Lucinda sat in the kitchen as the troopers performed their tasks, came and went from the cellar carrying plastic bags of evidence. Bones. Scraps of clothing. Photos. The diary.
She’d sent Dale to get food though she wasn’t hungry and felt she’d never again have an appetite. She’d only wanted time alone, and he’d known that and respected it.
A trooper stood in the cellar doorway. Lucinda wiped at her runny nose with the back of her hands.
“We’re done, for the time being,” the trooper said.
“What happens now?” Lucinda said.
“We can process him here. Read him his rights, though in his state he may not understand, making it void. Then have him transported to the hospital.” The trooper cleared his throat. “I have other news. That girl, the missing foster girl. She was found.”
Lucinda let out a long sigh. “Where?”
“Up in the Gore. If you believe that.”
“I was just up there.”
Lucinda shook her head at the tragedy of it.