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Ann was lying on her back by then, one arht hand, rocking back and forth She eeping like a five-year-old "You were never there for ht about my papa I was five when he left e came to me, a memory repressed for years In the car, just after the wreck, when I was trapped in the backseat, wedged in tight, with the sound ofon and on and on, I had reached around the edge of the front seat, where I found , passive, and soft I tuckedhe was dead, si as I had hiood? When had it dawned on Ann that Royce was never going to coh? And what of Jean Timberlake? None of us had survived the wounds our fathers inflicted all those years ago Did he love us? Hoould we ever know? He was gone and he’d never again be what he was to us in all his haunting perfection If love is what injures us, how can we heal?

Epilogue

The case against Bailey Fowler has been dismissed He turned hied with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ori Fowler and Shana Timberlake The DA’s office may never be able to assemble sufficient evidence to prosecute her for the death of Jean Timberlake

Teeks have passed I’m now back in my office in Santa Teresa, where I’ve itee, and ainst the two grand he advanced We chatted about it by phone and he’s toldon to life with all the stubbornness he canhis last weeks

I find that I’ at Henry Pitts differently these days Heto a father I’ll ever have Instead of viewing him with suspicion, I think I’ll enjoy him for the tihty-two, and God knows, my life is more hazardous than his