“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

Case #92-10945

Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry

Jan. 15, 2018