Screamed.
Every sound she had swallowed inside that house came out at once.
Rick was arrested.
The charges grew over the following weeks.
Domestic assault.
Unlawful restraint.
Child endangerment.
Kidnapping.
Weapons offenses.
Witness intimidation.
Investigators searched the cabin and found the hole.
It was not fresh.
It had been dug months earlier, lined with a plastic tarp, then covered with boards and leaves.
Rick claimed it was a waste pit.
No one believed him.
Police also found copies of Laura’s identification, a partially completed life-insurance form, and a typed letter that appeared to be a suicide note.
The note used phrases from messages Laura had sent her sister.
Rick had copied them to make it sound authentic.
He had planned more than violence.
He had planned a story.
That was what frightened me most.
Rick did not only want control over what happened to Laura.
He wanted control over what everyone believed afterward.
