The room seemed to shrink around us.
“I wrote the name down.”
I looked at the blue suitcase.
Where?
“I put it somewhere Hannah would eventually find it if she ever learned enough to know she should look.”
The tape suddenly warped.
Her voice stretched unnaturally.
Then cleared.
“The answer is in the summer we were happiest.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Douglas looked at me.
Neither of us knew.
My mother continued.
“If you find it, Hannah, you will understand why I was so afraid of you and Douglas finding each other again.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Not ashamed.
Not angry.
Afraid.
Why?
The tape clicked.
I thought it was over.
Then my mother’s voice returned for one final sentence.
“And when you learn who Lucas’s mother was, please remember that he had no part in any of this.”
The tape ended.
Silence.
No one moved.
