A Maidens Grave

green-light an assault.”
    “Some excuse,” the governor mused, very carelessly. Then he stiffened and picked at a renegade powder-blue thread on his cuff.
    “Say something happened to sever communications between Potter and Handy and the men in the field. And then say someone in my team observed a high-risk activity inside the slaughterhouse, some activity that jeopardized troopers or the hostages. Something Potter wasn’t able to respond to. I’d think that—well, even legally—we’d be fully authorized to move in and secure the premises.”
    “Yes, yes. I’d think you would be.” The governor lifted an inquiring eyebrow then thought better of saying whatever he’d been about to say. He slapped the desktop. “All right, Captain. My instructions: You’re to move the state Hostage Rescue Unit to Crow Ridge and provide any backup assistance you can to Agent Potter. If for some reason Agent Potter is unable to remain in command of the situation and the convicts present an immediate threat to anyone—hostages or troopers or . . . just plain anyone—you’re authorized to do whatever’s necessary to neutralize the situation.”
    Entrust that to tape if you want. Who could argue with the wisdom and prudence of the words?
    “Yessir.” Tremain rolled up the maps and diagrams. “Is there anything else, sir?”
    “I know that time is of the essence,” the governor said slowly, applying his last test to the solemn trooper, “but do you think we could spend a moment in prayer?”
    “I’d be honored, sir.”
    And the soldier took the sovereign’s hand and they both dropped to their knees. Tremain closed his piercing blue eyes. A stream of words filled the room, rapid andarticulate, as if they flowed straight from the heart of an Almighty worried sick about those poor girls about to die in the corridors of the Webber & Stoltz Processing Company, Inc.
     
    So you’ll be home then.
    Melanie watched the lump of a woman and thought: it’s impossible for someone to cry that much. She tapped Mrs. Harstrawn’s arm but all the teacher did was cry even harder.
    They were still in the little hellhole of the killing room. Scummy water on the floor, ringed like a rainbow from spilled oil. Filthy ceramic tile. No windows. It smelled of mold and shit. And decayed, dead animals in the walls. It reminded Melanie of the shower room in Schindler’s List.
    Her eyes kept falling on the center of the room: a large drain from which radiated spider legs of troughs. All stained brown. Old, old blood. She pictured a young calf braying then struggling as its throat was cut, the blood pulsing out, down the drain.
    Melanie started to cry and once again heard her father’s voice from last spring, So you’ll be home then. You’ll be home then you’ll be home then  . . . .
    From there her thoughts leapt to her brother, lying in a hospital bed six hundred miles away. He’d have heard by now, heard about the murder of the couple in the Cadillac, the kidnaping. He’d be worried sick. I’m sorry, Danny. I wish I were with you!
    Blood spraying through the air . . . .
    Mrs. Harstrawn huddled and shook. Her face was a remarkable blue and Melanie’s horror at Susan’s death was momentarily replaced by the fear that the teacher was having a stroke.
    “Please,” she signed. “Girls are scared.”
    But the woman didn’t notice or, if she did, couldn’t respond.
    So you’ll  . . .
    Melanie wiped her face and lowered her head into her arms.
     . . . be home then.
    And if she’d been home, like her parents wanted (well,her father, but her father’s decision was her parents’), she wouldn’t be here now.
    None of them would.
    And Susan would still be alive.
    Stop thinking about it!
    Bear walked past the killing room and looked in. He squeezed his crotch, half hidden beneath his belly, and barked something at Shannon. He offered his knee, said something about did she want to kick him again? She tried to give him a defiant look but stared down at her arm, rubbing the faded self-drawn tattoo of the superhero.
    Brutus called something and Bear looked up. The big man was afraid of him, Melanie understood suddenly, seeing the look in Bear’s eyes. He laughed humorlessly, sneering. Glanced once at Mrs. Harstrawn. But his eyes lingered longest on the little girls, especially the twins and Emily, her dress, her white stockings and black patent-leather shoes, the dress bought just for the occasion of Melanie’s