This tragedy had actually happened. It seemed surreal. But this was how her own life had begun. She knew this mentally, of course, but now she knew it emotionally. She read the second write-up:
The victim of a brutal beating and rape has been identified as Mary Rose Francis of Salmon Cove Reservation by her grandfather, Paul Francis, also of Salmon Cove. "When she did not return home from school on Thursday," an obviously distraught Mr. Francis said, "I called the police but no one called me back until yesterday."
Mary Rose Francis lies in a coma at River's End General Hospital. Though doctors say recovery is always a possibility, they are not holding out a lot of hope in this case. "She suffered massive head injuries," Doctor James Melick said. "It's a wait and see situation."
Students at River's End High School were shocked by the news of the attack on their schoolmate. The victim had been visiting at a friend's home earlier that evening.
"She was really nice," said a tearful Lisa Cameron. "I should have let her go home earlier when she wanted to. But we were having fun, listening to music and stuff, and we just lost track of time."
Naomi moved on to the next write-up, published two weeks later.
NO LEADS IN VIOLENT ASSAULT ON NATIVE GIRL - Police are frustrated in their efforts to solve the case of a brutal assault against a Native girl, says lead detective, William Keys. "We'll be doing all we can to track down the perpetrators, but there's nothing new to report at this time. The investigation is ongoing."
That was about it, followed by a rehash of the few known facts in the case. Naomi could find nothing further after that. The case had apparently been dropped. She scrolled back to the second write-up in which Charles Seaton, the caretaker at the cemetery told police that he'd heard screams that night, and crested the hill just in time to see a young woman being forced into a car. 'It was enough to curl the hair on your head,' he had told them. But he was too far away to help, he'd said, and could offer no further information, except to say that there'd been two men in the car when it sped away. Mr. Seaton said that he would hear that poor girl's screams for the rest of his life.
Did you yell out? Naomi asked the man who wasn't there to answer for himself. Did you try to warn them off? Let them know they'd been seen? Did you do anything at all?
She was being unfair to Mr. Seaton. The abduction probably happened so fast it barely would have had time to register on him until it was over and everything was quiet again. It must have seemed dreamlike in that moment. The story was pretty much as Frank had related it to her. Nevertheless, she jotted down the man's name. It couldn't hurt to talk to Mr. Seaton, providing he was still alive. How old would be now, if he was still around?
She wondered if the police had ever considered hypnotizing him? He might have remembered more details, maybe even the car's license plate number. The subconscious mind can store information the conscious mind is not even aware of. At least it works that way in the movies. The car itself would be long gone of course, to some scrap heap in the sky, but the license number could provide the name of whoever owned it at the time. Would there still be a record of that somewhere?
All her instincts told her that her next stop should be the police department to put all these questions to whomever was in charge of cold cases, and demand the justice for Mary Rose she'd been denied all these years. But she knew that before she could hope to gain their attention, she'd have to make a few waves first. Just walking in there with some old write-ups wasn't going to do it. She needed a lot more.
Beneath Mr. Seaton's name, Naomi jotted down the name of Lisa Cameron, who was probably long married and going by a different name. But she shouldn't be too hard to track down; this was a small town. As an afterthought, she added the name of Dr. James
The victim of a brutal beating and rape has been identified as Mary Rose Francis of Salmon Cove Reservation by her grandfather, Paul Francis, also of Salmon Cove. "When she did not return home from school on Thursday," an obviously distraught Mr. Francis said, "I called the police but no one called me back until yesterday."
Mary Rose Francis lies in a coma at River's End General Hospital. Though doctors say recovery is always a possibility, they are not holding out a lot of hope in this case. "She suffered massive head injuries," Doctor James Melick said. "It's a wait and see situation."
Students at River's End High School were shocked by the news of the attack on their schoolmate. The victim had been visiting at a friend's home earlier that evening.
"She was really nice," said a tearful Lisa Cameron. "I should have let her go home earlier when she wanted to. But we were having fun, listening to music and stuff, and we just lost track of time."
Naomi moved on to the next write-up, published two weeks later.
NO LEADS IN VIOLENT ASSAULT ON NATIVE GIRL - Police are frustrated in their efforts to solve the case of a brutal assault against a Native girl, says lead detective, William Keys. "We'll be doing all we can to track down the perpetrators, but there's nothing new to report at this time. The investigation is ongoing."
That was about it, followed by a rehash of the few known facts in the case. Naomi could find nothing further after that. The case had apparently been dropped. She scrolled back to the second write-up in which Charles Seaton, the caretaker at the cemetery told police that he'd heard screams that night, and crested the hill just in time to see a young woman being forced into a car. 'It was enough to curl the hair on your head,' he had told them. But he was too far away to help, he'd said, and could offer no further information, except to say that there'd been two men in the car when it sped away. Mr. Seaton said that he would hear that poor girl's screams for the rest of his life.
Did you yell out? Naomi asked the man who wasn't there to answer for himself. Did you try to warn them off? Let them know they'd been seen? Did you do anything at all?
She was being unfair to Mr. Seaton. The abduction probably happened so fast it barely would have had time to register on him until it was over and everything was quiet again. It must have seemed dreamlike in that moment. The story was pretty much as Frank had related it to her. Nevertheless, she jotted down the man's name. It couldn't hurt to talk to Mr. Seaton, providing he was still alive. How old would be now, if he was still around?
She wondered if the police had ever considered hypnotizing him? He might have remembered more details, maybe even the car's license plate number. The subconscious mind can store information the conscious mind is not even aware of. At least it works that way in the movies. The car itself would be long gone of course, to some scrap heap in the sky, but the license number could provide the name of whoever owned it at the time. Would there still be a record of that somewhere?
All her instincts told her that her next stop should be the police department to put all these questions to whomever was in charge of cold cases, and demand the justice for Mary Rose she'd been denied all these years. But she knew that before she could hope to gain their attention, she'd have to make a few waves first. Just walking in there with some old write-ups wasn't going to do it. She needed a lot more.
Beneath Mr. Seaton's name, Naomi jotted down the name of Lisa Cameron, who was probably long married and going by a different name. But she shouldn't be too hard to track down; this was a small town. As an afterthought, she added the name of Dr. James
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