Chapter 4 - Beneath the Eastern Floorboard
Mara waited until the farmhouse was asleep.
At one in the morning, she put on her coat and slipped into the hallway. She had made it halfway down the stairs when Lily whispered behind her.
“You’re going to the barn.”
Mara turned.
Lily stood on the landing wearing boots over her pajamas.
“You need to stay in bed.”
“Great-Grandma said not to go alone.”
“She meant another adult.”
“She didn’t say that.”
Mara almost smiled.
Then Lily coughed, and the sound erased any trace of humor.
“You’re not well enough.”
“I’ll wait by the door.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll wake Grandma and tell her.”
Mara stared at her daughter.
“You wouldn’t.”
Lily raised one eyebrow.
Ten minutes later, they crossed the wet yard with a flashlight.
Mara made Lily sit on an overturned bucket near the barn entrance while she searched the eastern side.
The floorboards were old but recently disturbed. Fresh scratches surrounded the nails.
Walter had already been looking.
Mara inserted the pry bar beneath the loosest board and lifted.
Underneath was a shallow cavity lined with metal.
It was empty.
She searched the neighboring boards.
Nothing.
“Mom,” Lily whispered.
Mara looked up.
A narrow beam of light moved across the farmhouse kitchen.
Someone was awake.
“We need to go.”
Lily pointed to the removed floorboard.
“There’s writing.”
On the underside, Ruth had carved three words.
WHERE WATER WAITS.
Mara replaced the board.
As they left the barn, the kitchen light went dark.
They hurried toward the side door.
A figure stood beneath the porch roof.
Walter.
He wore a heavy coat over his pajamas.
“What were you doing?”
Mara tightened her grip on Lily’s hand.
“She couldn’t sleep.”
“So you took a sick child into a freezing barn?”
“We were getting something from the car.”
“The car is in the other direction.”
Mara said nothing.
Walter stepped into the rain.
“You found the box.”
It was not a question.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were always a terrible liar.”
His gaze moved to Lily.
“Children usually are too.”
Lily hid behind Mara.
Walter smiled without warmth.
“What did you find?”
“Old photographs.”
“Give them to me.”
“They belonged to Grandma.”
“Everything she owned passed to me.”
“Did it?”
The question struck him.
For one second, fear appeared in his eyes.
Then it vanished.
Walter approached until his face was inches from Mara’s.
“You have no idea what that woman did to this family.”
“She gave you a place to live.”
“She controlled everything.”
“And you hated her for it.”
Walter’s hand curled into a fist.
Lily coughed again.
Mara stepped back.
“She needs to go inside.”
Walter blocked the path.
“Give me the box.”
“No.”
He grabbed Mara’s shoulder.
Lily screamed.
A light came on in the neighboring farmhouse across the field.
Walter released her.
Mara led Lily inside and locked their bedroom door.
At dawn, she called the number listed on Samuel Pike’s letter.
The line was disconnected.
She searched online.
Samuel Pike had died eight years earlier.
His former law office now belonged to Daniel Hayes and Associates.
Mara called as soon as the office opened.
A receptionist answered.
When Mara explained her name and the recorded deed, the woman became silent.
“Please hold.”
A man came onto the line.
“This is Daniel Hayes.”
“My grandmother was Ruth Ellison.”
Another pause.
“I know who you are.”
Mara gripped the phone.
“How?”
“Samuel Pike left instructions in his estate file. If Mara Ellison ever called, I was to meet her in person.”
“When?”
“Immediately.”
Mara looked toward the bedroom door.
“Not at the house.”
“Understood.”
They arranged to meet at the county library at noon.
Before leaving, Mara hid the blue box in the trunk of her car.
When she reached the library parking lot, she opened the trunk.
The box was gone.
May you like
In its place lay Lily’s red sweater.
Around it was tied a strip of blue ribbon.
