I rather like the August as Pinocchio theory (heartwood and all that) … but how do you then explain the “local boy” description in the newspaper article?
Unless he was pretty quick on his feet and told the police (hence, the media) that after he took baby Emma to them … and they believed him without questioning the story. Which is kind of unlikely.
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“Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.”
-- Dylan Thomas