Her lips pull down in a wincing frown. “The basement?” she guesses.
“Where is the basement?” I ask, realizing I should explore this house more.
“Oh, the hallway off the kitchen. There’s a false front, so it looks like a shallow linen closet.”
“What? That’s cool as shit. Are there any other hidden rooms?” Oz sinks next to her on the sofa with his phone still clutched in his hand.
“Kind of. Some of the windows in the sunroom actually work like doors.” Waylynn smiles like she’s excited to share the tidbit.
“We should play hide and seek,” Oswald suggests, making Waylynn snicker.
I think I might like roaming through this place looking for Waylynn. Whoever found her first would get to have her. “Don’t forget to call Bates if the lights don’t come back on,” I remind my brother and head to the hallway using my phone as a flashlight.
“What’s going on?” I hear Waylynn ask, much more serious now.
“Everyone else on the street has power. Looks like the issue might just be your house.”
“Oh no. I didn’t think to look. I didn’t even know who to call to fix it. I just assumed they would take care of it.”
As I walk away, I hear Oz telling her there’s a number you can call or even an app you can sign into. I should have made sure she did that, but I didn’t even think about it and I didn’t really mind. Now the food in her fridge and freezer are probably wasted because I fell asleep.
Clunking noises alert me that Waylynn is coming, which might be a good thing because these closets just look like closets to me.
“It’s this one.” She uses the end of her crutch as a pointer. “The realtor said it sticks sometimes, but I know it opens because the movers put some boxes down there for me.”
I open the door and tug roughly on the shelf. There’s a definite cracking sound and the shelves shift. With one more wrench on the left edge, the thing swings forward on a hidden hinge.
“That is cool as shit!” Oswald repeats in awe over my shoulder. “We should totally make a panic room down here.”
“It’s kind of creepy,” Waylynn hedges.
“Since you’re here, you can bring your light down and help me find the box,” I tell Oswald, and he starts to snicker.
“You don’t know where theboxis, Memphis.”
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes.
“I don’t know where the box is either, but I know it’s down there,” Waylynn says innocently, which makes Oz really start to laugh.
“Your box is down there?”
“Oh my gosh, shut up.” There’s outrage in her tone now that she caught on. I hear a thwack and smile when I realize she just hit him with her crutch.
Oswald bounces down the steps behind me, trying to get away from her while still chuckling. “Holy shit, it’s like a castle.” He shines his light on the stone walls. “And freezing.” He shivers.
I ignore his explorations and shine my light on the walls, looking for the electrical panel. There’s not much down here, so it’s easy to spot on the back wall. When I open the heavy black door, I know I’m out of my league. “Did you call Bates?”
“I did, and he said he’d be over in a few minutes.” Oswald comes to my side. “Jesus, that looks ancient.”
“What are you guys doing?” Waylynn asks from the top of the stairs. “Did you find it?” The slight tremor in her voice makes me think she’s scared.
I walk back to the base of the staircase. “I’m going to let Bates have a look at it. I don’t want to mess with anything.”
“Okay. I feel bad it’s so late. I wish I would have paid attention earlier.”
“He won’t mind,” Oswald promises, and I know it’s true. He likes Waylynn, especially after the night we went to see him play. Maybe even a little too much.
HELPING HANDS
