The doors slide shut.
“So,” she says immediately, “did you find anything at the library?”
My excitement sparks back to life. “Yes.”
“Well?”
I lean against the elevator wall. “Not a lot,” I admit. “But I did find something interesting.”
Her eyes widen. “Tell me.”
I lower my voice slightly, even though we’re the only ones in the elevator.
“So, there wasn’t much documented about The Lady in Red incident itself.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“But,” I continue, “I found an article about a young woman who went missing from a group home on the other side of the mountain.”
Calliope’s eyebrows shoot up. “When?”
“About the same time witnesses say the incident happened here in December of 1936.”
The elevator hums upward.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” she says.
“That’s what I thought.”
“So, she just disappeared into thin air?”
“That’s the weird part.”
The elevator dings softly as we pass another floor.
“A few weeks later,” I say, “it was reported she’d been spotted in California.”
Calliope frowns. “So, not dead?”
“According to the newspaper, no. Safe and sound.”
“Well, that sucks. Not that she was safe, but that it means it wasn’t her.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “It seems … unlikely.” I cross my arms thoughtfully. “How did she get there? Where did she get the money? I mean, if she was being housed at a home for wayward girls, where would she get resources to up and start a new life so far away?”
“Hmm,” Calliope hums.
“And did anyone go with her?”
“So many questions.”
The elevator doors open to the fourth level, where the grill sits, overlooking the courtyard.
But neither of us moves yet.
Calliope leans against the wall beside me. “Okay,” she says, lowering her voice dramatically, “I see your point. Something doesn’t add up.”
“Right? It’s too suspicious. A convenient story.”
