the locked door.

“What is it?” Mara asked from behind me.

“Go get a nurse,” I said calmly. Through the door I tried to summon a response from Cora. “Open the door, Cora.”

Within seconds a nurse came into the room. “Open the door,” I ordered. The nurse deftly unlocked the door and pushed it open. Sitting in a corner with her head on her knees was Cora, the coil of plastic tubing laid next to her, its contents surrounding her in a now bloody puddle. At first I thought the blood was from the IV access site in Cora’s hand but as Cora lifted her head from her knees I quickly found that not to be the case.

“Oh, my God,” Mara gasped.

“This is your fault!” Jim Landry hissed at me. “You were supposed to help her!”

Stitch by stich, Cora was pulling the sutures from her face, her fingers sticky with blood. She must have already plucked the stitches from her abdomen because blood bloomed brightly across her hospital gown.

I fell to my knees and grabbed her bloody fingers in mine. “Cora, why?” I asked. “Why did you do this to yourself?”

“It wasn’t Kendall,” she whispered. “It wasn’t Violet and Jordyn. They didn’t do it.”



Five months later




Thomas Petit


September 14, 2018


Later, I got to see the video footage from the camera in front of the train’s engine. I came as close to dying as I ever have. The video wasn’t the best quality and there was no audio but it was clear that John Dover and I were having words. I tripped and fell backward and John Dover tried to help me up. It’s a miracle that I didn’t die and it’s equally amazing that John Dover didn’t die trying to save me. I did end up with a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. Could have been a hell of a lot worse.