We packed up the car with our clothes, a few belongings and Boomer and left in the dark of night when the neighbors were asleep. Pretty much like how we arrived—fitting, I guess. I’m afraid, though, that no matter how far we run, Violet and Max won’t be able to recover from our ten months in Pitch. I spent a long time talking with Dr. Gideon about the move. She warned us that running away from what happened wouldn’t be good for Violet, for any of us, but she did think that it might be best for Violet, for all of us, to get a brand-new start. I was sure that if we stayed in Pitch Violet would forever be known as one of the Wither girls and Max would feel like he would always have to defend his sister.

Dr. Gideon also warned me about just up and leaving without having a real plan in place. She suggested that I research where we were going to move, look for a job, find housing and arrange for ongoing mental health support for Violet. She has a lot to deal with. Violet’s best friend nearly died, and even though Violet was innocent, people still look at her like she’s a criminal.

We needed to go to a place where no one ever heard of Joseph Wither and that terrible night in the train yard. Max wanted to go back to New Mexico and Violet wanted to move to Hawaii. I said no to both.

I finally decided on Rochester, Minnesota, because when I searched best midsize US cities to live in, it came up as number one. I haven’t had the best track record in choosing where to raise my kids and I didn’t want to decide where we were going based on a man.

I thought for sure the Petits would move away from Pitch. But it doesn’t look like they will. My neighbor said that Thomas Petit had no intention of moving away from the place he called home for over forty years and that he couldn’t bear the thought of selling the bar to someone who didn’t know the heart and soul they’d poured into it, to someone who didn’t know its history.

I just want to give my kids what’s left of their childhoods. I want them to have fun, have some good memories, before they go off into the world on their own. Rochester has great schools, and a decent cost of living and the Mayo Clinic, one of the best hospitals in the world. Dr. Gideon even put in a good word for me when I said I was interested in getting a job there. I didn’t care what kind of job it was—as aide, housekeeping, food service, hell, I’d have agreed to be a candy striper if it meant I had a steady income.