Before She Was Found - Heather Gudenkauf Page 0,80

ghost?” I asked.

Cora reached for a marker and colored the cat’s eyes green. “His name is Joseph and he lived a long time ago,” she said.

“What else does he tell you?” I asked gently, not wanting to push too hard.

Instead of answering, Cora wrote Skittles above the picture of the cat and then For Dr. G. from Cora at the bottom. She tore the sheet from the notebook and handed it to me.

“This must be your cat,” I said. “She’s pretty.”

“Not that damn cat again,” Jim Landry said from the doorway. “Cora, enough’s enough.”

“We brought ice cream,” Mara said brightly, coming in behind her husband and holding up two shakes. “Chocolate or strawberry. You pick.” Kendall shuffled in, carrying her own shake. She looked exhausted.

“We’ll talk more later,” I told Cora, reluctant to end our conversation. “Thank you for the picture and enjoy your ice cream.”

I said goodbye to the Landrys and went directly to my office to record everything I could remember about my conversation with Cora. I remember thinking that I should probably call the police. But I didn’t. I wanted more information. I needed more time to talk to Cora in order to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Case #92-10945

Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry

Dec. 22, 2017

I want to die. The presentation was a disaster. I am so stupid. The movie was fine. Everyone clapped and Mr. Dover said we did an amazing job. The problems started during the question and answer part of the presentation and Bailey asked how many girls were supposedly killed by Wither and how many disappeared because of him.

I went back to my desk and pulled the yearbook from beneath a pile of my books and opened it to the page with Rachel Farmer’s picture. I’m not sure why I brought it up. I told Violet and Jordyn I wouldn’t but I did. I told everyone that most of what we read was that there were six girls who disappeared. But there were really seven because Rachel ran away with Joseph Wither back in 1991.

I kept rambling on and on—I don’t even know exactly what I said. Something about how Wither didn’t actually kill anyone, that the girls chose to go with him. That they wanted to be with him and were willing to leave their families and friends to go with him. Finally, I realized that no one was looking at me anymore and everyone was looking at Kaley Martin, who was crying at her desk in the back of the room.

“Shut up!” Jordyn said and poked me on the arm.

I stopped talking and Kaley got up and ran out of the room. Mr. Dover sent Violet to go check on her and said that Jordyn and I could sit down.

Another group got up and started their presentation but I wasn’t listening because I was so confused. Gabe leaned forward in his seat and whispered in my ear, “Way to go, Einstein. Kaley’s aunt was Rachel Farmer.”

Then Violet came back and said that Kaley wouldn’t come out of the bathroom so Mr. Dover stepped out into the hall and didn’t come back for like ten minutes. Once he left, Jordyn started to yell at me. “I thought we told you not to include the yearbook in the presentation!”

I told her I was sorry, that I didn’t know, but she wouldn’t listen. She yanked the yearbook off my desk. “I bet you wrote this,” she said, shoving the page in my face. I told her no, that I would never do that, but I could tell she didn’t believe me. I looked at Violet but she just stared down at her desk.

Then someone from the back of the room said, “Everyone knows about Kaley’s aunt. She and Kaley’s mom were twins. She ran away when she was a teenager and they never heard from her again. They do a thing at church in memory of her every year.”

“You are so stupid,” Jordyn said. “You probably think Wither is real.”

And I said it out loud. I knew I shouldn’t have. I shouted, “He is real. He is! He told me so!” And then everyone laughed and laughed. Even Gabe. Even Violet.

“Shut up!” I yelled at Jordyn. “Shut up! Shut up! Everyone thinks you’re a bitch. Even Gabe says so!”

“Well, everyone knows you’re crazy and a thief!” Jordyn yelled. Then I slapped her. Right across the face. The room went quiet. And I realized I made a really big mistake.