Chapter 5 - The Sister Who Was Dead)
Laura sat without moving for nearly a minute.
Emily had never heard the name Rebecca.
Not once.
Richard explained slowly.
Rebecca was Laura's younger sister.
For most of their childhood, the two girls had been inseparable.
Rebecca was reckless where Laura was careful, impulsive where Laura was patient.
In her twenties, Rebecca developed serious problems with gambling and debt.
Richard repeatedly paid what she owed.
Eventually he refused.
Rebecca disappeared.
Two years later, Laura received notice that her sister had died overseas.
There had been no body returned.
Only documents.
Rick had helped Laura handle the paperwork.
Emily stared at her mother.
"Rick was involved?"
Laura nodded slowly.
"He knew Rebecca from James's company."
Richard's voice came through the phone.
"Rebecca worked there briefly."
"Why did you never tell me?"
"Because I believed she was dead."
Emily looked at Noah.
"Did Rebecca look like Mom?"
Richard answered.
"Very much."
Noah whispered, "Blue coat."
Laura looked at him.
"Do you remember anything else?"
Noah squeezed his eyes shut.
"She was crying."
"What did she say?"
"I don't know."
"Try."
Noah became agitated.
Emily put an arm around him.
"It's okay."
"No."
Laura's voice trembled.
"If this matters, let him try."
Noah took several breaths.
Then he whispered, "She said he was coming."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Did she put a box under the floor?"
Noah nodded.
"Then what?"
"She painted."
Emily looked toward the backyard.
"Green."
Noah nodded.
Richard spoke immediately.
"Dawson has spent eight years looking in the wrong place."
Emily frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"If Rebecca painted the room after hiding the box, then the green room is not the shed as it exists now."
Laura understood first.
"The shed was already green in James's photograph."
"Exactly."
Emily looked at the photograph in her memory.
The entire exterior had been green.
But Noah's drawing showed a green rectangle inside something else.
Laura stood.
"The old pantry."
Emily stared at her.
"What?"
"When James bought the house, there was a small storage room behind the kitchen pantry. We sealed it during the renovation."
"Where?"
Laura walked to the pantry wall.
She touched the shelves.
"This entire wall used to be six feet farther back."
Emily stared at it.
The little room.
Not behind the garage.
Behind the kitchen.
That afternoon they began checking the wall.
They could not make noise.
Rick would notice.
Emily removed canned food from the lower shelf.
Behind a bag of flour, she found something scratched into the wood.
A single letter.
R.
Laura touched it.
"Rebecca."
They waited until Rick left that evening for what he claimed was a work meeting.
Laura took a screwdriver from the garage.
Emily loosened the back panel of the lowest pantry cabinet.
It came away.
Behind it was drywall.
But one section sounded hollow.
Emily tapped again.
Hollow.
They cut a narrow opening.
Cold air came through.
Noah stood behind them.
"That's it."
Emily looked back.
"You remember?"
He nodded.
"Green room."
Laura widened the opening.
Behind the drywall was an old door.
Faded green paint covered its surface.
No one spoke.
Laura turned the handle.
Locked.
Emily searched the frame.
No key.
No keypad.
Only four shallow circles cut into the wood.
Noah whispered, "Crayons."
Emily looked at him.
"What?"
"She used crayons."
Laura ran upstairs and brought Noah's old crayon box.
Inside were scattered colors.
Red.
Yellow.
Blue.
Green.
Emily remembered the drawing.
Four colors had been drawn beneath the room.
Not decorations.
A sequence.
Blue, green, red, yellow.
Laura pressed the crayons into the shallow circles one at a time.
A mechanical latch clicked.
The door opened.
The room smelled like dust.
The walls were green.
A wooden chair sat in one corner.
On the floor were old paint cans.
And beneath the chair was a square section of newer wood.
Laura whispered, "The floor."
Emily moved the chair.
She pried up the board.
Inside was a metal box.
Noah began crying.
Laura reached down.
Her fingers touched the handle.
Then headlights swept across the kitchen window.
Rick's truck turned into the driveway.
Emily's heart stopped.
Laura lifted the box.
"Close everything."
They moved faster than Emily thought possible.
The box disappeared beneath Laura's coat.
Emily replaced the panel.
Noah shoved canned goods back onto the shelf.
The back door opened.
Rick entered.
He looked at them.
All three were standing in the pantry.
He smiled.
"What are we looking for?"
Laura did not hesitate.
"Mouse droppings."
Rick stepped closer.
His eyes moved from Laura to Emily.
Then to Noah.
Finally he looked down.
May you like
A tiny streak of green paint was visible across Noah's knee.
Rick's smile vanished.
