The Collymore Family

Chapter 24

Irene's knocking sounded louder to her ears than she intended it to be. It could have just been her imagination, or the fact that her stress levels felt like they were higher than they had ever been before, but it did signal to Ivy that something was wrong. The older woman opened the door with a surprised expression, as though she was shocked that the person at the door was Irene.

"Irene? That knocking was you?" Ivy's eyes slightly widened as Irene stepped into the house.

"Yes. Can we talk?" Irene tried to ask as if she were fine, but she wasn't that great of an actress, and Ivy could see right through it.

"Of course...would you...like any tea? You seem a bit stressed-"

Irene cut her off, "I'm fine. I just need something from you."

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "What do you need?"

"Well...I have a project coming up, and I'm in need of some Bristol board and...newspapers. Unfortunately, it's far too late for me to run to the shops and grab some, and I'll be too busy with...other...things...for the rest of the week. I was hoping that you may have some, though it's fine if you don't." Irene mumbled. She found it slightly hard to speak up when lying, and it made her stomach feel a bit weird. Ironically, it was something she'd been doing for the past thirteen days, but nonetheless still felt doing, and even weirder doing it to Ivy, someone she's trusted since the beginning and the only person she had told about the entire situation. But if it was to find out what Ivy was hiding from her, she had to do it.

"You need Bristol board and newspapers? What on earth kind of project is this?" Ivy questioned.

Irene chuckled awkwardly, "Don't worry about it."

Ivy nodded, "Well, it'll take a while to dig things out from my bedroom. Would you want to come with me to search?"

"That would be great, thank you." Irene accepted the offer. She hadn't looked in Ivy's bedroom before, or even seen it. Plus, other than the storage room, the bedroom was likely another good hiding place, at least it would be for Irene. The notes could have been hidden in there, and it would be a good idea to check.

Irene followed Ivy up the wooden steps to the second floor, leading her down the small hallway and up to one of the white doors on the right. Ivy opened the door and stepped in, immediately heading into her walk-in closet to search. Irene, however, stood in the doorway for a second, observing the bedroom. The bed's mattress was covered by a bright pink duvet and a smaller baby blue blanket just below the fluffed up pillows. A pink, comfy rug laid underneath the bed. Just in front of the bed was a round wall mirror, which hung just above a small desk at the side of shelves and paintings. Just like the rest of the house, Ivy's bedroom was no different from the pristine condition. Irene felt so much comfort in the home, and especially in the bedroom.

Just as Irene stepped onto the wooden floors in the bedroom, Ivy came out of the closet holding up a white piece of Bristol board. She laid it down on the bed as Irene approached it.

"Is this good?" Ivy asked her.

"Yes..." Irene ran her finger along the board. She felt slightly bad for taking this Bristol board from Ivy, as there would be no use for it and would probably be collecting dust in her cupboards, but as long as it helped the investigation, she tried her best not to care. "Though, I need newspapers."

"Oh, right! I nearly forgot about the newspapers. Hold on, dear." Ivy's footsteps heading for the door were quiet but loud enough to be heard in the dead-silent room. "Stay put, I'll be back."

Irene smiled and nodded as she washed the older woman run out of the room. When she was sure Ivy was out of earshot, Irene immediately stood up, her smile disappearing. She needed to act quick as Ivy would be back any moment now. Irene began with where she was closest to, which was the bed. She checked underneath just in case, as she wanted to check every crevice possible. As expected there was nothing underneath, which would make sense considering Ivy wasn't the type of woman to be messy, at least that was how her house seemed. If Ivy had the notes, she would have hidden them carefully somewhere. Irene stood up and checked the shelf area.

She lifted the mirror carefully and checked. Nothing. Irene began to search through the drawers. Lipstick, hair clips, hair ties, pens, Tylenol, a hairbrush, necklaces, medication bottles, and many other things, still no notes. Irene looked up at the shelves and looked behind all the vases and antique figures, but to no avail. She searched behind each and every single one of the paintings, but could find nothing. Irene was beginning to panic, as she was running out of time before Ivy got back. Irene looked around, and her gaze averted to the closet. She hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether or not she would have enough time to search. But what would be the point if she didn't try? It was the whole reason Irene came over, and who knows, maybe she could find those notes in the closet.

Irene rushed over to the closet, trying to be as fast yet as quiet as possible so Ivy wouldn't hear. Upon opening it, Irene was met with the clothes that hung on the railing. There were many long dresses and skirts, some trousers but not many, and several blouses. There were trench coats, hats, scarves, handbags, purses, and other accessories that were either on top of the little space above the railing or on the ground pushed far back. The closet itself was pretty tidy and well-kept, with not much to look around for. Still Irene knelt down and began to search in the small spaces below where the clothes were hung. She pushed purses and handbags aside, but all she found were even more purses and handbags.

Irene was beginning to dig through faster as she was slowly losing hope, until something made her stop in her tracks. She felt that her elbow had bumped into something whilst she was searching. Irene turned her head and noticed a hat next to her. It was a panama hat that was tied in the centre with red ribbon. That wasn't what caught her eye though, rather it was the piece of paper sticking out of the hat, a paper with a similar texture to the ones she'd exchanged notes with. Irene brought her hand over to the hat and flipped it over, relieved to have found at least one of the notes. She took the paper out and brought it up to her face, whispering it to herself.

"Eggs...milk...flour...wait." Irene paused, confused by the contents of the paper. She didn't recall writing down any of this to Angelica. As her eyes quickly scanned the paper, it hit her. This wasn't the note she'd exchanged with Angelica, it was a grocery list.

Upon realization, Irene groaned and let out a loud sigh, annoyed for having gotten her hopes up over a shopping list. She turned to put the note back down under the hat, when her eyes caught a glimpse of something else.

It was another object, an object that had also been hidden under the panama hat that Irene hadn't even noticed. Irene outstretched her hand and picked it up, not being able to tell what it was. It was a soft heart-shaped design that had clearly been stuffed with fluff, probably cotton. Looking underneath the heart, Irene could see that there was a small square piece of fabric attached to it. There was dried, hot glue that had been spread atop the piece of fabric, meaning that it was definitely attached to something, perhaps an accessory. It had likely been ripped off of the supposed accessory.

Irene stared at the object in her hands, an object that, for some reason, was oddly familiar to her. Irene thought she could have been experiencing Déjà vu or something, but this felt different. Irene felt like she had seen the accessory that it belonged on, although she couldn't remember what it was or where she'd seen it. The object felt so...important. Irene thought hard, but she couldn't pinpoint why this felt so familiar or needed to her. Irene's gut told her to take the heart accessory, although she really didn't know why. She felt as though she would need it, she felt as though she needed to take it with her...but she didn't know why.

Reluctantly, Irene took the object and shoved it into her trouser pockets as far as she could, making sure it wasn't peeking out, before standing up. She didn't know why she wanted it so bad, she just knew she did. She didn't know why she felt it was so important, she just knew it was. The feeling was so strong that Irene was willing to trust her gut on this one.

Why was she feeling this way? She didn't know. But Irene knew she would find out soon enough.