It was a private monument to Dolores’s idea that love meant possession, and disagreement meant erasure.

The explanation came after police examined the records and interviewed people who knew the household.

I didn’t ask for every detail of Marlene’s past.

She deserved control over her own story, especially after so much of her privacy had already been taken.

One afternoon a letter arrived at my lawyer’s office.

Marlene had written a few sentences for Piper, and Bell confirmed it was appropriate to pass the note along if her therapist agreed.

It said: I am grown now.