Chapter 17

“Pending confirmation with her dentist,” Decker said quietly, “I think I can say we found your missing mother.”

Then I fainted, a thing I’ve never done before in my life.

Half an hour later, I was lying in Jay’s bed again, still dressed, and Chris was sitting beside me. The room was quiet and darkened. Soft music was playing in the kitchen and women’s voices were chatting. Chris patted my arm and then curled up beside me. I put my arm around her like I used to do years ago. “Shall I tell you the rest of it or do you want to read about it in the paper tomorrow?” she asked me. I realized my head was in Jay’s lap and he was fussing with my hair.

“They found three women’s bodies in the crawl space, as well as one child’s. They think one is the Mayor’s wife, and of course her daughter, and,” Chris sobbed once, “one is Mom, I just know it. They’re going through missing persons reports to identify the third. It’s so awful!”