April never ceased to surprise Maria. Though she’d grown up in the South and knew what to expect, there were always a few glorious days, perfect days, when it seemed as though anything were possible. Cloudless blue skies would greet green lawns that had been brown all winter, and everything would suddenly explode with color. Dogwoods and cherry trees and azaleas would burst into life throughout the city, while tulips sprang forth from carefully tended gardens. Mornings were cool, but the days would warm up as the sun rose bright in the sky.
Today was one of those ephemeral spring days, and as Maria stood on the carefully tended lawn, she could see Serena chatting animatedly with a group of people Maria didn’t recognize, the smile on her face wide and joyful. Seeing her now, it was hard to believe that until recently, Serena had struggled to smile at all; she’d suffered nightmares about her ordeal for months, and when she’d looked in the mirror, she’d seen bruises and cuts Manning had inflicted while she’d been tied to the chair. Two of the cuts had left scars – one near her eye, the other on her jawline – but they were already beginning to fade. In another year, Maria doubted anyone would notice them at all, unless they knew exactly where to look. But that would also mean they would have to remember that horrible night, and with those memories there was always pain.
It had been two weeks before Detective Wright, along with a still recuperating Pete Margolis, had met with Maria and admitted that Colin had been right about everything. The remains of Atkinson’s body were found in what was left of the burned-out icehouse. Ballistics testing eventually connected the bullet in Atkinson’s head to the gun that had been in Lester’s possession. The fire made it impossible to determine exactly when he’d been killed, though investigators suspected that it was around the time he’d vanished. They were able to determine that his body had been stored in a large, otherwise empty freezer in Dr. Manning’s garage in Charlotte thanks to a few strands of Atkinson’s hair found frozen to the sides. Research into Manning’s bank accounts showed numerous cash disbursements, the numbers matching the amounts that had been transferred into Atkinson’s accounts to pay his bills, and also confirmed the rental of the bungalow in Shallotte.