As she straightened the sheets, she saw a spot of blood, and when she looked at the floor, she realized she was standing in what looked like dried blood as well. She had made the bed so quickly the day before she had not noticed the blood. She stooped down, wet her finger and put it on the dark stain. Then she brought her finger up to her mouth and tasted it. It was blood, and there was a lot of it. Her hands started to tremble as she stood up. Taking a huge quivering breath and letting it out, she left the bedroom and went outside. She walked all around the outside of the house and then the barn. She did not know what she was looking for. Something. Anything. Her stomach was in knots as she went into the chicken coop and gathered all the eggs, and when she walked out, she saw the spade leaning against the side of the coop, and it looked like it had fresh dirt on it. It puzzled her, because no one had been doing any gardening. It was late summer. She held the eggs in her apron as she walked around to the back of the chicken coop. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. There was a fresh mound of dirt about five feet long and two feet wide. The eggs all tumbled out on the ground as she fell to her knees and started digging with her hands. She did not have to dig far before she came to her mother’s body. Big Harry had buried her in a hurry leaving less than a foot of dirt on top of her. Julia dug all around until she had completely uncovered Leah. She could see her face was beaten to a pulp and the large ring that Big Harry wore gorged out one of her mother’s eyes. Julia sat back on her heels as she raised her eyes to heaven. “Oh, God, how could you let this happen to my wonderful mother? If there is any justice in this world, I pray You strike my Pa dead for what he did.”