“Oh my God, what have I done?” Derinda says, tears streaming down her cheeks in what appears to be genuine remorse.
She is now at the kitchen table with us, having just confirmed much of what I had come to believe about what happened.
“So, it’s true?” Keith says. “Mama, are you . . . You really did it?”
“John,” she says, “I’m so sorry. I just went a little mad. I’ve never believed in temporary insanity before, but . . . I don’t know what I’ve been thinking.” She turns to Keith and Christopher. “I’ve just watched you boys suffer so much for so long and then after all that time . . . to find her . . . dead.”
“You took Taylor before Magdalene’s body was discovered,” I say.
“I just thought, I’ve got to do something to stop the pain,” she continues, ignoring what I’ve just said. “I’ve got to help them. They are my boys, my sons. But I knew I was wrong even as I was doing it—and especially after I did it, but then . . . I wasn’t sure how to undo it. So I just kept doing it, trying to figure out a way to either tell Keith and Christopher eventually or to somehow return Taylor to you and Anna. I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you know.”
“Is she alive?” I ask. “Is she okay? Where is she?”
“I have treated that little girl like a princess,” she says. “I have taken such good care of her. She has been safe and loved and doted on. She just thinks that I’m keeping her for you guys while you help Keith and Christopher find their little girl.”
“Where is she?” I ask.
“My house.”
“Who keeps her while you come here?”
“I leave her at home.”
“Who is with her right now?” I ask. “Because Merrill, Anna, and Roderick are about to enter your house to get her and I want to know who’s in there with her.”
“No one,” she says. “I just give her a little sleeping medicine and I never stay gone for very long.”
“Mom,” Keith says.
“I leave cartoons playing in her bedroom and lock the door in case she wakes up.”
“Are you hearing yourself?” Keith says. “Listen to what you’re saying.”
“But she never has woken up and I always get back very quickly. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did this. I’m still shocked at my own actions—especially hearing it out loud like this now. It was like something just came over me. I’m not someone who would do something like this.”
“But you are,” Keith says. “Turns out you’re exactly someone who would do something like this.”
“Keith,” she says, as if he has slapped her hard across the face.
“You better hope to God she’s okay,” he says. “Because if she’s not . . .”
“She is. I swear it.”