I spent most of my time alone, but people came to see me from Black Wolf County. They had to drive a couple of hours to get to the state facility where I was housed, but many of them made the trip. Sandra saw me almost every month in the early years, until she moved to the Florida Keys to live on a yacht. After the revelations about Brink, Kip, and Racer came out, the mine settled the lawsuit and paid her and the other women several million dollars. That’s right. Millions. Sandra stuck it out in the cold for a while, but then she decided that she’d had enough of winters. I still get postcards from her. It looks nice down there.

Ben Malloy visited whenever he was home to see his mother. We talked a lot about the Ursulina. I never admitted to him what had happened when I was ten years old, but he remained convinced that I was one of the chosen few who’d seen the beast. I also think—I don’t know, it was just a glint in his eyes—but I think he was the only person who genuinely suspected that I was the Ursulina. That I’d been the one to commit the murders. Not as a woman, mind you, but as the monster I became. He never said it out loud, but I think he would have loved to do a documentary about me.

Norm was my lawyer, so he came to see me, too. Not that there was really much law to be handled after I pled guilty. He reminded me regularly that we had attorney-client privilege between us and that I could tell him anything without fear that he would pass the information along. I knew what he was driving at. You see, Norm never believed that I had harmed you, Shelby. Not for one little minute. He was sure I’d figured out a way to set you free; he just didn’t know how or who’d taken you in. He wanted to help, but I wasn’t going to take that risk. After a while, he realized that I was determined to leave things the way they were.

Will accompanied Norm to the jail a few times, but just as I’d expected, Will left Black Wolf County after college and moved to New York. He only made occasional visits home after that. He became a lawyer like his father and signed on as counsel for a human rights organization. I was proud of him, and I’ve written to tell him that more than once.