Chapter 8: Sandra
We stayed four days at my sister Ruth's house, two towns over.
Ruth asked no questions.
She made up the guest room, put a folding cot in the sewing room for the children, and produced a cradle from her attic that had belonged to her own grandchildren.
She set it up in the corner of the guest room without being asked and said only, "That baby needs to sleep flat."
On the second day, Agent Reeves called Dana.
I was in the kitchen with Ruth when Dana came in and sat down at the table with the look on her face that meant something had shifted.
"Sandra testified," Dana said.
Ruth set down her dish towel.
"All of it?" I asked.
"Three hours.
She brought eleven years of records.
Photographs.
Financial transfers.
Copies of documents Victor thought he'd destroyed." Dana looked at the table.
"There were four women before Patrice.
Four that Sandra knew about directly.
She had names for all of them."
Ruth sat down.
"Two of those women," Dana said carefully, "are no longer — Reeves said they're listed as missing persons.
Cases that were never connected to Victor because he was never a suspect.
He was never even interviewed."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"He's going to be charged," Dana said.
"Not just for Patrice.
For all of it.
Reeves said the federal prosecutor has been waiting for a witness with documentation.
Sandra is that witness."
"Is Sandra safe?" I asked.
"She and her children are in protective placement.
Reeves arranged it the morning after Victor's call." Dana looked up.
"She testified by video.
Victor's attorney tried to object to the format.
The judge overruled him in about four seconds."
"What did Victor do?" Ruth asked.
"Reeves said he sat very still the whole time.
Didn't react.
Didn't write notes.
Just sat there." Dana paused.
"His attorney asked for an emergency recess after Sandra's testimony.
When they came back, Foss stood up and said his client wished to make a statement."
I looked at her.
"He tried to make a deal," Dana said.
"He offered to surrender his claim to Lily voluntarily, in exchange for reduced charges."
"What did the prosecutor say?"
"She said no." Dana almost smiled.
"She said the charges would be filed in full and that his cooperation at this stage was noted but would not alter the scope of prosecution."
Ruth made a sound that was not quite a laugh and not quite a sob.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"The protective custody order for Lily becomes permanent pending Patrice's recovery.
Patrice has been assigned a legal advocate.
There's a housing placement ready for her when she's discharged." Dana folded her hands on the table.
"And Victor Hale is going to be arraigned on Thursday."
I thought about a seventeen-year-old girl standing at a window waving a dish towel, hoping someone would stop.
"Does Patrice know?" I asked.
"Reeves told her this morning." Dana was quiet for a moment.
"She said Patrice didn't cry.
She just asked if Lily was eating well."
Ruth reached across the table and put her hand over Dana's.
Nobody said anything for a while.
Outside, through the kitchen window, I could hear my grandchildren in the backyard.
May you like
One of them was laughing — the high, uncomplicated laugh of a child who has decided the world is safe again.
I hadn't heard that sound in eleven days.
