He tries to nudge Tess’s intrusion from his head. “We’ll stop and see Grandma and then your friend. I think that will be a nice thing to do, don’t you? Cora is one of your best friends, right?”

“Right,” Jordyn repeats.

“You know,” Thomas says. “You girls are lucky. Even Cora. Her mom says she’s got quite the head injury and may have to have plastic surgery on her face, but the stab wound wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She could have died. You all could have died.”

Thomas watches Jordyn’s face. He sees fear and revulsion. Good, he thinks. This is why he’s taking her to see Cora. Jordyn needs to know that it’s dangerous for three little girls to go out in the middle of the night. Not that he thinks they were asking for it; he doesn’t think that at all. But it would have never happened if they had just stayed put like they were supposed to.

“Then go on, Jordyn, go on now and get ready,” he orders.

Jordyn pushes herself away from the table in resignation and slouches off. Thomas hopes he’s not making a big mistake. But wouldn’t it look more suspicious if Jordyn didn’t go to visit Cora? Wouldn’t she look guiltier?

Beth Crow Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Beth Crow

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Pitch is a small town so you’d think there’d only be a few places Violet could hide but really there are dozens: back home, Jordyn’s house, school, Hickory Park, even outside of town where there are miles and miles of winding gravel roads. Hickory Park is in the far southwest part of town, the school is closed for spring break and I don’t think she would go back home.

“Try the depot,” Max says.

“Why?” I ask. “Wouldn’t that be the last place she’d go?” I ask, thinking Violet would be terrified, worried that the monster who stabbed Cora could be there.

“She’s been hanging around there with her friends a lot lately. I think that’s where they filmed the movie for their school project. There’s lots of places she could hide,” he explains. I had no idea that Violet was spending time at the train yard. I have so many questions but decide to save them for later.

My phone rings and I hand it to Max to answer.

“Hello,” he says. “Yeah… No, we haven’t found her yet, either. We’re heading to the train yard in case Violet went there.” He hangs up. “Officer Grady,” he tells me.

“Yeah, I figured.” Part of me wishes that Max hadn’t told Grady where we were headed. His mere presence freaks Violet but I couldn’t exactly tell my son to lie to the police.