Part 35 (2/2)

Ruth seemed to read my mind. ”Wait, Carter,” she said. ”Let Julie do it, since it's really her box. Then maybe she'll let you use it for some of your own toys and things in the future.”

Julie nodded her thanks to Ruth. ”Of course, I'll let you use it,” it,” she said to Carter. ”After tonight, it will be yours.” she said to Carter. ”After tonight, it will be yours.”

”Oh, good!” Carter folded his hands in his lap. What a nice kid.

I could see how hungry Julie was to dig through the old remnants of her life, but I had to go to the bathroom and that was all I could think about. I wished the antibiotics would kick in and knock the infection on its rear. I was about to tell everyone I needed to leave, when Julie suddenly let out a squeal. She reached into the box and pulled out a tiny leather baby shoe. It had probably been white at one time; in the lantern light it took on a yellowish-orange glow.

”Omigosh,” Julie said. ”I found this in the shallow water where Grandpop used to keep his killie trap.” She looked across the open box at Ethan and smiled. ”And where Ethan kept his marine laboratory.”

Ethan laughed. ”Oh, yeah,” he said. ”I forgot about that.”

”Did your microscope still work after I...you know?” she asked him, and I could tell the question had an esoteric meaning known only to the two of them.

”It was fine,” Ethan said.

Julie reached into the box again. ”And look at this!” she said, pulling out an old record, a forty-five. She held it under the splash of light from the lantern and laughed. ”Neil Sedaka. 'Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,'” she said. ”I don't know where I picked that up.”

I had to interrupt. ”I'm afraid I need to use the bathroom,” I said, getting to my feet. ”I'll go over to Ethan's and be back in a min-”

”Use ours,” Ruth said, nodding toward the house. ”Go ahead.”

”Thanks,” I said. I walked up the two steps to the porch, pushed open the screen door, then raced down the hallway toward the bathroom, leaving my sister's yelps of discovery behind me.

CHAPTER 42.

Julie.

Sifting through that box was the strangest thing. I was glad for the poor lighting in the backyard, because my eyes were misty and I didn't want anyone to notice. I felt sympathy for the lonely girl who'd tucked meaningless objects away, longing for a mystery to solve. She'd never imagined the real, unwanted mystery that would await her midway through that summer. Picking out the sc.r.a.ps of old cloth, the dented Ping-Pong ball, the baby shoe, I became aware as never before that I had indeed been a mere child, a twelve-year-old with little concept of real danger. The only scary things I'd known about were from my Nancy Drew books, where the heroine always prevailed in the end.

Something caught my eye in the bottom corner of the bread box, tucked beneath another record and a piece of cloth. It couldn't possibly be what I thought it was.

”Could you move the lantern a little closer, please, Jim?” I asked.

The circle of light fell into the box, and there it was. Red and purple, as I remembered it. I reached into the corner and pulled out the small plastic giraffe.

”I never put this in here,” I said, quite certain that was the truth.

”What is it?” Ethan asked, leaning closer. I could feel his breath against my bare shoulder.

”A toy,” I said. ”A giraffe. Isabel and Ned used to-”

”That was Ned's,” Ethan interrupted me. ”Our uncle gave it to him. He gave us both one. Mine was an elephant. It's a puzzle.” He reached for it.

”A puzzle?” I was confused. ”I thought it was just a token they used to pa.s.s between each other.”

”Who did?” Ethan examined the giraffe. ”Ned and your sister?”

I nodded.

”I'm not sure how this one works,” he said. He was manipulating the giraffe's tail and neck; I had never even realized the toy had moving parts. Suddenly the red and purple halves of the giraffe sprung apart, and I laughed out loud.

”They must have sent notes notes to each other in the giraffe!” I said. ”I never guessed.” to each other in the giraffe!” I said. ”I never guessed.”

Ethan held the halves of the giraffe beneath the lamplight.

”It looks like there's a note in here right now,” he said.

CHAPTER 43.

Lucy.

I finished in the bathroom and walked into the dimly lit hallway. I was standing next to the screened front door when I heard laughter out on the road. I turned to look, but it had grown so dark that I could barely make out the group of small, giggling children as they ran down the street. I couldn't have said how many there were or if they were boys or girls, but watching them, I began once again to remember the night Isabel died, and for a moment, Julie and her Nancy Drew box were forgotten. finished in the bathroom and walked into the dimly lit hallway. I was standing next to the screened front door when I heard laughter out on the road. I turned to look, but it had grown so dark that I could barely make out the group of small, giggling children as they ran down the street. I couldn't have said how many there were or if they were boys or girls, but watching them, I began once again to remember the night Isabel died, and for a moment, Julie and her Nancy Drew box were forgotten.

I remembered waking up alone in the attic that night, determined not to scream. I remembered my frantic race down the pull-down stairs and the way they'd s.h.i.+vered under my light weight. But I had not gone immediately to my parents' room and then to the couch to sleep, as I'd previously recalled. First, I'd gone to the back porch to find Julie. I'd looked in the direction of the bed at the end of the long porch, but it had been too dark to see if anyone was there.

”Julie?” I'd called.

There'd been no answer and the darkness had felt suffocating to me. I could hear the water lapping against the bulkhead, and the croaking of a frog joined the nighttime music of the crickets. I was aware of the woods outside the screens to my right, but I couldn't see the trees for the darkness, and the thought of what might be lurking out there made me turn and run back into the living room and then down the hall.

That's when I stood outside my parents' door, listening to my mother's breathing. I'd thought of pulling the cus.h.i.+ons from the sofa, setting them on the floor outside her room to sleep there, as close as I could get to her. But before I could act on that idea, I realized I needed to use the bathroom. I walked quietly down the short hallway, comforted by the sound of my grandfather's snoring from the front bedroom he shared with Grandma. The screen door leading to the front yard was in front of me, the main door held open by a heavy iron doorstop shaped like a Scottie dog. It was as dark on the other side of that door as it was in the hallway. I hated that we never locked the doors at night. Oh, the screen door was secured by one of those flimsy hook-and-eye locks, but that had offered me little peace of mind once I realized how easily it could be foiled.

I turned on the light in the small bathroom, glad to finally be able to see everything. I urinated, not bothering to flush because I didn't want to awaken anyone and have to explain what I was doing downstairs at that hour. I turned off the light and quietly left the room. To my right, the hallway leading back to the living room looked dark and foreboding, so I stood by the screen door as I waited for my eyes to adjust again to the darkness.

Outside, I saw a flicker of light through the woods, somewhere near the road. I thought at first it was a firefly, but the tiny light burned bright orange and I quickly realized it was a cigarette. I watched the light arc and sway as the shadowy person carrying the cigarette walked along the dirt road in the direction of our house. I smiled in relief. Isabel. Isabel. She was probably walking home from Pam's or Mitzi's, enjoying one last smoke before she had to come in. But how did she expect to get in with the lock on the door? I thought it was her good fortune that I happened to be there. She was probably walking home from Pam's or Mitzi's, enjoying one last smoke before she had to come in. But how did she expect to get in with the lock on the door? I thought it was her good fortune that I happened to be there.

I lifted the lock with my finger and was about to push the door open when the shadowy image and its cigarette continued down the road, past our sidewalk, past our driveway. I slipped the lock back into the eye. It was not Isabel after all. I lost sight of the person, but the light of the cigarette continued to burn, making a sharp angle in the air as the smoker turned to walk up the Chapmans' driveway.

CHAPTER 44.

Julie.

”It's too dark to read it out here,” I said, carefully unfolding the small sheet of paper I'd removed from the front half of the giraffe. ”I'm not even certain there's any writing on it.”

Jim moved the lantern closer to my hands, but Ethan touched my shoulder.

”Let's take it back to my house,” he said. ”We've taken up enough of the Kleins' time.”

I sensed his concern. He knew that a note written by my dead sister or his dead brother was sure to elicit emotions he didn't want to share with his neighbors.

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