Page 83 of Girl Between
“Not much to tell,” George drawled. “Family kept to themselves. Lived out here in the Barataria. Got by on the land. Fished, farmed and the like. They weren’t on anyone’s radar until the Harvest Girl case.”
“And the Goodes were the only suspects for the missing girls?”
George gave her a look of incredulity. “Four white teenage girls went missing from one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country. The city was turned upside-down and inside out. Everyone was a suspect. It wasn’t until the Bridges girl surfaced and led the police out here that the Goodes became persons of interest.”
“And you said they were sisters?” Dana asked.
George nodded. “Twins. Marta and Tisha Goode. Survived by Tisha’s daughter, Alice, then her daughter, Abigale.”
“Abigale, that’s who we’re going to meet?”
“Yes.”
“And she knows we’re coming?”
“Not exactly.” George gestured to the swampy surroundings. “Folks out here don’t exactly operate on the grid.”
“Ya don’t say,” Dana mused, taking in the expanse of bare, bone-white trees that stretched skyward like skeletons wreathed in drooping crowns of Spanish moss.
She knew the haunting plant was nothing more than an invasive species from the Bromeliaceae family, but that still didn’t stop her mind from observing the moss’s uncanny resemblance to decaying flesh hanging from the bone-like trees.
“Is it always so barren out here?” Dana asked.
“It’s come a long way since Katrina.” George shook his head at some distant memory. “Used to look much worse if you can imagine. But it’s grown back with a vengeance. I hardly recognize it now.”
“Nature is resilient,” Dana replied.
“Cruel and resilient,” George amended.
Dana couldn’t argue there.
“We didn’t get to finish our conversation about Dr. Landry,” George said, pulling Dana’s attention from the ruthless landscape.
“Oh, I didn’t realize there was more to discuss. I don’t trust him. You do.”
“Right, but I’ve given you examples demonstrating his trustworthiness. I was hoping you might do the same regarding your opinion.”
“I don’t have examples. I have a feeling.”
“A feeling?”
Dana noted George’s stare; eyebrows raised, lips pursed with amusement.Does the Army teach everyone the same patronizing look?“Yes, an uneasy feeling,” she replied.
“Oh, well I’ll see your uneasy feeling, and raise you a pillar of the community.”
“Even pillars of the community aren’t above suspicion,” Dana argued.
“Come on, Gray. I took you to the man’s free clinic. Not to mention that he still works at the hospital, volunteers at the coroner’s office and cares for his blind, ailing daughter. He’s dedicated his entire life to helping people.”
“It’s not that I don’t hear you, but I know what it’s like to think you know someone.”
“You mean Claire?”
Dana’s gaze darted from the road to George momentarily.
“Yes,” she said after composing herself.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to pry. Guess it’s just been on my mind since Shepard brought it up.”
