Killing Me Softly (#Wattys2016)

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-TWO

Sondra wasn't sure how long she sat at Belmont Harbor. She just wanted to be lost in her thoughts, even though she couldn't make sense of all the emotions churning inside her. With a heavy grunt, Sondra got to her feet and started walking until she found herself back on Belmont. Sondra thought about Tracy's house not too far away. Maybe... maybe she would stop by and see... Well, she didn't know what, but something was drawing her to it. A few short blocks later, she found herself standing on the sidewalk out front.

Sondra took a deep breath, climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. It was a few moments before a short, slightly overweight woman with frizzy blonde hair and red acne scars coloring her cheeks answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she said with the cautious tone of a woman who had perhaps shooed away one too many salespeople.

Sondra bit her bottom lip and smiled. "Hi. My name is Sondra, and my sister owned this house before you, and I was wondering if it might be okay if I took a look around."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. Goodbye." She went to shut the door before Sondra called out.

"Wait!" The woman stopped and gave Sondra another wary stare.

"Okay, that sounded stupid. Let me start over. My sister and her husband lived in this house a few years ago. She disappeared and later di... died..." Sondra swallowed, trying to compose herself. "And, I'm just trying to get some closure, and I wanted to take a look around... to say goodbye."

The woman narrowed her eyes, trying to decide if she believed Sondra's story. "What was your sister's name?"

"It was Tracy. Tracy Ellis. Her husband was Phillip Pearson."

This seemed to reassure the woman. "Yeah, we used to get their mail for a while."

Sondra swallowed. "Did you get a forwarding address by chance?"

"No, we were just told to send anything we got to the guy's-Phillip's-attorney and he'd make sure he got everything."

Sondra cocked her head. "Do you still have the name of the attorney by chance? I'm sorry to be asking all these questions, I'm just trying to sort through some things. I was out of the country when my sister disappeared, and then had to leave again after her funeral. I've got a lot of loose ends."

The woman softened her stance somewhat. "Um, yeah, probably. If you come in for a minute, I can look for it."

Sondra smiled. "Thank you," she said as she stepped inside. She carefully closed the door behind her and looked around. It was jarring to be in Tracy's house and see that it was now someone else's. The formerly rich red walls were now butter yellow and the décor had transformed from urban chic to French country. The maple hardwood floors were buried under a swath of beige Berber carpet, a bright yellow baby swing stood where the TV used to be, and toys littered the floor. The living room reeked of spoiled fruit juice, kitty litter, and dirty diapers. Sondra stopped breathing through her nose. The woman reappeared holding a card in her hand and handed it to Sondra.

"I think this guy was handling the sale of the house and a bunch of other stuff for the guy-Phillip. You know, come to think of it, there was a box of stuff that got left here. I tried to give it to the lawyer to send on, but the guy said he didn't want it. We just never got around to getting rid of it. It's out in the garage if you want to take a look."

"What's in there?" Sondra asked as she shoved the card into her back pocket.

The woman shrugged. "Some books, other odds and ends. We found one of the books shoved behind a panel in the garage. I think it was a diary, so we threw it in there, too."

"Uh, yeah," Sondra nodded. "I'll take whatever you've got."

"My name is Maureen by the way," the blonde said as she led the way to the garage behind the house. "We moved in a little over a year ago. It's a beautiful old house."

"Yeah. Tracy loved living here."

Maureen clicked the remote for the garage door, which yawned open. Maureen went in and maneuvered around a dusty red SUV before she came out holding a medium-sized box. She set it down in front of Sondra. "Do you have a car?"

"No. I'm staying downtown, so I'll get a cab." Sondra nudged the box with her toe. "It's not heavy, is it?"

"No, not really. You can walk out here to Belmont and you should be able to get a cab pretty easily."

"Thanks. I'll do that." She shot her hand out to Maureen, who returned Sondra's firm grasp. "I appreciate your time."

"Sure."

Sondra smiled and reached down to pick up the box, which was relatively easy to handle. Maureen went back into the house and Sondra made her way out to the street, where she quickly hailed a cab.