No matter how or where it began, we started at the end.
The same search for releases, halfway homes, perps, freeways, etc as always... and the road ran strangely dry of suspects.
The last time EG saw Lucas was 3:00; but when did others see her on their long haul drives or early morning deliveries between the miles and miles stretched out and away?
When the neighbor saw EG running at his property did he instinctively sense to lock the door, or cave to a barrage of words barked as harsh orders- he balked, what had he heard?
Detectives asked for as much as EG could spill of the darkness which filled her mind, there was no Lucas in this swamp of humdrum daily deeds tangled up like forgotten laundry.
How can a search find what wasn't shown... unless we'd know what was missing from before?
The world went on to eat, watch news, sleep and ponder the evils just on the other side of their fences, yet what about those within the same laylines & invisible alliances- those for whom life is a hell made of other people, a purgatory spent eternally trying to get it right this time?
We've all shared the honor of having no connection to EG, nor having been duped for years while she tortured young children; we've nothing invested and nothing to lose for her sins.. but do we know that those closest to her have set boundaries or limits to the goodness expected of them? EG's type burns through resources and wreaks destruction in their path; what do we suppose the cost of tattling on her now would be if she is comfortable killing a child. All of these people have seen her ugly side, and chosen to minimize it and convince themselves they are safe letting it inside their sanctuaries.
Better hide those keys, wallets and phones.
Ours, over here, is the luxury of distance to something like EG.
JH's fatal flaws made him EG's perfect boyfriend; every spring for several years prior I've seen her stalking about for someone to notice her, and when she found this one it was a match made in hell. Whether he's accomplice material is for him to decide- he chose this mate poorly but didn't choose his son's fate- his part is yet unwritten.
JH & Lucas deserved so much better, they deserved the truth.
I don't envy any of these relatives, their nightmares, predicament, or futures.
They've allowed an unstable demon into their midst, God help them that she does not set the home alight in a rampant bid at a psychotic break excuse for light treatment, or worse.
The noose never left her throat, perhaps EG has chosen to pretend nothing has changed but she cannot pretend away the way others look at her now, nor mirror their nervous disquiet without amplifying the lack of what she herself feigns innocence of.
When murders occur it's shockingly ugly; who has the word for the despair of a child's murder as we see piecemeal through the cracks, here? I don't enjoy casting this warning, as events this far have been incredibly sad... but with grifters & repeat offenders, it always gets worse.
I don't want others to find themselves looking back at the wreckage, we thought we could handle this.