“Ellis got back in his car, more than a little tipsy. He started speeding down the road, back to his property. At first he didn’t notice that the tires were getting flat. Waya and my two uncles were following along behind him, in a borrowed car. Ellis kept speeding, even when the back right tire was wobbling and flopping.

“Finally the car started to fishtail, and he swerved and went off the road. He rammed the BMW into the space between two trees. It was jammed in there tight. So tight that he had to climb over the seat and go out the back door.

“He had a big cut on his forehead, but otherwise he was fine. Just swearing and complaining. Still dressed in one of his fancy suits.

“Waya pulled up and said, ‘You need a lift?’

“Ellis might have been suspicious if he hadn’t been drinking. But he just said, ‘Yeah,’ not even saying thanks. And he started walking over to the car. He got about five feet away and he stopped and squinted at the car windows. I think he saw that there was somebody in the back seat.

“Waya opened the driver’s side door, and Ellis reached into his jacket, like he was gonna grab a gun. He had one, but he’d lost it in the crash. By the time he realized, my two uncles and Waya had all jumped out of the car and surrounded him.”

I pause, glancing over at Riona to see if she knows what’s coming next. I can tell by her solemn expression that she does.

“They dragged him off into the woods. Uncle Abott wanted to kill him slowly. He wanted to cut and burn and beat Ellis, like Ellis had done to my mother. But Waya said no. It would be messy and noisy and leave too much evidence. And he said, ‘We’re not like him.’

“So they just marched Ellis a full ten miles out into the woods and shot him in the back of the head. Then they dug a hole and buried the body under enough dirt and rock that no animal would dig it up. Waya and Abott did it. Uncle Earl stayed behind to move their car, in case someone came along and saw the crash.

“Then Waya drove my uncles home, and he went back to his own house, where my mother was staying with his sisters. She went into labor a week later.

“After I was born, he told her what they had done. He didn’t want to upset her, but he didn’t want her worrying about Ellis finding her, either.

“She wanted to go back home to her siblings. Waya convinced her to stay. He said they had to wait—to make sure there wasn’t going to be any trouble for her. He thought it would look suspicious if she came back home, like she knew Ellis was dead.

“Ellis was reported missing at first. His work called it in. The sheriff found Ellis’s car shortly after. There was a hunt through the woods—they thought maybe he hit his head in the accident and wandered off, confused. But they didn’t think an injured man could wander far, so they only went a few miles in. They found some blood on the ground. So some people thought an animal had got him.