She quickly put it back into the envelope. Beneath it was another card, also from her. This one was store-bought, a birthday card featuring Snoopy, inside her signature and another declaration of love. This time she’d dotted the “I” in her name with a heart. Ugh, she thought, looking at it. When had she been such a freak?

There were more envelopes, but she left them alone, having no interest in seeing further proof of her childhood sweetness. Instead, she leafed through the remaining items, only glancing at them, lest she come upon something else she didn’t want to see. In this way, she almost missed the photograph. It had been stuck between two envelopes, and she would have missed it had not the sudden flash of a face caught her attention amidst the sea of paper.

It was a picture of her. Actually, a picture of her and her father. He was standing beside a Christmas tree, holding her in his arms. She was reaching out toward the tree, an ornament dangling from her fingers as she tried to hang it on a branch. She recognized the ornament. It was a glass mushroom. If you looked carefully, though, you saw that it was actually a short, fat girl with a mushroom hat. She had always loved that ornament, and her father had always helped her hang it in a special place on the tree.

In the photo, her father was looking at her with a strange expression. It was a look somewhere between awe and fear, as if he’d just seen her for the very first time and half expected her to turn and bite him. Or like he’s afraid he might drop me, she thought.

She spent another moment looking at the photo, then put it back. She’d suddenly lost interest in excavating her father’s past. She felt tired, and somewhat nauseated, as if by unsealing the box she’d released some kind of poisonous gas into the room. Wasn’t that how the archaeologists who’d discovered King Tut’s tomb had died? I’ve unleashed the curse of Ben Ransome, Caddie thought, without humor, as she returned the box to the closet and shut the door.

She left her father’s bedroom. As soon as she was past the door, she breathed more easily.

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19

The inflatable boat rocked on the surface of the ocean. Ben, trying to put on his BC, nearly fell over the side as a swell passed beneath them. He was saved when Angela, reacting quickly, reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Thanks,” Ben said.

Angela, her BC already on and fastened securely, sat on the side of the boat, waiting for Ben to finish. “You seem a little distracted today,” she remarked. “Is everything all right?”