A three AM phone call about a locked room changed everything

light of early autumn was hitting the green linoleum in long, diagonal blocks, highlighting the small gray patches where the wax had worn thin near the stove.

Mia set her heavy blue canvas duffel bag on the kitchen table and unzipped it without making a sound. She stood there for a moment, her fingers resting on the metal tab of the zipper.

“Do I put continue reading …