Blood Echoes (35 page)

At her job at the local marina, Nancy watches the long white boats glide up and down Lake Seminole, then lifts her eyes upward to catch the flight of the cattle egrets that soar above it. “Daddy and all of them really loved the lake,” she says simply, as if there is nothing more to say.

Both as individuals and as the remnants of an unspeakably wounded family, the mood that surrounds Ernestine and her daughters is one of weariness and retirement, a sense that all their passion has been spent. Though yearning for some final settlement to the tragedy they suffered, they no longer expect it. Still, they fight off bitterness as best they can, as if clinging to the words they chose to have inscribed on Mary Alday's grave:

Love can hope, where reason would despair.

The Alday funeral. The Spring Creek Baptist Church could not accommodate the six caskets that held the murder victims.

Ned Alday with his youngest daughter, Faye, on the porch of the family homestead.

Mary Alday behind her desk at the Seminole County Department of Family and Children Services.

Aubrey Alday one year before his murder.

Shugie Alday and his wife, Barbara, at home.

Jimmy Alday in his Future Farmers of America jacket.

Jerry and Mary Alday on the Easter Sunday a month before their deaths.

Billy Isaacs, the state's star witness.

Carl Isaacs, by all accounts the gang's unchallenged leader.

Wayne Coleman arrives at the Seminole County Courthouse.

George Dungee shortly after his capture in West Virginia.