The Secret of the Key in the Floorboard

Chapter Four The Manila Folder

Chapter 4 The Manila Folder

A few days had passed since I had told the twins. They looked at me differently now. Along with Henry they were helping me figure out my cover story. I knew the first thing I had to do was to find out everything I could about the real Annalise Morrow. I had to know her like the back of my hand. I knew I couldn't show in the past without knowing something about her life before 1916. I decided to start at the only place I could find real history about her, the library.

The small library in Evergreen had records of everything in town. I had already poured over everything I had, I needed more. I went to the library after school one day. I opened the heavy door and took in the smell of old leather and paper. I walked over to the information desk, the older woman that looked like she never left the library looking up at me with a smile.

"Hi. Can I see all the records for Annalise Marrow please?"

She looked up from her desk taking off her glasses letting the chain fall to her blouse.

"Of course dear, right this way." she said as she got up from her desk and gestured for me to follow her

She took me to the back of the library and carefully took a set of keys from her pocket and opened the door to a small room labeled archives. She just nodded and gestured for me to go in. I entered and smiled a thank you.

"This is the archive room. You will find all the records of all the families in town. Start with M and go from there. Good luck Miss Annie" She smiled and left before I could react

"Miss Annie? I didn't remember telling her my name. Weird." I thought as I started to look around the room

The room was small and had just enough room for a small wooden table and chair. The rest of the room was filled with shelves of books. Setting my belongings down, I looked for the book on M. I soon found it and sat at the table and started to read it.

There was not much about them in the leather book. I started to look at the few pages on the Marrow family along with a few pictures. It started with her grandfather Adian Franklin Marrow Sr. He came to the U.S in 1886 with his wife Fiona and their two children, Adian Franklin jr. and Ida. I continued to read and look at everything. The 1880s style photo of the Marrow family showed her father with his parents and sister. I took a deep breath as I made notes and took all of this in. Carefully taking a picture with my phone, to look at again later.

As I continued to read I realized I was only finding information I already knew. I knew that Adian Franklin Sr. had started a textile company in the 1890s and that this eventually morphed into being an advertising company. This was the company I remembered hearing about as Annie was the first woman CEO. I was always inspired by that. Hamiltin Advertising still exists and is run by my mom and my father's siblings. The last page of their section had a small paragraph on Annalise Marrow, along with a photo of her and her siblings.

The photo was the same one I had found in the attic, except this one was cleaner, because it was a reprint. The caption read "The Marrow siblings, from left Annalise (Annie), Thomas and Eveyln." It was almost chilling to be looking at the photo of her.

This was the real Annalise. I would never meet her, yet we looked exactly the same. I felt sad knowing I would never meet her siblings. They sadly perished in the house fire that completely consumed their entire house in November 1916. I closed my eyes and took a breath holding back tears. I continued on to read the small paragraph about her.

"Annalise or Annie as she was known was one of the founders of Hamiltin Advertising. She tragically lost her family at the age of 18 when a fire consumed their home. She was a highly skilled nurse and joined the war effort in April of 1917. She had to lie about her age since most nurses were 21 or older."