Before She Was Found - Heather Gudenkauf Page 0,89
what happened to Cora Landry.”
“I’m afraid there’s evidence to say otherwise, Mr. Petit,” the deputy says. “Any other computers in the house besides this one?” He points to the laptop on Jordyn’s desk.
Thomas shakes his head no. He usually just uses the one over in the office at the bar. Jordyn uses it once in a while, too. But he’s not going to tell the deputy that.
Thomas drifts from the room, not able to stand watching the deputies dismantle his granddaughter’s room piece by piece. Maybe there was more truth to what Kendall Landry said than Jordyn was owning up to. If he was being honest with himself, he would admit that he had his doubts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered washing the blood out of the jacket and gone to all the trouble to hide the book bag so carefully. Why else would he have gone to such lengths to protect his granddaughter?
Case #92-10945
Excerpt from the journal of Cora E. Landry
Jan. 15, 2018
I’ve been eating lunch in Mr. Dover’s classroom ever since school started after break. He usually just works on his computer but once in a while he’ll pull out his lunch and eat with me. We talk about random stuff like homework assignments and what books we’ve been reading. It’s been nice having somewhere to go instead of the lunchroom but I still really miss Violet. Jordyn, not as much, but I even miss her a little.
Mr. Dover says I should try and talk to them again but I don’t know. I don’t think having friends should be this much work. I mean, I know it takes work to be a good friend but it shouldn’t hurt this much.
I told Mr. Dover that being friends with Jordyn and Violet was just too much work and I came this close to telling him about Joseph and how easy it was to talk to someone over the computer. But of course I didn’t say anything because if I did that Mr. Dover would probably call my parents, or worse, call the police.
Before I left his room today, Mr. Dover told me not to give up on friendship, that it’s worth it to invest in other people. He also said that if I wanted someone to talk to, he’d always be there for me. He told me to keep my chin up. I’m trying, I said.
Then he grabbed a sticky note, started writing something on it. “I usually don’t do this,” he said, handing the piece of paper to me. It was a phone number. “Call me if you need to talk. Anytime,” he said. “And how about not saying anything to anybody about this. The administration frowns—” and Mr. Dover made a silly sad face when he said this “—on teachers sharing their personal phone numbers.”
Then he gave me a hug and told me to get to class.
Dr. Madeline Gideon
September 14, 2018
At the time I thought it would be helpful to Cora and Violet that I was able to talk to each of them about their experiences in the train yard. I thought it would help shed some light on the events of the night. At first I wondered about the wisdom of this and even ran it by one of my colleagues. He assured me as long as I didn’t share any of what Violet or Cora disclosed to the other, it would be fine.
When I arrived for my next session with Cora it was to find her sitting up in the reclining chair in her room. She was still attached to an IV; a fleece tie blanket was draped over her legs. “You’re up,” I said in surprise. “How does it feel?” I asked, pulling up a chair so that we were sitting knee to knee.
“It’s okay,” Cora said halfheartedly. “The stitches on my stomach feel weird sitting like this, but the nurse said it was good for me. They made me go for a walk earlier.”
“How’d that go?” I asked.
“Tiring,” Cora said, smoothing the edges of the bandage that covered her eye. “And people keep looking at me funny. My face looks so bad.”
“Usually the first few days after surgeries like this are the worst,” I explained. “Once the swelling goes down and the bruising fades it will be better.”
“That’s what the other doctor told me, too,” Cora said. She shivered. “It’s cold in here.”
I stood and went to the cupboard where I knew the extra blankets were stored and pulled one down.