“Of course not,” I said.
“We had a little ceremony. At night. Nondenominational. Each of us offered a prayer. Whispering to avoid alerting the neighbors. Jimmy dug the hole. I planted a little sycamore tree I’d purchased at the nursery. And flowers. Clivia. Around the base. They’re beautiful orange, love the shade. We wanted Sam-we gave him a name, so he’d be someone-we wanted to place him in a miniature coffin, but we couldn’t figure out where to find one without arousing suspicion. So we used … something else.”
“Metal box from the hospital. Used to bring money to the bank.”
“It’s what we had, the alternative was, what, an orange crate?”
“I assumed there was symbolism, Salome.”
“What?”
“He was seen as having great value.”
She stared at me. Smiled. “I like that. I will adjust my memories to include that. Now if you’ll excuse me-”
“Did Jimmy and the rest of you continue placing babies?”
“Of course,” she said.
“But Ellie stopped.”
Nod.
“What happened to her?”
“She moved to another city, I will not tell you where. Married a man who loved her, I will not tell you his name. Had a baby of her own. Died. That’s all you need to know, Alex.”
I stood. “Thank you.”
“You will tell the policeman?”
“No reason to.”
“Then why-ah, of course. You were always driven. A little obsessive, maybe?”
I smiled. “It happens.”
Ninety days after Donny Rader’s arrest, Milo emailed me a link from Daily Variety .
His scrawled comment: No comment .
Prema’s Aura Shines Gallically
Mega-star Prema Moon has emerged from self-imposed retirement to ink a deal with the Feinstein Group for an action-adventure pic featuring a superhero mother struggling to raise her children while combating cosmic evil forces. The mega-budget production, still untitled, will film in Croatia and France, enabling Prema to travel easily to her newly purchased chateau-cum-organic-farm in the Loire Valley. When asked about the parallels between the story line and her real-life situation in which ex Donny Rader was arrested for multiple murders while she was forced to shield her four-tot brood from his nefarious behavior, Prema’s representative declined comment. Chad Zaleen penned the script with Garvey Feinstein producing through his Lighthouse shingle, along with Andrew Bronson, Bill Kander and Dan Elhiani. Ethan White, Barry Urbanovitch and Prema, herself, will exec produce. Filming is slated to begin …
Five months later, the mail included a silver-edged pink card in a matching envelope.
We are so joyful
And thankful
To the Earth Aura
And the Goodness all around
As we proudly welcome:
Aimee Destiny
Born beautiful and healthy and brilliant
at a whopping 8 lb. 4 oz!
Holly and Matt Ruche
In lieu of baby gifts please donate to Western Pediatric Medical Center
To Eva