Sweet Hearts by Melanie Rae Thon

Author:Melanie Rae Thon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497684973
Publisher: Open Road Media

30

IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

Cecile is turning away, always in motion. You can’t catch her. She blurs herself, a deliberate gesture. It’s her class picture, last year, fourth grade. She doesn’t want to be with these children. She doesn’t want anyone to have her image. But Frances can describe her: blond, less fragile than she appears, determined. Here are the numbers on her January report card. How will they find her? She can hide behind a rock like a coyote. Vanish down a hole like a rabbit. Frances thinks of her legs and arms, how easy it would be to snap them. She looks at the tired deputy whose left eye won’t stop twitching. She looks at Caleb’s thick fingers. She looks at the other deputy, the one who bulges out of his uniform. Any man or even a boy could do it. She remembers Gil’s hands on her, up her blouse, between her knees. He was the first to speak. We should both go home, Frances. She remembers warm water turning cool in the bathtub, how long she waited to check her daughter’s bedroom. Unnatural. She knows it’s true. At twelve-fifty-three she reported the child missing. It’s right there in the deputy’s report where anybody can read it: Thursday, March 29, 1990. 12.53 p.m. The numbers scratched on the page have made sins of omission a matter of legal record.

Mother’s forehead badly bruised. Appears disoriented. Words are facts now, undeniable. Claims she sustained head injury early this morning when car slid off road and she hit steering wheel. Sheriff’s office has no record of alleged incident.

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