50 Gainesville, VirginiaMaggie almost missed the entrance for Conway Robinson State Forest. Her mind was preoccupied. Before she left Quantico she had called her mother’s hospital room. She hardly recognized the cheerful voice that answered the phone. Her mother was doing “just fine,” but thanked Maggie for asking like it was an ordinary courtesy call. Then she told Maggie that she’d need to call her back, because they had just brought her a “lovely lunch.” She made it sound like Maggie had interrupted her stay at five-star resort. There was no relief in hearing that her mother was back to her old self.
Maggie followed the half circle drive on the edge of the forest. It was a narrow curve of cracked asphalt flanked on both sides by tall pines and hardwood trees. The parking space at the t
