“Do you mind if I turn it up?” I ask the couple as I grab the remote and press the volume button until I can hear the reporter’s voice.

“Officials aren’t revealing much, but what we do know is that three twelve-year-old girls were involved in an incident early Monday morning that left one child with severe injuries. Our sources tell us that the weapon used was a knife much like this one.” The reporter holds up an odd-looking hooked blade with a wooden handle for us to see.

“Oh, Jesus.” I lower my face into my hands. A knife. I know there is no possible way that Violet could have stabbed anyone. But my mind keeps flashing back to the image of her walking out of the tall grass covered in blood. So much blood.

“The Pitch Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office aren’t sharing details,” the reporter says, “but we do have unconfirmed reports that an arrest has been made in the case, though we don’t know who the individual is. Word is that a local Pitch man was brought in at least once for what a spokesperson has called ‘routine questioning.’ The name of that man has not been released and we do not know if he was arrested. Again, we do not have official confirmation of an arrest, but will continue to follow this shocking and disturbing case and be sure to bring you any updates as they unfold.”

The woman sitting across from me clucks her tongue and shakes her head while her companion murmurs, “This is terrible, just terrible. I hope they string up whoever did this to that poor little girl.”

The woman looks at me as if waiting for me to agree. But I can’t do anything, not even nod my head. In any other situation, I’d be thinking the same thing, saying the same thing. But my daughter is tangled up in this entire mess and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get her out.

Case #92-10945

Case #92-10945

Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry

Feb. 25, 2018

It took me a few weeks, but I ended up telling Violet everything and I showed her all of Wither’s messages. She kept saying, This can’t be real! Someone is playing a trick on you!

I told her that at first I thought he was fake, too. Then I showed her the message about Rachel Farmer and the yearbook and I think that’s when Violet started to believe that Wither is real.