Solid Walls

Chapter Eight

They swapped their impressions of the twins an hour later when Nell returned from the store. It was still too early in the day to talk to Willa, so Chloe joined Nell as she started examining the house's exterior.

"He actually said that," Chloe said. "That we shouldn't trust her."

She only occasionally looked up from jotting in her legal pad as they walked around the east side of the building, and she paid for her distraction by tripping on a root.

"He's probably jealous of the attention she gets." Nell crouched by the dogwood at the corner of the house—which was blooming unusually late for the season—and secured the end of her new tape measure under a rock. When they started walking again, the tape spooled out behind her, lengthening as the surrounding trees grew thicker.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's part of it," Chloe said. "But he wasn't just pouty, he was genuinely angry about the whole thing. Especially when I mentioned his mother."

"It's not your fault he was itching for a fight. And he wouldn't have brought up the thing about Willa if he didn't secretly want someone to know. He just wants to be in control. He'll tell us what he meant eventually."

"You're right. I guess I just didn't like how he was talking about Willa. It's weird that I already feel protective of her. She just seems so delicate, like one good breeze would blow her away."

"That's the idea, right?" Nell said.

"But you didn't get the sense she was putting on a show yesterday, did you? Like she really could be lying about any of this stuff?"

"No," Nell said. "I believe her."

Chloe was caught by something in her partner's voice. "Well, I mean, I believe her, too. I believe she believes what's happening to her is real. I believe they're all telling us what they think is the truth. That's what you mean, right?"

Nell bent to untangle her tape from a sapling. "Sam's opinion on Willa seems much different from her brother's," she said.

Chloe rolled her eyes but allowed the change in subject. "In what way exactly?"

"She says she visits her upstairs every day. No resentment or suspicion as far as I could see."

"Interesting." Chloe leaned over her pad to make a note and swore when her foot caught on a stump. "I have a feeling we're going to have to talk to both the twins a lot more about their early experience in the house. About Moira. If she really did have symptoms like Willa's, she might be the key to understanding her delusions."

"Odd that Talia and Amos didn't mention it before," Nell said.

"Maybe it's just a sore spot?"

"Or maybe it's a part of the story they don't want shared."

They finally reached the back corner of the house, where the trees closed in around them to an uncomfortable degree. Nell knelt down and lined up the tape measure with the very edge of the building.

"No wonder nobody has to use the second floor if they don't want to." She clicked a button on the side of the measure, which brought the tape whirring through the grass. "That's 70 feet and 4 inches for the side, probably identical on the other, plus space for bay windows, towers, and protruding rooms. Add that to the 62 feet 10 inches along the front, double it for two floors not counting attic space, and we're at almost 9,000 square feet."

"You sure you don't want to check your math?" Chole asked. "Maybe write down those figures for later?"

Nell gave her a puzzled look. Chloe grinned. "Only joking."

"What kind of newlywed couple with three kids would buy a place this big?" Nell asked.

"And what kind of man would keep it even after his first wife apparently went crazy in it?"

"When are you talking to Willa?"

Chloe checked the time. "I've got about a half hour till I meet Talia in the foyer. And I think I have a good chunk of questions ready to ask."

"Are you going to record the conversation?"

Chloe hesitated. "I think when acting in my capacity as a mental health professional, especially when working with a minor, it'd be best to stick to standard practice and just take notes."

Nell raised an eyebrow. Chloe met her gaze and matched her neutral expression. She held steady for a full three seconds, then sighed in exasperation.

"Jesus, Nell, it was just a really sensitive mic, okay? We talked about this last night—I'm sure my phone was just picking up on feedback from other electronics in the house. Or maybe what we heard was an echo from when we first rang the doorbell...or I could have accidentally recorded over some of the conversation later on. There are a million explanations."

Nell's face remained impassive. "I didn't say anything," she said.

Chloe sighed. "You never say anything."

"Don't I?"

"Am I supposed to read some deeper meaning into that?"

Nell shrugged. "You're the psychologist. Come on, I want to start on the first floor. You don't have any place to be for a while, so you can help hold the tape."

"And what are we hoping to learn from all this measuring again?"

"Just making sure the math adds up."

"What, you don't think it will?"

Nell stayed silent. They walked back through the trees toward the front of the house, and this time Chloe looked up from her notes long enough to see a dirt path leading into the woods. She stopped and peered down the trail.

"Maybe this is where Ed goes with his poetry books, you think?"

"Mmm." Nell followed her gaze. "Maybe. We can check it out tomorrow. House first, then grounds."

They continued back to the sunlit yard and waved to Talia, still weeding the massive garden in the distance.

"She's a very trusting woman, when you come to think of it," Chloe said as they climbed the porch steps. "Letting us have the run of the place unsupervised."

"People let exterminators wander their houses all the time," Nell said. "The only difference is we don't walk around with poison."

"Like there isn't plenty here already," Chloe muttered.

"What?"

Chloe looked up at Nell holding the screen door open for her, looking at her curiously.

"What what?" Chloe said.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing." Chloe shook her head. "I—I don't know why I said that. Ignore me."

Nell scrutinized her friend a moment longer, then crossed the threshold into the house. Chloe hesitated before following, avoiding the blank gaze of the brass deer head on the wall, relieved in spite of herself that this time there was no need to ring the doorbell.