inflation. He told me the sum, which was over a million dollars, and laughed under his breath.
“One day I’m sitting on death row, the next I win the lottery,” he said.
There was no restitution for lost time. But the money was better than nothing. I slapped him on the shoulder, and told him that I hoped he enjoyed the rest of his life.
“I’m sure going to try,” Abb said. “There’s something I was meaning to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“Those Jane Does I was accused of killing. Were the police able to identify them?”
The question hit me hard, and it took a moment for me to realize why. Abb still cared about those women. He’d always cared, even when he was sitting on death row, awaiting the executioner’s song. He was a good man, and it was a crying shame that no one had seen it before.
“The police found their identification in Vorbe’s bedroom,” I said. “Their families have been contacted and given the news.”
“So it’s all finished and done with,” Abb said.
I nodded. The case was closed, the files put to bed.
“Good,” he said.
Jessie came outside. Her basketball game was in a few hours, and she needed to get back to her hotel. I said good-bye to Abb, and fetched Buster from the bushes. Abb waved to us from the curb as we pulled away.
“Did you have fun?” I asked.
Jessie smiled. I removed LeAnn’s photograph from my pocket, and showed it to her. She said, “Oh, wow,” under her breath, and didn’t speak again until we were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the interstate.
“Is this why you do it?” my daughter asked.
She was still holding the photo in her hand.
I pulled my eyes away from the road. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t just save Sampson. You saved all of them, Daddy. Is that why you take the chances you take?”
Traffic began to move, and I put my foot on the accelerator. I did not see myself as a savior, or a saint. I just found missing kids. But if my work also brought families back together, and revealed long-hidden truths, then that was fine by me.
“Yes, honey,” I said. “That’s why I do it.”
