Vanishing Girls

Chapter Sixty-Seven

“You said they found bodies up there on the mountain,” Lisette said. She stared at Josie from the recliner chair in her room, her eyes as wide as Josie had ever seen them. One of her hands fidgeted with a balled-up tissue.

“Yes,” Josie said. “Noah said they found graves, but none fresh enough to be Isabelle Coleman. Gram, did you hear me? Gosnell killed Ray.”

Lisette nodded and pressed the tissue to the corner of each eye. Maybe she was having trouble processing it. Maybe it was too much, too big to take in all in one go. Life without Ray was unfathomable. Josie had still needed him, she realized. Maybe not on a daily basis, but he had carried her past, her demons with him. Only Ray knew everything; he had been there through most of it, and without him she had to carry it alone. The only way Josie was able to function was by focusing on what needed to be done next. Talk to Lisette, then meet with Holcomb. For now her list was never-ending, and she was grateful.

“I’ll go with you to the funeral,” Lisette said. She reached a hand across to where Josie sat on the edge of her bed and Josie took it. “I’m so sorry, Josie.”

Josie swallowed the lump in her throat. “Thank you.”

It was kind, but Lisette seemed far more upset about what Nick Gosnell had been doing on his property over the years than she was about Ray’s murder. She let go of Josie’s hand and sank back into her chair. Second by second, her eyes took on a thousand-yard stare. Josie had the feeling her mind was somewhere else entirely.

“Gram,” Josie said softly. “I have to go soon. They’re only giving me an hour. I have to go… go look at videos. Identify all of Gosnell’s customers. Will you be okay until I can come back?”

“Sherri must have been horribly abused,” Lisette said as if she hadn’t heard Josie.

Josie sighed. Perhaps the Gosnells were safer emotional territory than Ray right now. She glanced at the clock by Lisette’s bedside. She had fifteen minutes left. “Yes,” Josie responded. “On the way over Noah told me he had talked with the medical examiner about Sherri. She said Sherri’s autopsy showed many old fractures. Ribs, arms, legs, even a skull fracture. Typical of a victim of domestic violence.”

“It’s so sad,” Lisette said. “She never said a word.”

“It would have been pretty difficult for her to socialize,” Josie said. “Given what her life at home was like.”

“She never said a word,” Lisette said again. “Just went about her work. She wasn’t unkind, just… she was just… there.”

Josie tried to imagine what Sherri’s home life had been like. In many ways, she reminded Josie of June Spencer in her catatonic state. She simply went through the motions of living. But she supposed that for Sherri, living with a monster like Nick Gosnell, life had been all about survival. Just getting through each day alive or without being beaten must have felt like a victory. Josie wondered if she had ever gotten any true joy out of life. She was torn between feeling sympathetic for Sherri and feeling enraged that the woman had been such an active participant in his evil enterprise. She wondered just how much culpability Sherri had. There was no denying that Nick had abused her, but the lengths she had gone to help Nick were simply incomprehensible.

Lisette’s voice took on a sudden fierce intensity. “That son of a bitch, Alton Gosnell. Look what he created. You know they never did find his wife. He said she ran off, but I guess now we know what really happened to her.”

“They’ll find her on the mountain, I’m sure,” Josie said quietly, not wanting to upset her grandmother further by sharing what Nick had told her about his mother.

She heard what sounded like a sob and quickly added, “I’m coming to question him, Gram. The moment we’re done with these videos. Nick implicated him and I am not letting him get away with anything.”

Josie heard sniffling. Then Lisette said, “Good. I’m glad. He shouldn’t get away with a damn thing.” She lowered her voice. “He’s very sick though. Some kind of infection, they said.”

“That doesn’t concern me,” Josie said coolly.

There was silence. Then, “That’s my girl.”