Page 264

She closed Daniel's journal.

"Daniel didn't write where he moved the second box."

"No."

"He wrote something better."

"What?"

"He told us how Emily thought."

I frowned.

"What does that mean?"

She smiled.

"It means Emily wouldn't choose the safest place."

"She'd choose..."

Rylie suddenly gasped.

"The last place anyone would ever search."

Judy looked at her.

"What place?"

Rylie's eyes filled with tears.

"Emily always said..."

She swallowed hard.

"'The safest hiding place isn't where people can't find something."

"It's where they'll never think to look.'"

Nobody moved.

Then Max stood.

His ears lifted.

He walked past every one of us.

Up the narrow stairs.

Across the attic.

Out into the hallway.

He stopped beside the old fireplace.

The fireplace nobody had used in years.

He sniffed once.