Page 35 of They Say a Girl Died Here

“Sure. I’m all for detail.”

“London.” Grandma’s voice from the sitting room was almost as loud as the TV.

Todd smiled, his hazel eyes warm, as he put his hat down on the hall table. “Guess she’s not so good at trivia quizzes, huh?”

“She has some memory issues.” Anna was suddenly protective of Grandma. It was okay for Anna to get angry and upset with her, but that didn’t mean this stranger could find her amusing. “She won’t get better.”

“I’m sorry. That’s a kicker.”

She nodded him toward the basement door. “I don’t want to disturb her with this. She’s fragile enough.” That was in part true. What she didn’t want was Grandma telling Mom that the police had been around checking out the house as a potential murder site. And she didn’t want to have to tell Grandma that this was in part her fault because she’d inadvertently put the idea in Anna’s head. They say a girl died here.

“Leave the door open.” She glanced back before leading the way.

“What capital city hosted the 2012 Olympics?” The TV was faint now that she was descending under the house, Todd’s footsteps behind her. Her heart thrummed as if the earth were going to burst free of the walls and drown her, burying her alive. Down here, alone with Todd. What if he did something? In her head, Lucas’s face loomed large, but part wolf with big teeth. Maybe you need to get laid yourself. What if she had to scream? Would Grandma hear her over the TV? Her mind hummed with all the awful possibilities. Maybe she should have let Dr. Burdett stay. She could have made up a story to cover Todd being in the basement. Lending him a book, maybe. But it was too late. They were here. Alone. She swallowed hard, her throat dry in the dusty air.

Leaving the uneven steps behind, and glad to see that the basement door was still wide open at the top, she headed over to the far wall and crouched to find the spot of old blood she’d seen Friday night. She looked around, confused. This wasn’t how she remembered it. Where the stain had been the size of a penny coin, it was bigger now. A dollar or larger. And there was a second smear of blood running toward the wall. A splatter. How could she have missed that? Maybe when she’d moved the boxes, she’d covered it. She’d been focused on securing the window and her horrible incident with Lucas and she’d been distracted.

“There’s more than I thought.” She looked up at Todd, who’d pulled on his gloves and had a swab and evidence bag ready. She pointed at the largest mark. “This is bigger than I remember. And I didn’t see any of that splatter up the wall before, but I guess I wasn’t really looking.” Anna straightened up, giving him space to work, and he crouched, brow furrowed.

“Wow,” Todd said. “Okay, I can see why you’d think something happened down here.” He scanned across the floor. “I’m going to have to swab each patch.”

She stood back, watching the meticulous way he went through his process, ensuring that nothing was contaminated. Steadfast. Dependable. When he’d bagged three swabs, he stood up before pulling a small flashlight from his top pocket and shining it around the room, brightening the yellow light from the bulb overhead, his whole demeanor serious. “Is there any more?”

“I don’t think so—Oh.” Her mouth dropped open.

“What?” He looked around at her. She didn’t speak, she couldn’t, still staring at it.

A handprint.

A bloody handprint halfway up by the stairs as if someone had been stumbling and touched the wall trying to get out. She felt sick. Her head swum. This was crazy. How could she have missed that? It wasn’t possible.

“And this isn’t from anyone in your family?” Todd moved quickly up the steps, holding the light close to the plaster. He glanced back at her, and she shook her head.

“If someone had cut themselves that badly, we’d all know about it.”

“Okay.” He pulled out another swab. “I’ll get these checked on priority.”

Anna wished he’d hurry up so they could get out of here. The walls were closing in. What if they cracked, burst open, earth like grave dirt pouring in, burying them alive?

Another thought struck her. Lucas must have seen the blood too. But he didn’t say anything. Why not? Her flesh chilled. “Lucas was down here Friday night.”

“Lucas was in your house?” Todd put the sealed swabs in his jacket pocket and turned back to her. “The sheriff said you’d raised some concerns about him.” His voice was even, calm.

“He was here because he’s dating my mom. But I saw him coming out from the basement. He didn’t mention the blood.” Her head raced. “What if he’s dating my mom to get back into the house? He didn’t know the house had sold. If he had anything to do with the murders, then he’d know he needed to get rid of these bloodstains.” She looked around at the splatters. “Maybe he came down to see what cleaning he needed to do.”

“Maybe.” Todd shrugged. “Sheriff Adams is talking to him today. Although, why didn’t he clean them up when he was here?”

“Time? Or he heard me getting back? We’ll see what those swabs come back as.”

“We sure will.” He started the climb back up to daylight and Anna followed, eager to be free of the basement. He didn’t say much at all while she saw him out, but as she was about to close the front door, he turned and came back up the porch steps, scribbling something down in his pocket notebook. He tore out the sheet and handed it to her. “That’s my number. Anything worries you, just call me, okay?”

“Thanks.”

She watched as he headed back to his car, and after he’d driven away, disappearing on the horizon, she added his number to her contacts. Maybe he was taking it seriously after all.

“He’s not sad like the other one.”

She startled and turned to see Grandma in the living room doorway. “Todd?”