During the funeral the rainmaker drove by in his beat-up truck, his magical pipes singing against each other. The mourners dispersed soon after. A few days later, the community had joined again at the cemetery to lay to rest the mother now beside the child, just as they had lain to rest the truth.

Jolene looked up at her Friday class, heart pounding. All but one head was bent over the math assignment she’d handed out. Her unruly fifth-grader, Thad Brooks, was chewing on the end of his pencil and staring out the window, daydreaming.

She cleared her throat, catching his attention. He ducked his head and went back to work. She read the pages again.

Last night she’d tossed and turned for hours, afraid she’d made a mistake by giving Dulcie copies of the murder story. She’d been anxious this morning to get the next assignment, equally afraid the author would find out what she’d done and quit sending it.

Now she’d been given another piece of the puzzle and she couldn’t wait to see what Dulcie thought about it.

When her students had finished their math assignment and turned it in, Jolene said, “Monday is the last day of your writing project, which means you have to wind up your story. Today we’re going to talk about endings. Can someone tell me what we need to do to make a satisfying ending?”

“What if we can’t end it?” Mace Carpenter asked. “Cuz it has no ending?”

“For this assignment, you need to end it,” she said. “The ending of your story must satisfy all the questions the person reading your story might have. For instance, the reader will want to know what happened to your character. Why it happened. And feel satisfied that the character will be all right in the future.”

“That’s called a happy ending,” Codi spoke up. “Which means your character can’t die, isn’t that right, Miss Stevens?”

“For this assignment I think it best if your characters continue living, yes.” She wasn’t sure why she’d just told them that the stories had to have a happy ending. They didn’t. Maybe because she hoped there would be a happy ending to the mystery in the murder story.

At recess, Jolene made a decision. She called the cell phone number Dulcie had given her, planning to leave a message. She was surprised when Dulcie answered and said as much.

“I’m in town. I had to wait until my new rental car was delivered. It’s a long story. Did you get another part of the murder story?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes.” She glanced around to make sure no one was nearby listening and then read the story.

“The girl is alive,” Dulcie cried.

“Not necessarily. The person who found her certainly wasn’t very compassionate.”