Page 96 of Head Room

I interpreted it as theyesfor her sureness and the head-shake for the quilts’ survival.

I thought about what I’d asked her.

“Hannah, did the sergeant give youanythingshortly before the fire?”

She frowned slightly.“For safekeeping, you mean?”

My heart skittered.“Yes.”

“There’s a box—”

The skittering stopped.“The metal box with the manuscript and his medals?”

She shook her head.“No.I told you, we found that after the fire.This was before.”

Skittering restarted.Cautiously.

“What kind of box?”

“A big one.He put it in the attic himself, though I helped get it up the ladder.But he didn’tgiveit to me.He asked if he could leave it with me.”

“What was in it?”

“I don’t know.It was closed so I didn’t see and he didn’t say what was in it.”

A box in an attic.

It could be nothing.

It could be like my cookie stash among the napkin boxes.

“Hannah, we want to look in that box.We — I — know it’s the sergeant’s,” I added hurriedly, because I saw that objection forming.“But it might help us figure out what happened at his cabin.”

Her eyes widened.“I’ve heard you think he might still be alive.That it was somebody else in the cabin when it burned.”

Hannah’s linear logic could be circumvented.But her honesty and loyalty couldn’t be.That deserved respect.

“Might?”I repeated.“Yes.But I truly have no clear idea, Hannah.”

She chewed on her lip.“Is he in trouble?If he’s alive or...I don’t want him to be in trouble even if he’s not alive.”

I would have chewed my lip as I considered my answer if I had that habit.

“There are two parts to that question.If he is alive, he might be in danger.That’s what we’re trying to figure out and looking in the box might help us with that.Also, if we get him out of danger, there’s a chance that, yes, he could get into trouble.”

Something about my words tickled the back of my mind, but I couldn’t focus on unraveling that now.

She looked directly at me.Long enough to be uncomfortable.I kept looking back at her.

“You want to see it now?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

In addition tolinear, Hannah was accurate.