The third morning after the children’s disappearance was the most difficult at Loretta’s. Ruby wanted to return with Lightman to their own house, and she seemed unable to grasp that it was a crime scene. For the first time, she admitted to having a headache. She had pulled off the bandage above her temple and kept touching the angry stitches. I knew her head must hurt a lot. She seemed to have emerged from her stupor into a glittery web of denial. She wanted to go home so she could get the house ready for Lucia and River, and she wanted to buy Karo syrup, because that was their favorite, toast with butter and Karo syrup.
Lightman was still at Loretta’s house when I arrived, his face engorged with rage. “I’m going to kill the men who did this. Even if they treat my son fine, I’m going to kill them! If your father had any part in this, I’ll kill him too.”
Ruby fumbled at the stitches, which began to ooze blood. “He’ll be the one to bring them back. He’ll love River. He always wanted a son instead of me, and Lucia is his granddaughter. He’ll love Lucia because he loves me.”
“She’s losing it,” I said to Lightman.
“Call a doctor if you want to,” he said, “but she’s crazy. She’s always been crazy, just like her father. Tell her what you do, Ruby. Tell them that you pray to him at night. Do you think I don’t hear you?”
“Did she pray to Royce before the kidnapping?” This seemed like an important question, but Lightman looked at me wild-eyed while Ruby sank to the floor. She tucked her head against her knees and began to rock back and forth making a keening sound.
“Were you out at the Catacombs?” he shouted down at Ruby. “Chief Blake said they found your tire tracks out there last night. They know you were there, Ruby! What were you doing out there? Goddamn it, Ruby, tell me what happened!”
She just kept rocking back and forth making that sound.
“What else did they find?”
“Nothing!” he yelled into my face, and spittle landed on my cheek. “They found nothing! It’s just an old camp!” He started to make his own sound, more like bellowing.
I turned to signal one of the guards outside, but Lightman’s mother stepped into the room and warned me off with her hand. She tapped Lightman on the elbow and handed him a glass with several inches of black liquid in it. He immediately stopped making the noise and drank it straight down. Then she thumped Ruby’s shoulder hard. Without looking up, Ruby took the other glass the woman held out. Within half a minute, Lightman stumbled to the sofa, where he blacked out sitting up. Ruby passed out on the floor.
“What did you give them?”
She signaled me away again as she covered Ruby with a blanket. She pushed Lightman down onto his side, pulled off his boots, and covered him too.
Fiercely she turned to me and said one word: “Leave.”