Before She Was Found - Heather Gudenkauf Page 0,65
was too short. That we didn’t have enough information. Violet suggested that we go back and look through the old newspapers again and Jordyn said, “Don’t be stupid, we’re not going to find what you’re looking for in a newspaper. They can’t print stuff without clear-cut evidence. They couldn’t just go around saying that Joseph Wither was killing girls down by the railroad tracks.”
I could tell that the way Jordyn was talking to Violet hurt her feelings but Violet just asked what her bright idea was. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rachel Farmer and the yearbook so I got up from my chair and went to the reference section and pulled the yearbook down from the shelf.
I opened it to the picture of Rachel Farmer and laid it in front of them. “How about this?” I said and pointed to the photo with the heart around Rachel’s head.
Jordyn gave me a look like, So what? I told them all about how Rachel Farmer disappeared and that chances are she was one of the girls that went with Wither. “See the initials?” I asked. “JW+RF.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Jordyn said. “Anyone could have written that.”
I said I didn’t think so. That it was pretty obvious that Joseph Wither wrote it and that Rachel ran away with him and Jordyn said that was just stupid. That made me mad and I said, “You just think everything is stupid today. I want to include it in the movie.” I looked at Violet and waited for her to agree with me but she didn’t say anything.
“Well, Violet and I don’t want it in the movie, do we?” Jordyn said so loud that I was sure the librarian was going to come over and tell us to be quiet.
Violet said that we probably shouldn’t include Rachel Farmer in the movie because we had no way of proving that he was the one who took her. Then Jordyn butted in and said that I was probably the one who drew the heart around Rachel’s head and wrote the initials.
I shouted. I mean, really shouted, “I did not!” That’s when the librarian did come over and told us to keep it down.
Then Jordyn said we needed to find someone really old to talk to—someone who was around in the ’40s who would remember what had happened. I barely said anything after that. I was too mad. I was mad at Jordyn for saying my idea was stupid and at Violet for taking Jordyn’s side.
Jordyn said we should start with interviewing some of the old guys who hang out at the bar, that they have a story for everything, and said that tomorrow after school we could go to the bar and ask some of the old farts who go there for a beer and a burger at like five o’clock because they go to bed at eight every night.
I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go and that I wouldn’t even bother asking my parents. My mom doesn’t like me hanging out at Petit’s. That’s so stupid because Petit’s isn’t just a bar—lots of families go there to eat pizza and hamburgers—but my mom still says no, that it’s no place for girls to spend time without their parents. I don’t even think I want to go. Right now I’m so sick of Jordyn being so bossy and never listening to my ideas. I ended up telling them that I have an appointment tomorrow after school, which was a total lie.
I’m kind of jealous that Violet and Jordyn have been spending so much time together on the project without me. Violet is my best friend but Jordyn always finds a way to get in the middle of things. I thought about lying to my mom and just going to Petit’s with them but my mom knows everyone and it would just get back to her, anyway.
Just before we packed up to leave I casually tried to sneak Violet’s phone into her book bag while Violet went to the bathroom and Jordyn put some books back on the shelf. Well, Jordyn caught me. She asked me what I was doing and all I could think of to say was Nothing.
And Jordyn said, “Isn’t that Violet’s cell phone?” Just then Violet came back and Jordyn said, “Cora has your cell phone.”
“I found it on the floor,” I said. Dumb, I know.
“But, Violet,” Jordyn said, “you lost it at school, right?”