The next morning Dorothy drove to Oakridge Children’s Residence, a quiet foster home surrounded by tall maple trees. The director of the facility, Margaret Hughes, met her in a small office filled with drawings made by children.
“I am not sure why you came here,” Margaret said carefully. “Avery is under state protection.”
“I only want to understand what happened before and after the prison visit,” Dorothy replied.
Margaret hesitated before finally explaining that Avery had been brought to the home six months earlier by her uncle Daniel Bennett, who claimed he could no longer care for the child because of work obligations. However the staff had noticed bruises on Avery’s arms when she arrived, and since then the girl had rarely spoken and often woke screaming from nightmares.
“And since she returned from seeing her father,” Dorothy asked.
Margaret lowered her eyes and answered quietly that Avery had not spoken a single word since returning, as though she had already said everything that mattered.
Through the window Dorothy could see the child sitting alone on a wooden bench in the yard staring into the distance.
Five years earlier the Bennett home had been peaceful on the night everything changed. Victor had recently lost his construction job and sat in the living room drinking whiskey while his wife Angela Bennett spoke angrily on the phone in the kitchen.
“I told you never to contact me again,” Angela said into the receiver. “If you do not return what you stole I will tell everyone and I have proof.”
She hung up and noticed Victor watching from the doorway, but she dismissed his questions and told him to go to bed. A few minutes later he fell asleep on the sofa, unaware of what would happen next.
Their daughter Avery woke later to the sound of the front door opening. She walked quietly into the hallway and saw a familiar man entering the house. He often visited and always wore dark blue shirts while bringing her candy.
It was her uncle Daniel.
Angela’s voice rose in shock, then fear. A heavy sound echoed through the house and silence followed. Avery hid inside the hallway closet trembling while she watched through the slats as Daniel moved toward the living room where Victor slept.