What She Knew

What She Knew

Adult mystery
"A year ago, just after Ben's disappearance, I was involved in a
press conference, which was televised. My role was to appeal for help
in finding him. The police gave me a script to read. I assumed
people watching would automatically understand who I was, that they
would see I was a mother whose child was missing, and who cared about
nothing apart from getting him back.
Many of the people who watched, the most vocal of them, thought
the opposite."
It's a parent's worst nightmare. Rachel had been walking with
her eight-year-old son, Ben, and their dog, Skittle, on a beautiful
fall day. Ben had wanted to use a nearby rope swing. He asked if he
could run ahead. After hedging a bit Rachel said yes. When she got to
the swing Ben and Skittle were nowhere to be seen.
My Adam was the same age when he disappeared. The kids and I
had taken an overnight charter bus to Washington DC to participate in
a peace march. Adam was in fine form. He'd discovered a jar of coins
and used them as a prop when he told a Washington Post reporter that
the president was spending too much on the war. One moment he was at
my elbow...
...the next moment he wasn't. The girls hadn't seen him leave.
Lucky for us, our fellow marchers were able to put off demonstrating
to look for a lost child. He was located right after I used the mic
to describe him. When I announced that he had been located and
thanked people for looking for him the crowd erupted in cheers.
According to the Post, he drew more applause than the featured speaker.
Rachel was not as lucky. When she called Ben and Skittle
neither appeared. She encountered a lot of people back at the parking
lot. Search units were organized. The police were called in. An
injured Skittle was found. But when Rachel went home there had not
been a sign of Ben.
As if going through endless days not knowing if her beloved only
child is even alive is not torture enough, Rachel is subjected to
further cruelty. The Internet is full of people who have determined
her to be an unfit mother.
And their violence goes offline, right to her own home.
Told in alternating voices by the main characters, What She Knew
is a roller coaster ride from introduction to final page. A must read
for mystery fans, it is also a cautionary tale concerning the misuses
of our electronic wild wild west.
On a purrrsonal note, I have an end of summer project--collecting
school supplies for the kids in my trailer park. Yesterday I got the
first delivery. A woman from my church filled my glider with bags and
boxes of binders, notebooks, lined paper, pens, pencils, scissors,
glue sticks, pencil cases, crayons, colored pencils... Today I get to
fill backpacks. Then I get to deliver. The kids are excited. (Jules)
That is a lot of stuff. I like the kids. They visit me at my best
window. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our amazing supplies donor.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway



Sent from my iPod