Three Story House: A Novel by Courtney Miller Santo

Author:Courtney Miller Santo [Santo, Courtney Miller]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

The door opened and Isobel swept in. “It was a disaster,” she said and collapsed into one of the chairs pulled up to the table.

“Do we have to leave?”

“We’re not leaving,” Lizzie said, standing in the doorway.

“They can’t make us move,” Isobel said, “but they’re making us test for lead, asbestos, and a dozen other potentially dangerous chemicals.”

“Sounds expensive,” Elyse said, tapping the edges of the cards she’d sorted so they stood up in straight columns.”

“It is,” Lizzie said, sighing. “And if they do find anything toxic, removal is going to kill the budget.”

“At least the ants are dead,” Elyse offered.

“Put out a fire and find out there’s an earthquake,” Lizzie said.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Isobel said.

“Agreed,” Lizzie said, coming up behind Elyse’s shoulder. “Solve any mysteries for me?”

Elyse shrugged and checked the e-mail on her phone again. Lizzie picked up a few of the cards from one of the stacks. She shuffled through them and then quickly put several of them in order before reaching for more from the same stack.

“How’d you do this?”

“Do what?” Elyse asked, considering another glass of wine. She turned her phone off, tired of being disappointed by the lack of a response. If her phone were off, it would take her longer to check that damn account and maybe she could break the habit.

“These all seem like they’re from the same year. It’s a whole series of entries about working at the law firm. Do you know that’s what my mom did after she got out of college? I guess she’d intended to be a lawyer before she got pregnant.”

“When was that?” Isobel asked.

“I don’t know. She doesn’t talk about that stuff.”

“You’ll have to talk to her about the house,” Isobel said, “so you might as well bring up the law firm. Maybe she’ll give you enough information to make some headway on this mess.”

“I still don’t understand how you did this,” Lizzie said.

Elyse squinted her eyes at her cousin. “You have to look at the handwriting. The color of the ink, the size of the letters.”

“I guess,” Lizzie said, trying to compare the handwriting from two of the stacks.

“You might not have the gift,” Elyse said. “You’re too organized. It’s like—”

“Right,” Isobel said. “Like that experiment that shows the different ways kids and adults think. If you give people a picture of a monkey, an orange, and a banana, the adults always put the orange and the banana together. But kids—”

“Kids and some of us creative types,” Elyse said, taking back control of the conversation, “will always sort the monkey with the banana.”

Lizzie shook her head, trying to understand Elyse’s sorting method. Elyse, feeling brash, puffed out her cheeks and pretended to be a monkey eating a banana. Her mind was on Landon and those words he’d said all those years ago. In her heart, she believed he’d e-mail her secret account. She was convinced he was settling for Daphne and that if he knew how she truly felt, they could be together.

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