Page 38 of Little Stolen Memories

“Huh,” I said. “How strange.”

I used my foot to ease the door open. The tripod with the work light was in my left hand, and a flashlight in the right. I set the tripod down and turned both lights on.

Looking around, the first thing I noticed was the dust. Every inch of the cabin was caked in it. Old furniture was scattered around, none of it covered or preserved in any way. We’d stepped back into a place that had been frozen in time, a place full of memories, including the last few moments of the teens’ lives.

“The dust is so thick, and the air is stale, I’m finding it hard to breathe,” I said. “I wish we’d come earlier in the day. If there is something to see here, I’m worried I won’t see it.”

“We can always return tomorrow.”

I didn’t want to make the drive again tomorrow, but if I had to, I would.

“Let’s do a quick walkthrough, and then we’ll leave,” I said.

We made our way through the kitchen, crossed the dining room, and entered the living room, where the bloodstains from Brynn and Aubree’s murders were still visible. Standing there was surreal. I thought about how scared they must have been and how alone they must have felt at the end.

A stereo sat on the fireplace mantel. Next to it was a stack of CDs—50 Cent, Avril Lavigne, Eminem, and Toby Keith, among others.

“How are you doing?” Giovanni asked.

“It’s always hard to witness the place where someone died. My feelings are all over the place. I can imagine the excitement they all felt when they first arrived, oblivious of what was to come. It’s a shame. They were all too young to have their lives stripped away at the hands of a psycho.”

A wave of emotion came over me, and I swallowed hard, pushing it down. I was here to do a job. What I needed now was to focus.

“Let’s head upstairs,” I said. “I had a chance to take a look at Cora’s initial statement on the way here. She detailed who stayed in what room.”

We focused our flashlights on the stairs and made our ascent.

The first room we entered was Owen’s. A coat and a pair of socks were sitting on the bed. Hiking boots on the floor. In the ensuite bathroom, I found a pack of gum, a comb, and men’s hair gel. Signs of life in a place that had seen too much death.

We moved across the hall, entering the room Brynn and Aidan had stayed in. It, too, appeared to have remained untouched. Aside from the unmade bed, there were no signs of Brynn and Aidan ever being there. Whatever they had with them that day, it wasn’t here any longer.

I skipped over Aubree and Jackson’s room and focused on the grandmother’s room, the same room Cora had locked herself in while waiting for the police.

The door squeaked as I pushed it opened.

I steadied my flashlight, peered into the room, and gasped.

“What is it?” Giovanni asked. “What do you see?”

I moved the flashlight from left to right and clarity came in the form of words written on the wall in thick red marker:

WELCOME BACK, CORA

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

CHAPTER 18

I yanked my phone out of my pocket, desperate to make a call, but I had no cell service. Giovanni didn’t either.

“We need to get out of here and get back to town,” I said.

“You’re worried about Cora,” he said.

I nodded.

“The first thing I thought when I saw the writing on the wall was how much I wanted it to be a prank,” I said. “I figured it could have been the work of a bunch of high school kids who heard about this place and think it’s haunted. You know how rumors go.”

“All too well.”

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