On the porch, Ray’s chair scraped. Neither of them moved.
Diane went on in the same low voice. “When Ellie turned fifteen, I started seeing the way your grandfather looked at her. The excuses to keep her behind after Sunday lunch. The sudden anger when she wore shorts in summer. She noticed too. She started fighting with him all the time.”
“Did she tell you?”
Diane nodded once. “A week before she vanished.”
Gabe closed his eyes.
“She came into my room after midnight. She was shaking. She said he’d cornered her in the laundry room that evening and that if I didn’t stop him she’d go to the sheriff herself.” Diane pressed both hands over her mouth, then lowered them again. “I told her we’d leave. I said we’d go to my sister’s in Dallas. I said just give me one day to figure out money.”
