Chapter 12 - GREG’S SMILEGreg Carter was arrested at 6:15 p.m.
Not for murder.
Not yet.
The initial charges were child endangerment, obstruction, evidence tampering, intimidation, and assault related to interference with medical treatment.
The murder charge would require more.
Greg knew that.
When police walked him out of the hospital side entrance, cameras caught him smiling.
That smile spread across social media within minutes. People slowed the clip, enlarged it, argued over it. Some said it was shock. Some said it was arrogance. Some said grieving people act strangely.
Rachel saw it and vomited into a trash can.
Lily did not see it.
We made sure of that.
That night, she had surgery to properly set her fractured arm. The injury pattern did not match Greg’s claim that she had fallen off a backyard swing. Orthopedics documented old bruising in various stages of healing. Sarah photographed every mark with the careful sadness of a nurse who had seen too many small bodies tell stories adults tried to bury.
Before surgery, Lily asked if she could keep the cut boot.
“No,” I said gently. “The police need it.”
Her lower lip trembled. “Daddy said I had to wear them every rainy day.”
“You never have to wear those boots again.”
She thought about this.
Then she whispered, “Can I have red shoes?”
Rachel choked on a laugh through tears. “Yes, bug. You can have red shoes.”
Lily nodded, satisfied, and drifted under anesthesia holding Rachel’s hand.
In the surgical waiting area, Rachel told me more about Anna.
“She was funny,” Rachel said. “Not the way people say after someone dies. Really funny. She made grocery lists like dramatic novels. ‘Chapter One: Bananas Betray Me Again.’”
I smiled despite everything.
“Greg hated that,” Rachel continued. “He hated when rooms loved her.”
That explained more than any file could.
Men like Greg did not only hurt women because they wanted control.
They hurt them because joy in someone else felt like theft.
Near midnight, Hayes called.
Her voice was tight.
“They found soil disturbance behind Greg’s old hunting cabin.”
Rachel gripped the phone.
Hayes paused.
“We’re bringing in a forensic team.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
May you like
The room seemed to tilt.
Eight months after Anna vanished, the earth was finally being asked what it knew.
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