She would never recall with any kind of clarity what happened in the next few hours.

After some time passed, glimmers of foggy memories would slip in..

…being swept away by officers in blue…

…being asked questions…

“How did you know something had happened to your mother?”

“The tattooed lady put the picture in my head.”

“How did you know the tattooed woman?”

“I didn’t.”

Jodi vaguely understood that the officers thought she was lying. By the end of that summer, she started to believe that, too. Just as she learned to believe her heart was not to be trusted anymore than her feelings, for hadn’t they been all wrong? Somehow, their mother’s death felt like it was her fault.