Robert said she very easily could have been shipped to the nearest juvenile detention center nearly an hour away and that was if there was room available. If there were no open beds in Cedar Rapids she could still end up as far away as Sioux City, which is over a five-hour drive.

The key, Robert said, was that because Jordyn is a juvenile, she cannot be within sight or sound distance with any adult prisoners at any time. He said the Pitch jail has one solitary room that will keep Jordyn separate from the others.

It’s Thomas’s understanding that the initial hearing is to be held at one this afternoon. This is where the judge reads the charges against Jordyn and asks her what her plea will be. Guilty or not guilty. Maybe he’ll get a chance to talk to Jordyn. Thomas wants to get his eyes on her, see if she’s really doing okay. He has a lot of questions for Jordyn. Like why was there a picture of Jordyn and the girls in front of a boxcar when Jordyn told him, no, promised him that she never actually went into the train yard? He also wants to ask about Jordyn’s house key and where Jordyn might have put it. That key has been worrying him. If Jordyn dropped it in the train yard anywhere near the spot where Cora was attacked, then it proved that she had lied to them all.

The phone trills and as much as Thomas wants to ignore it, he knows he can’t. The call might be about Jordyn or about Tess. He hurries down the steps, hoping to grab it before the person on the other end hangs up. As he listens to the voice on the other end his face darkens.

“Listen,” Thomas hisses into the phone, “call here again and I’ll break your legs.” He slams down the phone so hard that the cradle is knocked from the wall and the receiver falls and bounces against the floor and sways, dangling by the coiled cord.

Thomas’s hands are shaking, eyes wild.

He wants to rip the phone out of the wall, he wants this nightmare to be over, he wants Tess to come home so they can face this together. She would know what to say, what to do. Thomas picks up the receiver and lightly returns it to the wall and it immediately begins to ring again.

“Hello,” he says sharply, then apologizes when Jordyn’s attorney identifies himself on the other end. “What’s going on?” Thomas listens for a moment.

“I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes,” he says. He hangs up and Thomas doesn’t return the receiver to the cradle, but lays it on the kitchen counter. This will take care of the crank calls, he thinks.