The Wife They Burned novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: The Deed

I stood there while they moved on to the next item.

"Ada," Marshall said, without looking up. "You can go now."

I went.

The board woman who had voted no caught up with me in the front hall.

"She's had this listed since before you came in. The realtor's already scheduled an open house. A week from Sunday."

"Thank you for telling me."

"I didn't," she said, and went back in.

The listing went up that night.

Charming Victorian, nine bedrooms, walking distance to the hospital. Perfect for a large family or a boutique inn.

The photos were of our front room.

I didn't sleep.

At two in the morning I went down to the basement.

Along one wall were Joy's boxes.

Six years of intake forms, utility bills, thank-you cards in crayon.

At the far end, under a broken crib, was one box older than the rest.

It said OLD PAPERS DO NOT TOSS in Joy's big handwriting.

Joy came down the stairs at three in her slippers with two mugs.

"I heard you banging around," she said. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything about who gave this house away."

"The Kendricks," Joy said. "Everybody knows that."

"Everybody knows what my mother-in-law told them."

Joy handed me a mug and sat down on the bottom step.

"That box came with the house," she said. "It was in the attic when we moved in. I never opened it. I just knew you don't throw out a dead man's papers."

I opened it.

Old tax bills. A warranty for a furnace from 1988. A photo of a little girl in a hospital bed, holding up a paper crown.

I knew that photo.

It used to hang in our front hall, the first year, before Marshall's mother had the hall redone.

The girl was from the very first family who ever stayed with us.

Her grandfather had owned this house.

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