Hidden Depths

Finders keepers

For the next few weeks we stayed quiet, not muttering a single word to anybody, but keeping to ourselves.

We decided to meet up again and the first thing she said to me was, "So, do you still have that letter?"

I nodded and handed it to her. She then produced the cane from behind her door.

"SLOANE! YOU KEPT THAT!!"

She gave me a sheepish smile.

"No, no! Do not give me that coy smile, okay, this is literally stealing! You could go to jail for that!"

Taking in my words, her face fell. But only slightly.

She started pacing around the room, one end to the other countless times, and just when you would think she was done, another burst would come. Eventually I had to put my hand on her shoulder to stop her.

She gave me a grateful smile and sat down.

"I'm sorry. I just... guess I didn't really think about that when it was happening. I.. kind of just took it."

I gave her a warm smile in return. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's alright. We'll just have to figure it out. But for now.. I mean, can I ask.. why... you took it?"

She let out a small giggle. "I took it for proof that we went there. I know it's really stupid. I just looked at it kind of like evidence. You know? For what, I don't even know. Sounds pretty stupid now that I think about it."

This had me chuckling.

There was a silence that followed, but it was comfortable.

She was first to get up. "Well, for right now nothing has happened, and nobody's been questioned, knock on wood," she paused to literally knock on the wooden table, and the proceeded, "so, I say fuck it. We don't need to worry about it right now? Eh? And anyways, finders keepers."

I gave her a grin and a small smile at this.

"I guess you're right. But hey, I'm going to head back over to my house. Been a while since I've even seen the damn thing," I laughed, "and, if I'm going to be paying as much as I am a month for it, I'm sure as hell gonna make sure it's worthwhile."

She nodded, waved me off.

But almost as soon as I got to the door, I had the instinct to turn back around, not leave. But I had already said I would, and she didn't exactly decline.

No, I just decided I was being silly and left anyways.

Halfway home, I had a flash back of the visit to the house. Of Harriet Crest's face staring at me beneath the window, right before I got pulled out. That image will haunt me for years to come.

I wondered what was going through her mind at that point in time. I wondered if she thought I was desperate, both for attention and for money. Why else would I interview someone and then sneak into their house that happens to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?

And yet, that's not what she was. She was just a girl studying to be a writer, who happened to stumble on a house that looked extremely beautiful. That was through no fault of her own. She saw the house and really liked the look of it. But then again, maybe that like turned into a creepy obsession...