He said Grandma took him outside after dinner because Madison said he had been “spying.”
He said he heard voices under the shed.
He said Daddy was angry because “the red door was open.”
He said there was another man with a silver ring shaped like a snake.
He said they were talking about “the list.”
The list.
Agent Morales’s face changed when he said it.
“What list, sweetheart?” she asked softly.
Noah’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“Names,” he whispered. “Kids’ names.”
I felt the room tilt.
“Did you see the list?” Morales asked.
He nodded.
“Where?”
“In the wall.”
Harris leaned forward.
“What wall?”
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
“The red room wall. Behind the picture.”
Then he began to cry, and the psychologist ended the interview immediately.
I held him until he slept again.
But I did not sleep.
Because sometime that night, while rain tapped against the hospital windows, I remembered something.
