It has been three days, and still no word from Scott’s mother. She has never gone two days without contacting him. Scott’s father and I are getting worried and thinking of all the scenarios of what could have happened. We discuss how to tell Scott or even what to say to him.
I received a call from his sister asking where their mother was and when was the last time I spoke with her. I let her know she never came to his supervised visit, and she informed me her car was reported in an accident and left on the side of the road in the next town.
I call Scott’s father and papa to ask if anyone has heard from her. No one has.
The Facebook blasts go out, the calls begin, and the search is on. Still, no answer, and nobody has seen her. Today is Monday, and we have not heard from her. Tuesday morning, the foot search has begun. Scott and I go to the house across the road, behind the school, and knock on the door to ask Paul if he has seen his mother. Scott stays in the car as I walk to the door, knock, and wait. No answer, but I hear movement in the house, so I wait and knock again. I begin to walk toward the backyard, and something stops me. I look at Scott, stop and get back in the car. This is the second time we have gone to Paul’s house to see if he has seen Scott’s mother. Paul is there because his truck and motorcycle are parked in the drive, but no one answers the door. We continue the search.
Answering phone calls, messages, and texts, I take the day off because I am not getting any work done. Bits of misinformation are coming in. Scott’s father asks about jails, hospitals, and friends who may know something.
We understood Rose was an addict; she struggled but tried hard to get her life back in order. She was also making money as a drug mule. We knew this, Scott later tells me he also knew, but her family did not believe us when we mentioned it. They were optimistic because of the changes she had made in the last few months. The idea of drugs, her backsliding, relapsing, or depression was not received at this time, and later, they had to admit we knew her and what was going on. Again, it came out after her death.
It is hard to describe the emotions in a person when you want to believe the best but know the worst has happened. Traumatic trauma is numbing, surreal, and unthinkable. It is hard to breathe, to know where to go, or what to think. Your mind wanders to the best or worst-case scenarios. You begin to see that person everywhere you go. It is so hard to believe this could be happening to you- doesn’t this just happen in the movies? What could have gone so wrong we missed the signs?
Our thoughts go back to the last message from Rose ” I will meet you there.” But she never showed up.
It is now five days since the Egg drop. Scott has a supervised visit with his mother at the park. Everyone agrees we need to go to the park and act like a supervised visit. Scott and I wait at the park; however, we know she is not coming. Scott begins to cry because now he thinks his mother has left him. He blames himself. She was angry because of the last supervised visit and how it played out. Walking back to my house, we talk about where she might be, and I tell him everyone is out looking for her.
‘Nana, she may have taken a plane to a different state and just forgot to tell us or charge her phone. She forgets things a lot sometimes. She also doesn’t always have a charger with her”
I agree that is a possibility. ‘Yes, but she always calls my phone, and if her’s is not charged, she will borrow someone’s phone to call me”.
Shaking his head, he agrees with what I said. He stops and says: ” nana do you think she is mad because of the last visit?” “No, I don’t think she would take it out on you and be mad at you. I think she would still visit because she loves you and does not miss a visit unless something has happened.” “do you think she is hurt and can’t get up? You know she has bad balance and may not be able to get up, so she is waiting for someone to pick her up and help her”.
“I think she would have found a way to get up if she fell.”
We walk to my house in silence.
As we were walking, my neighbor texted to say she thought she saw Scott’s mother in the school parking lot across from our house. We climb into her car; Scott is not sure what is going on as we do not tell him and drive over to the school parking lot. I get out of the car and walk over to the police vehicle. Police cars are in the parking lot across from Paul’s house.
When I get to the parking lot, I get out, and my neighbor begins to speak with Scott. I looked back to ensure he was occupied as the policeman came toward me. I asked about Rose and explained that I was looking for her as she had been missing five days. While I was getting my words out, a woman jumped out of the car yelling in tears: “Mary… Mary… She is over there in the yard” I look back to the car and see Scott conversing with my neighbor. He did not see anything or hear the conversation.
“She is in that yard! She is in the back yard… she is dead!”
The police asked us to go home and wait because the police were waiting for the search warrant to find out if a body was in the backyard. Other people had gone into the backyard and knew it was her body, her father and sister, and no one touched the body so as not to disturb the site.
I went home with Scott, and he was tired; I put him to bed and waited.
What came next was unbelievable.
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