CHAPTER FOUR
June 29, 2010
Late Morning
The ring was high-pitched and insistent. Cleo had dressed and was squeezing her hair dry when she heard it. She paused at the top of the stairs to check the phone on the upper landing, but it hung motionless. This could only mean the jingling came from the phone in the locked study.
“Bless me,” Mrs. Seabrook exclaimed from the kitchen. “That line almost never rings. It’s like someone thinks Mr. Humboldt’s alive.”
From above, Cleo watched Calvin head toward the living room, which connected to the study. She threw her towel onto her bed and descended the stairs to follow him.
He saw her enter the room over his shoulder and grabbed a book. It was an almanac with the number 1967 on its spine in gold. He threw himself into a chair near the study doo
