Page 50 of She Haunts Me Still

“Alright, Nancy Drew,” Saskia replies, “let’s crack the case.”

The sky turns lavender as afternoon bleeds into twilight.

Mallory sits on the floor, flipping through plastic-covered pages of a binder labeled 1910, the year Shore College was founded. Beside her, Saskia has a record of buildings and grounds documents. For a while, the only sound is the turning of papers and the occasional clip of footsteps outside the archival room, until—

“Saskia,” Mallory says, nudging her. “Look at this. It’s a document detailing the official conversion of the sanitarium to Shore College, signed by all the investors. Do you see this name?”

“Tobias Hubbard.” Saskia squints. “Lily’s husband?”

“Yeah. I remember his name from her obituary. You’d think he’d want nothing to do with the place where his wife died, and yet…” Mallory keeps reading. “Maybe this is why. It says that all the investors’ descendants would be guaranteed admission. Lily’s obituary mentioned a daughter, Rose. I wonder if she attended Shore.” She peers at her watch. “The archives room closes soon. I’ll photocopy some class lists before we leave.”

“We’ll want to make copies of these, too,” Saskia says, tapping the blueprints in her lap.

Mallory glances. “Did you find something?”

“I think so.” Saskia turns the binder. “Look at this.”

“That’s the library,” Mallory says, pointing at one of the sketches. “And these are the gardens. The hedge maze.”

“Yeah.” Saskia flips a couple of pages. “And if I’m reading this correctly, this is the landbeforethe gardens were constructed. Look. They actually built the hedge maze over a cemetery.”

But Mallory barely hears the confirmation, too busy staring at the drawing. Little rows of squares, side by side. Recognition flashes inside her brain.

Her mother’s notebook. The page in the back.

The lines sketched like a secret code. But it was never a code at all.

They were grave markers.

“Holyshit,” Mallory breathes. “My mom had a drawing that looked just like this. She must have been researching thisexactthing. She was…” Mallory pushes a hand through her hair; she’s never been this close to something real before. “She must have been trying to find where Lily was buried.”

“I think,” Saskia says, “she was onto something.”

She shuffles the laminated pages, landing on an official-looking document withTOWN OF SHOREVIEW, RHODE ISLANDtyped at the top, followed bySHORE COLLEGE EXPANSION, 1945.

“This is a land deed for the cemetery. The town sold the cemetery to a real estate company called Pierce Development Group in 1945. Looks like this is when they expanded the campus beyond the sanitarium building, adding dormitories, academic buildings, the theater—and the gardens.” Saskia cuts Mallory a glance. “But why would a town sell a cemeteryin the first place? Let alone permit someone to buildon topof actual graves? Is that even legal? It’s almost like they were trying to get rid of it, or—”

“Cover something up,” Mallory finishes.

“Like the fact that the sanitarium’s graves had been desecrated.”

“It was probably a stain on the town’s history.”

“Wiped clean by a new institution.”

Their eyes lock, and the silence that follows forces Mallory to realize how close they’ve gotten on the floor. One of Saskia’s knees rests on hers, a stretch of smooth, pale skin visible through her frayed jeans. From the way Saskia’s sitting, her thin T-shirt pulls tight around her chest, offering the barest hint that she has nothing on underneath. Mallory blinks the awareness away.

But then, Saskia’s words sink in.The town sold the cemetery to a real estate company called—

“Wait,” Mallory blurts. “Did you sayPierceDevelopment Group?”

“Yeah, why?”

Mallory’s gaze drops, thoughts racing until they land on a memory of Ezra’s voice in the swirling fog.

That’s when my dad decided I was destined to join his real estate business.

“No,” Mallory whispers. “That’s not possible.”