She found a Claire Mason Patterson.
Age forty-seven.
Born in Wisconsin.
Raised in Minnesota.
That detail made Sophie stop.
She found a wedding announcement.
Claire had married a man named David Patterson.
They had two daughters.
There was a photograph.
Sophie enlarged it.
Claire stood between her daughters.
All three had dark curly hair.
All three had Margaret’s eyes.
Sophie printed the picture.
When Margaret saw it, she pressed both hands against her mouth.
“Oh, God.”
Tears came instantly.
“That’s her.”
Sophie sat beside her.
“We still don’t know for certain.”
“I know my child.”
Margaret touched the picture.
“I know her face.”
Sophie waited.
Margaret whispered.
“She has my mother’s chin.”
Then she began sobbing.
Sophie held her.
For forty years, Margaret had lived with a grave that contained no body.
Now she had a photograph.
A name.
An address.
A life.
But there was still a problem.
