Mary's Bones

FORTY

I was no longer afraid of the unknown. It was an interesting thing to be expected. Three months ago, I wouldn't have imagined myself standing at the back of a brooding crowd of people mourning over the same thing and not shedding a single tear.

I wouldn't have imagined myself standing beside John in the crisp winter air on my birthday, being pursued by snowflakes. Though, not heavy; just a light snowfall. They melted into my bare skin every time it touched me.

I was officially twenty-six years old and I had never felt older.

My heels sunk into the snow that littered the ground. And I listened to the heart-warming speech Lucinda gave as they lowered her youngest into a grave. This time, with her rightful remains.

Her cries shook the air but it didn't make me uncomfortable like it had before. When I had sat in a brooding crowd the first time for a loved one of my own, I was the most uncomfortable I'd ever been. Now, I was weak with thoughts and heavy with emotion.

"Mom!" Eleanor shouted.

She grasped onto her mother's arm as she collapsed to her knees. The lower they put Mary in the grave, the louder her weeping grew. I squeezed the edge of the painting in my hand to keep from reacting. John's hand tightened around my arm.

When I glanced at him, his eyes were glossy. But he didn't let a single tear fall. I then glanced down at my stomach. The commotion caused Rosemary to stir.

Three and a half weeks had gone by since I left Evelyn's grandparents' house. I never went back there again after what I discovered. It was an extremely long back and forth and a lot of convincing to get Evelyn's grandmother to hand over the footage. But enough evidence was there to tie her grandfather to the murders. Well, at least Mary's murder.

The dark stains I saw were Mary's blood. The long strand of black hair was Mary's hair.

He'd only been tied to the other girls' disappearances when he confessed. Still, there were questions he left unanswered when police questioned him. John told me, based on the short answers Mr. Gomez gave during the interrogation, it sounded like he'd been dealing with persecutory delusions.

It was a condition that stemmed from the belief that someone thought they were going to be, or that they were already being persecuted, despite the lack of evidence to back up that delusion. So, he might've been suffering from the thought of imprisonment due to the accident.

If that were true, just seeing those kids could've been a reminder of what he had done. And as long as they were alive and near him, he'd want to get rid of them. Get rid of any ties to Mary's murder.

That was probably where Evelyn came in. She could have also added onto his delusions. Being that she was the last person seen with Mary, and she had a connection to all thirteen children through babysitting, eyes were on her. That was an easy link to the case. And if he wasn't going to go down for it, Evelyn would have gone down in his place.

She was his granddaughter in the end, so I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd done things to ensure the police knew she wasn't involved. Or maybe he was selfish and just wanted to make sure she didn't lead police back to him when they investigated her. Whatever it was, it was horrible and messed up. The way he used her. The way he lied to her and manipulated her.

A verdict hadn't been made with Evelyn yet. Whether she'd do time on the account of kidnapping or not. Whether it was kidnapping or not. Whether it was her fault or not. Everything was a mess.

Without any clear answers from Mr. Gomez, no one knew where this was going to go. It was all speculation for now. But I'd been keeping up. John served as my eyes and ears for the time being. I wanted to know everything.