“They’ll lock me away.”
“That’s what you must do,” she said. “You must make amends for the wrongs you’ve done.”
He sat on the ground and cried. “I can’t.”
She shook her head. “They’ll find help for you,” she said. “You’ll be all right.”
She wasn’t entirely sure this was true. Some things were beyond the reach of her sight. Some things were not for her to see. She had grown to accept this, as she had grown to accept so many things.
“Go now, Bobo,” she said. He stood, staring at her as she moved closer to Abel.
“Show me where you’ve put them,” she said. She was not angry with him; she did not hate him or judge him. She did not even fear him. That was for others to do. Eloise neither condemned the wicked nor praised the good, because they were just two sides of the same coin. They were all one, all the same, even though so few ever seemed to realize that, would rail with fury at the very thought.
Sobbing, Abel Crawley turned and began to walk toward a path that led back into the woods.
They passed out of sight along the edge of the clearing where -Eloise paused to watch Finley help Rainer into a police cruiser. Jones Cooper stood staring in her direction, though she was -reasonably sure he couldn’t see her, back as she was in the safety of darkness. She saw Wolf and Merri Gleason, holding each other, oblivious to everything around them, grief was wrapped around them like a curtain. How cruelly Merri Gleason had been treated to think she was close to finding her daughter, only to have everything snatched away. Abbey Gleason was gone. Merri had to find a way to let go, or lose herself.
Eloise saw a light around Finley, something bright and good and strong. She was different from Eloise, a natural. She had a big ego, a strong spirit. She was ready. The girl wouldn’t let it rule her; she wouldn’t let it take everything. Eloise spent a long moment taking in the youthful beauty of Finley’s solid flesh, strong and flushed with life. I’ll stop when my outer self looks like my inner self, she’d said when Eloise had expressed distress over the girl’s myriad tattoos. Eloise still didn’t like it, but she understood now that Finley was exerting some kind of control over her body, making it what she wanted it to be. Part of her wanted to call to Finley, to hold her in her arms and try to explain. But there was no explaining anything to youth. And there was no such thing as good-bye. She knew that better than anyone. She kept after Abel Crawley.
She followed him deeper and deeper into the woods, away from the mine opening that was now crawling with police and to another one a bit farther north. When they reached it, she followed him into the opening that was so well hidden that most would pass right by without seeing it. Just as she plunged into darkness, she heard Finley’s voice.
Mimi? Mimi! Is that you?
“Faster, Abel,” said Eloise. “They’re coming.”
THIRTY-THREE
Finley didn’t know what made her turn in time to see Eloise and Abel Crawley move through the trees. In fact, she couldn’t even say she saw them exactly. There was a tickle, something that made her turn away from Rainer. She had been standing there, leaning against a police cruiser, trying to get her head around the fact that the girl she’d saved was Eliza and not Abbey. How could she have been so wrong?
She’d watched Wolf Gleason collapse, weeping. “It’s not Abbey. It’s not Abbey.”
And Merri had stood over him, gray faced and catatonic, broken.
Finley’s throat was closed from crying, the blood rushing in her ears. Eliza had been carried from the scene, her mother called. There would be a joyful reunion tonight, just not the one Finley imagined. It was all so complicated, so fraught, wasn’t it? No joy without sorrow, no sorrow without joy. It was then that she saw them, but maybe it was just a shadow, a shifting of light, something.
“Mimi?” she called. She didn’t even know why. Finley moved quickly toward the trees, a sudden feeling of urgency making her pulse quicken.
Jones Cooper moved into step beside her. “What did you see?”
“I saw my grandmother,” she said. The sky had cleared, a wide high moon hung silver in the blue-black sky. “With Abel Crawley.”
Had she seen that? Surely not.
“Up here?” said Jones. “I don’t think so.”
The wind howled, and Jones frowned as they came to the edge.
“Mimi!” she called again. “Is that you?”
Finley and Jones exchanged a look, a worried energy passing between them. They both knew that Eloise turned up when she was least expected. Some people were always just where you thought they would be. But Eloise was exactly where she needed to be—wherever that was. Jones put the beam of his flashlight to the ground, and it wasn’t long before it fell on two sets of tracks, one large, one small. Finley recognized the snowflake tread of her grandmother’s boots.