Before She Was Found

by Heather Gudenkauf

  JORDYN PETIT: Split and had popcorn.

  OFFICER WILSON: Split? The one about that guy with multiple personalities? That’s a pretty grown-up movie for twelve-year-olds.

  JORDYN PETIT: I guess.

  OFFICER WILSON: You watched a movie and then what?

  JORDYN PETIT: Nothing, really. Just sat in Cora’s room and talked. Then we went to bed.

  OFFICER WILSON: What time was this?

  JORDYN PETIT: Midnight, I think.

  OFFICER WILSON: Then what?

  JORDYN PETIT: We couldn’t fall asleep and were bored. We decided to go for a walk.

  OFFICER WILSON: What time was this?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. Late.

  OFFICER WILSON: After midnight, though?

  JORDYN PETIT: Yes.

  OFFICER WILSON: So you got dressed?

  JORDYN PETIT: (inaudible)

  OFFICER WILSON: Did Cora tell her parents you were leaving?

  JORDYN PETIT: No.

  OFFICER WILSON: Did she leave a note?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. We just left. We thought we’d be back before anyone woke up.

  OFFICER WILSON: Where did you walk to?

  JORDYN PETIT: Just around. It was stupid. I wanted to go back but Cora and Violet said no.

  OFFICER WILSON: They said no?

  JORDYN PETIT: They wanted to go to the train yard but I said it was too far. I was cold and wanted to go back to the house. I was tired.

  OFFICER WILSON: So you decided to go home?

  JORDYN PETIT: Yes. It’s not that far from the train yard.

  OFFICER WILSON: So you were at the train yard?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. I told you, I didn’t go there.

  OFFICER WILSON: Did you tell Cora and Violet you were going home?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. They were being mean. I just left.

  OFFICER WILSON: Mean? How so?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know...just mean. They wouldn’t listen to me about going back.

  OFFICER WILSON: Did you see anyone else while on your walk? Talk to anyone?

  JORDYN PETIT: No.

  OFFICER WILSON: Did you see any cars while you were walking?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. Maybe. It was late. I don’t remember seeing a car drive by us. But I saw a car. It was down another street. Not close by. It wasn’t moving but its lights were on.

  OFFICER WILSON: What street?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. Maybe on Twenty-second Street.

  OFFICER WILSON: You were on Twenty-second Street?

  JORDYN PETIT: No, I think I saw a car on Twenty-second Street. I’m not sure. I don’t know! I don’t remember!

  OFFICER WILSON: Okay. It’s okay, Jordyn. You’re doing just fine. You left before you got to the train yard. How did you come home? What streets did you walk on?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. I just came home. I cut through some yards to get home faster.

  OFFICER WILSON: Did you tell your grandpa when you got home?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. I just went to bed.

  OFFICER WILSON: Tell me exactly what you did?

  JORDYN PETIT: I unlocked the door.

  OFFICER WILSON: You carry your house key?

  OFFICER WILSON: Look at me, Jordyn, not your grandpa. Do you carry a house key?

  JORDYN PETIT: In my book bag. I opened the door. Changed into my pajamas and went to bed.

  OFFICER WILSON: And the first you heard about Cora and Violet was when I came to your grandpa’s bar?

  JORDYN PETIT: Yes.

  OFFICER WILSON: What can you tell me about the Joseph Wither project you did for school?

  JORDYN PETIT: Nothing. It was just a school assignment.

  OFFICER WILSON: The news station is reporting that someone pretending to be Joseph Wither was the one who attacked Cora.

  JORDYN PETIT: It was on the news? No, I don’t know anything about that. We just went for a walk.

  OFFICER WILSON: We found some beer bottles at the train yard, near where we found Cora. You didn’t happen to have some alcohol in your backpack, did you?

  JORDYN PETIT: What? No!

  OFFICER WILSON: But you had your backpack with you?

  JORDYN PETIT: Yeah.

  OFFICER WILSON: Why? You said you planned on going back to Cora’s house after your walk? Why would you bring a backpack with you on your walk unless you had something inside that you needed?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. I mean, I just brought it.

  OFFICER WILSON: You’re not in trouble, Jordyn. But if I find out you are lying to me, then there will be trouble. We have to find out who left the beer bottles there. They’re evidence.

  JORDYN PETIT: (inaudible)

  THOMAS PETIT: Just tell the truth, Jordyn. This is important. Did you take some beer bottles from the bar? You know I can check the inventory and see if any are missing.

  JORDYN PETIT: (sound of crying) Yes. I took the beer. I’m sorry. We just wanted to try it.

  OFFICER WILSON: So you went to the train yard and drank the beer?

  JORDYN PETIT: No, along the way. On our walk.

  OFFICER WILSON: But left the bottles at the train yard?

  JORDYN PETIT: I don’t know. We must have.

  THOMAS PETIT: Jesus, Jordyn. Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?

  JORDYN PETIT: I’m sorry. We tried it but we didn’t like it. We dumped it out and I told Cora and Violet that I was going home. Then I left. I promise.

  OFFICER WILSON: We’ll need to get your fingerprints for exclusionary purposes, Jordyn. Don’t worry, Mr. Petit, it’s routine. Okay, Jordyn, you were walking to the train yard, drank some beer and then left. Cora and Violet stayed. Is there anything else you need to tell me?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. They wanted to stay and I wanted to leave so I went home. I promise.

  OFFICER WILSON: You didn’t see anybody at the train yard? Anyone at all?

  JORDYN PETIT: No.

  OFFICER WILSON: Can you think of anyone who would come after Cora?

  JORDYN PETIT: No. I can’t think of anyone who would do this. What about Violet? Is she okay?

  OFFICER WILSON: Well, they’re both at the hospital and that’s all I can really tell you right now. Tell me again, what time was it you left the Landry house?

  THOMAS PETIT: You already asked that question. Do we need a lawyer?

  OFFICER WILSON: You certainly are within your rights to call an attorney. The question is, do you think that Jordyn needs a lawyer? If so, please do. On my end, I’m just trying to get as much information as I can to help in this investigation. Jordyn may be the only person who saw or heard something important last night. She might not even know it’s important—that’s why I have to ask these questions and sometimes more than once.

  THOMAS PETIT: I want to help. Jordyn wants to help.

  OFFICER WILSON: So I have your permission to continue to visit with Jordyn?

  THOMAS PETIT: Yes. Fine.

  OFFICER WILSON: Now, Jordyn, what time did you and your friends leave for the train yard?

  JORDYN PETIT: Around midnight, I think.

  OFFICER WILSON: You said that Cora and Violet were being mean. Did you fight? Did it get physical?

  JORDYN PETIT: No! It wasn’t like that!

  OFFICER WILSON: I’ve been told that you weren’t very nice to Cora, that you bullied her.

  JORDYN PETIT: No! Cora is my friend.

  OFFICER WILSON: So you weren’t bullying her? The people I’ve talked to are saying that you’ve been calling her names, posting nasty things about her on social media. Are they lying?

  JORDYN PETIT: It was nothing. Just stupid stuff and it was a while ago. We’re friends again. I promise!

  OFFICER WILSON: I heard there were some disagree
ments over a boy. Any truth to that, Jordyn? Were you and Cora fighting over a boy?

  JORDYN PETIT: No! That’s not how it was. Grandpa, I want to go home. Can’t we just go home?

  THOMAS PETIT: Enough! Are we free to leave?

  OFFICER WILSON: You can go, but we’ll need to talk again soon. Jordyn, I suggest next time we talk you are more forthcoming in your answers. We’ll find out the truth one way or another and it’s to your benefit to help us get there.

  Excerpt from the journal of Cora E Landry

  Case #92-10945

  Nov. 11, 2017

  Today I asked Kendall if she knew who Joseph Wither was. She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Duh,” she said. “Everybody’s heard of Wither. Haven’t you ever gone down to the tracks during a sleepover?” she asked. Then she made a face and covered her mouth as if she said something wrong. “Oops, I forgot you don’t do sleepovers.”

  I told her that no one does sleepovers anymore but she just gave me a look that said, Yeah, right. The truth is, I haven’t been on a sleepover in a long time. Not since before Ellie moved away. And that was only two times and even then we just watched movies and ate ice cream. Once we rode our bikes to the park but we never went down to the railroad tracks. I’ve always hated the sound of trains—like an old woman screaming in a thunderstorm.

  Besides, when I was in first grade, two boys were playing chicken on the tracks and one of them didn’t jump off them fast enough and ended up getting hit by the train. I have bad dreams about that sometimes—standing on the tracks and not being able to move. The engineer blows the whistle over and over but I still can’t move my legs. When I have this nightmare I end up falling out of bed and waking up on the floor with my mom, dad and Kendall standing over me. It’s embarrassing.

  I think the boy’s name was Charlie and that his family moved away pretty soon after the funeral. I didn’t want to ask Kendall to tell me about Joseph Wither and why kids went down to the railroad tracks on overnights but my curiosity got the best of me and I didn’t want to sound like I didn’t know anything (even though I don’t) when Violet, Jordyn and I worked on the project the next day.

  Kendall kept teasing me about not knowing who Joseph Wither was; she liked holding this over my head. She loved it when she could rub my nose in stuff.

  I wanted to just ignore her and pretend it didn’t matter to me but it did so I ended up promising to do her chores for a week. Kendall even invited me into her bedroom, which is a miracle—she never lets me in there. We sat on her bed just like we did when we were little. She told me that Joseph Wither lived in Pitch about a million years ago in a house on Hickory Street, which is the same street where Violet lives. I asked Kendall if she knew which house it was.

  She told me to just shut up and listen, that he lived in a house on Hickory Street with his mom and dad and two little sisters. Joseph Wither was seventeen years old at the time and was in love with the fifteen-year-old girl who lived in the house across the street.

  I asked if she loved him back and then clapped my hand over my mouth when Kendall glared at me.

  Kendall said that the girl did love him back but their parents thought they were too young and ordered them to stop seeing each other. Then Kendall stopped talking and went to shut the bedroom door. Skittles snuck in and I thought for sure that Kendall would freak out about it but she didn’t even notice. It felt nice, sitting close to my sister like this. Kendall sat down next to me again and even though the door was shut she whispered how Joseph and the girl would sneak out at night and go down by the train tracks and do it.

  I must have had a weird look on my face because Kendall looked at me like I was an idiot and said, “Yes. They did it. They. Had. Sex.” She said this nice and slow for me, to make sure I understood.

  I told her that I knew what sex was, though it made my stomach feel gross saying it out loud. I told her I thought way back in the old days they were pretty strict about stuff like that. She told me that lots of fifteen-year-olds had sex.

  I looked at her closely. Kendall is fifteen and is very pretty. She has long blond hair that my mom says most women have to pay a hundred bucks a month to get. Kendall’s skin turns brown in the summer and she has curves. I’m pale and never tan no matter how much time I spend in the sun. I just get sunburned, peel and then turn white again. I also don’t have curves, plus I’m short for my grade. People always think I’m younger than I am. I wonder if Kendall is doing it. Boys are always calling our house.

  Then I started thinking about Gabe and wondering if he ever had sex with anyone.

  Kendall told me to close my mouth and not act so surprised. She told me that she wasn’t having sex, that there wasn’t anyone in our loser town that she would let touch her. She wanted to wait until she went away to college. Then she told me to shut up again and let her finish the story, that she had homework to do.

  She said that Joseph Wither and the girl, Lucy, would sneak out and have sex down by the railroad tracks and one day her dad caught them. He dragged his daughter away and told Joseph that if he ever came near Lucy again he would kill him.

  That made me start thinking about the school project and how in the world we are going to give a report about two teenagers doing it by the railroad tracks. Somehow I don’t think Mr. Dover is going to let us talk about that. I wonder if it’s too late to change our topic to Johnny Appleseed or Sleepy Hollow.

  Just then Kendall’s friend Emery came into the room and wanted to know what we were talking about. Kendall filled her in, making me look like a stupid idiot, of course, and Emery jumped on the bed and said, “Oooh, this story is so scary.” Emery, when she isn’t totally ignoring me, is actually pretty nice. She has really long, thick brown hair that Kendall says she flatirons every day. It takes her like an hour each time.

  Kendall kept telling the story and said that, one night, Joseph and Lucy made plans to meet down by the tracks near the train depot but Lucy didn’t show up. Lucy’s family just up and moved away and she never got a chance to say goodbye to Joseph.

  Emery takes over the story and says that Joseph was devastated. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. He wouldn’t go to school. Emery’s eyes got big and excited and she started talking in a whispery, ghosty voice, so I knew she was getting to the good part of the story. She said that Wither started hanging out by the railroad tracks, just sitting there waiting for Lucy to come to him. Then one night his house was burned down with his family inside and he disappeared. I can just imagine it. Joseph Wither walking along the railroad tracks going from town to town searching for his lost love. It was very romantic.

  I wonder what it’s like to be so in love with someone that you would do anything to be with them.

  Emery said that the sheriff was sure that they were going to catch him but they never did. That’s what everyone thought at first. They thought he would come home eventually, but he didn’t. One night, a few months later, two sisters were walking home from a church meeting. There was no moon and no stars out so it was pitch-black. The girls couldn’t see anything but they walked that same route all the time and they were together so they weren’t scared. It got later and later and still the girls didn’t come home.

  Finally, their dad went out looking for them and a few hours later he found the body of one of his daughters by the train tracks. She had been beaten to death. I wanted to ask her what happened to the other sister but I didn’t want Kendall to yell at me.

  It was getting dark outside and Kendall’s room filled with shadows. The branches from the big tree outside started tapping on the window like long fingers. I wanted to turn on a light but I didn’t want Kendall and Emery to think I was a scaredy-cat so instead I picked up Skittles and started petting her. I pressed my face into her silky fur and started to feel better right away.

  Kendall said they never did find the other sister; she disappeared into thin air. And then she said a year a
fter the first girl died another one died. And then another, and another. All found by the train tracks. One beaten to death, one strangled, one stabbed and one drowned. All killed by Joseph Wither. She said that every few years or so a girl would vanish. Those were the girls he loved and took with him.

  I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until Skittles scratched at the back of my hand because I was holding her so tight. I let her go and she ran beneath the bed. I asked them how many girls Wither killed and how many he ended up taking. Kendall just shrugged her shoulders and told me to get out of her room. They had stuff to do.

  Emery told Kendall not to be so mean. That Wither gave her nightmares when she was a kid. Like I said, Emery can be nice. I wish some of that would rub off on my sister!

  Anyway, I found a weird website called DarkestDoor that’s all about urban legends and myths. All you have to do is post a question about your topic and people from all over will chime in with their ideas. It’s pretty cool. I haven’t had the nerve to post anything yet. I’m afraid to because my mom is ALWAYS looking over my shoulder watching what I’m doing online.

  She is so paranoid. If she knew I was in chat rooms she would freak out. But she has an after-school meeting this week and won’t be home until five. That will give me some time. Plus, Violet showed me how to use incognito mode so no one can figure out what websites I’ve been on.

  I caught Gabe looking at me during class today and obviously Mr. Dover did, too. Mr. Dover said, “Gabe, maybe you should just talk to Cora after class instead of staring at her.” Even Gabe laughed. Everyone did, except for Jordyn.

  After school, Violet and I were walking outside when she got a Snapchat. It was a really bad picture of me with my eyes half-closed and this weird look on my face. Written across the screen was the word Bitch. I don’t even know what that means. Violet tried to make me feel better by saying that Jordyn was just joking around, that she takes pictures of everyone and writes stupid stuff.

  Just then Jordyn came running up to us and started talking like everything was perfectly fine. She even invited me over to her house this weekend. I don’t know. It’s all very confusing.