“She didn’t.”
“I was scared you’d tell Ryan.”
That hurt.
But unlike some hurts, I couldn’t blame her.
Then I remembered something. “Why was Ryan here this morning?”
Vanessa went still. “I don’t know.”
I didn’t either.
Until we heard a car outside.
Ryan again.
Vanessa stood. “Oh, God.”
I closed the metal box. “Take this.”
“I can’t walk out carrying it.”
“Then don’t.”
I put the box inside an old laundry basket and dumped towels over it.
When Ryan came downstairs, he looked annoyed.
“Forgot my phone charger.”
His charger was not in Mom’s basement.
I watched his eyes move toward the freezer again.
He knew something was there.
Maybe not what.
But something.
“Ryan?”
He looked at me.
“Why do you care about the freezer?”
He laughed. “I don’t.”
“You’ve asked about it twice.”
“So has Vanessa.”
His eyes went to her.
Then he said, “Mom had this weird idea that I was controlling.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
There it was.
Not proof he knew about the box. Proof he knew Mom had noticed.
I said, “Was she wrong?”
Ryan stared at me. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
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