Is Mom going to die soon? I’m scared, worried. Why is Dad getting ready? In the early days, before Mom took sick, Dad was always ready and waiting for whatever was going on. No last minute rushes there, not like me. Mom said it was the army that had him like that. She would laugh at his efficiency, at how he spent so much time standing, waiting for the rest of us. But that all changed. Now there are days when he doesn’t even shave.

If the note is anywhere it’s probably in the kitchen, amongst the piles of papers that seem to sprout from every counter. I hope Joanna hasn’t done one of her mighty clean-ups this week. If she has, the note is probably playing its part in a recycling center by now. My big secret, beginning a new career as toilet paper. Pushing myself through the gap between the bed and the wall, I stretch to close the window. My foot bumps something under the bed. I reach down to see what it is and pull a pile of newspapers from under the bed.

My heart skips a chorus when I see Katie Collins staring back, her blue eyes focused, her blonde hair with its center parting. It’s one of those high school yearbook photos, I think, but what a coincidence that the newspaper is folded open on the page covering her story. Even from the other side the woman seems determined to find me.

Only it’s not a coincidence. Taking the pile of papers from the floor I toss them on to the bed. Each newspaper is folded open on the page covering the Katie Collins story. What is Dad doing? Fear threatens to pull me to the ground. Does he know? Does Dad know I’m a suspect?

I’ve been doing my best to keep this drama away from his door, but somehow it arrived, knocked, and got an answer. Oh poor Dad, he certainly does not need any more worries. Maybe he’s just intrigued by a local murder story. Most people are; it can inject a bit of excitement into an otherwise bored community. But I don’t think Dad’s like that.

I shove the newspapers back under the bed, praying Dad doesn’t know Katie Collins came looking for me. Then it occurs to me – the note. Did he find the note and recognize her name at the end of it? Did that send him into a panic, send him rushing out to buy newspapers? Or did Turner actually get to talk to him? Oh God, I don’t know what to think. Surely if she did speak to him he would have told me, or at least Danny. Yes, he would definitely have told Danny, and Danny would have called me by now.