Page 75 of Diem

I find nothing but discarded papers and a bible in the first and with a snort, I move on to the next, half incredulous that he’s supposedly found god.

The next is equally unexciting and with a sigh, I open the doors to my right and confirm it is a closet. A couple of coats hang from wire hangers, with his other clothes piled on the floor. Whether clean or dirty, I don’t know but he’s turning out to be a bit of a pig.

Pushing the clothes around, I find nothing but a few coins. The shelves are empty of everything but dust.

Hm. Next, I sweep through the bathroom but other than something green I don’t want to identify growing in the toilet, it too is bare of anything worth noting.

In the kitchen, I search through the cupboards, spying a few cans of beans and noodles. He has two spoons, a fork and three knives in his cutlery drawer. A single pan underneath.

The man must eat out because I can’t imagine what he cooks for meals.

In the living room, I spin around but there’s nothing here. A few magazines. A book about aliens, which I roll my eyes at.

Discarded shoes. Shit.

Staring down the hall, I contemplate my options before striding back to the room. I’ve checked the obvious places. Now onto the less obvious, I think as I pull up the mattress with a grunt.

Bingo.

I pick up the first thing that catches my eye, turning over a heavy object and staring curiously at the badge. Holding it up to the light, I see it’s for the local police department. Why does Frank have a police badge?

I’ve never heard of him working for the police. He’s only ever been a bit of a deadbeat that jumps from job to job. Per Dad, he was a mechanic for a while, but he wasted that skill in the years after.

Turning back to the stash, I riffle around, ignoring the papers filled with doodles and random phone numbers.

But I freeze when I spy a picture of a young girl, maybe my age or a little older.

Who is she and why is this hidden under the bed?

Rubbing the ache in my tummy, I turn the picture over, and read the caption on the back–prime real estate. What the fuck? Why does Frank have this?

With a shiver, I take a picture of both the front and the back and on impulse the badge too. As far as I know, Frank was never a police officer, making the whole thing that much weirder.

Glancing back at the picture one more time, I run my finger over the girl's face, hoping wherever she is, she’s safe.

Thoroughly creeped out, I put the picture back in the pile just as I found it and drop the mattress quietly but another paper flies through the air and lands on the floor.

“What?” I grumble, kneeling down to pick it up.

It’s a news article about a girl who disappeared almost thirty years ago. Scanning the words, I fall to my knees when I see that she lived in a foster home and the foster mother was Delilah McCafferty.

Holy fuck.

Did Frank have something to do with it? My dad?

Thoroughly freaked out, I shove the article into my pocket and stand before rushing from the trailer and into the darkness.

When I get home, I hide in the shower and scrub my skin until it’s raw, all the while praying my dad isn’t a fucking psycho.

∞∞∞

After school the next day, Penny stops by, and I grudgingly let her inside. I don’t know why but having her around my dad makes this all the more real.

Luckily, he’s not home and I usher her to my room before closing the door behind me and asking, “What's up?”

If she notices my weird behavior, she doesn’t mention it as she spins in a circle and says, “We’re going to a party.”

“Uh what? It’s Tuesday,” I say, and she eyes me with a frown.

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