Page 115 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Walt set his cookie on the rack to dry. “December of ’31. I doubt there would be any of those still kickin’ unless someone local is a pack rat. You don’t even have museums round here.”

Yulia shook her head. “Not a museum. The libraries keep old papers and file them. If they’re really old, you have to visit in person to see them though. You might not have done something big enough to make local papers, but your family’s murders absolutely would have made a splash. If you were at the core of it, we might just get lucky.”

You’re nervous. Why are you nervous?

It never occurred to me that you’d get to see my face. What if you don’t like it?

Walt, I would never—

“Do it out loud,” Annie said, scowling.

“What?” Yulia looked up from her phone.

She pointed at Hollis. “They’re talking to each other. It’s rude to do it in front of us, just do it out loud.”

Hollis drummed his fingers on the table and bit his lip.

“Walt’s . . . hmm. Walt’s nervous about me seeing what he looks like.”

“Why does that matter?” Yulia went back to researching.

“He thinks I won’t like it. Or won’t like him anymore when I see him specifically. He’s already described it though, and unless he was lying, I don’t see what the problem is. And even if he was lying, we look like me now, anyway.”

Hollis didn’t care, but Walt was making their face burn pink and hot.

“It’s creepy to put it that way.” Annie grimaced. “Why is he so embarrassed?”

“It’s been a hundred years,” Walt said, defensive. “I didn’t expect to be doing any of this. Much less looking at a picture of me all dressed up for work—”

“Well,” Yulia interrupted loudly. “We can solve this once and for all. There’s a library about fifty miles from here with an archive as far back as 1910. Later this week, we’re all off school for break. My daddy’s using my car for work so we’ll have to take the bus, but we can definitely just go there.”

Walt frowned.

“Do we have to?”

Yulia turned off her phone and put it on the table. “If I’m going to help you do what needs to be done, I want to see your face. Hollis and I have mended fences, but you and me? We’re strangers.”

Gingerbread Brownies

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ cup butter, melted

⅓ cup molasses

2 eggs