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“I only have five more minutes to get this outside. We need something.”
Poor guy
his entire body was shaking.
“My wife and daughter—where are they?”
The person kept the light squarely on Ellingham’s face, forcing him to look down and shield his eyes. He half crawled out of the boat onto the ground.
The person shoved him hard, pushing him into the dome, where he landed on the floor.
Something came down on his head, and then all faded to black.
No pls no
AFTER MAKING SUCH A HUGE IMPRESSION ON HAYES MAJOR, STEVIE paced her room for a few moments and reviewed her introductory strategy.
Girl he was just being a twat
She wore a faded, shrunken yellow T-shirt from an auto repair shop and an old cheerleading skirt in deep blue with red internal pleats. Her legs were covered with little bruises and nicks—nothing serious-looking, more like the kind you would get by trying to climb trees or other objects. Her feet were just about covered in a pair of scruffy red cloth Mary Jane slippers held together with safety pins. Her hair was the real statement piece; it looked unwashed and matted, and it had been gathered in little bunches around her head and tied into bundles with what looked like baby socks. Down her
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Ellie
“It is hot as balls in here,” the girl said in greeting. “Balls. Seriously. When the hell are they going to get some AC?”
Real-
(Note to self, Stevie thought, you could say balls to teachers here.)
IF YOU CAN READ THIS SHIRT, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE.
I need that shirt
Ellie had simply accepted her, just like that.
Stevie’s parents labored under the belief that what a person was wearing had a direct correlation to their worth as a human being. There were normal clothes (good), and there were nice clothes (very good), and there was everything else.
“Mom, I know . . .” “I know you know.
Her mother’s final little squeeze said, This isn’t the kind of place you belong. You’ll see. You’ll be back.
Janelle was shorter than Stevie had pictured. She wore a red floral romper and her braided hair was wrapped in a scarf of yellows and golds. She wore a light, summery perfume that trailed in the air behind her as she hurried over to wrap Stevie in a hug.
Janelle
She came from a big family in Chicago and around Illinois. She had three brothers, two in MIT and one at Stanford. Her parents were both doctors.
Janelle
“I think that might be altitude,” Janelle said. “We’re not super high. The highest point in Vermont is only forty-three hundred feet, and altitude should really become an issue at five thousand, but you may still need to compensate for the lower oxygen levels by drinking a little extra water. Here.”
Nerd-
Janelle had entirely changed the energy of the place. She was movement, she was action.
“Do you do hugs?” Janelle said. “Not really,” Nate replied, moving back. “Then no hug it is,” Janelle said. “How about salutes?” Stevie said. “Those are tolerable.” Stevie gave him a salute.
Stevie enjoyed Janelle’s brisk, confident positivity and she also liked Nate’s grumpy demeanor. She had a little bit of both of these qualities, and she fit between them very comfortably.
There were a few people with glossy, perfect hair who had already clumped together through that strange alchemy that joins all people with perfect, glossy hair.
Its giving rachel
There was a guy who never took off his cat-ear headphones during the entire tour.
LMAO BENJI KROL AESTHETIC
She was suspected for a long time because she gave a weird story that night. Her interview was really odd.”
Flora
“We have about half a million books on site,” she said, “both here and in storage. We have access to millions more digitally. We’re partnered with most of the Ivy League libraries, so we can get you more or less anything you require. It’s my job to get you anything you need.”
Kyoko
She had just met Janelle, Janelle was her best bet at a closest friend, and already someone else was coming into the frame. Which was a crazy thought.
When they stepped inside, Stevie stopped breathing for a moment.
“I’m Security Larry,” he said. “It’s what people call me. It’s what I answer to. I’m head of security for all of Ellingham. I already know all of your names. I get to know everyone before they arrive.”
Security Larry didn’t look excited by this interruption. “We’re very secure up here, but if you ever need us, you can hit the blue button on the alarms you’ll see in the campus buildings and on some light poles. The rules here aren’t hard, but you have to follow them. If you don’t, I’ll show up. I live just down the path at the gatehouse, so I’m always here. If something says Keep Out, that means Keep Out. It doesn’t mean go in because someone dared you or because you heard about other people going in. Some of the original features of the property are no longer structurally sound. You may get
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Larry
This was where Albert Ellingham worked out the plan to try to save his family. They had counted the ransom money on this floor. She could have spent forever in this room.
“I’m Dr. Scott. Call me Charles. Welcome, you all, to your new home. I say I’m the head of the school, but I like to think of myself as the Chief Learner
It took a moment and some gesturing for everyone to realize that this was serious, and literal. Eventually, there was a mumbled, “Thank you, Alice.” “That was cultlike,” Nate said as they walked back to the green, where a picnic was being set up. “Why did we just thank a dead child?”
She’d be old, but she could be alive, technically.”
Alice
“Explain the dead child thing,” Nate said. “The deal is this,” Stevie said. “The school and all the Ellingham fortune belong to Alice, but Ellingham kind of knew she was dead, even if he couldn’t admit it to himself. When two years had passed, he reopened the school.” “And people came?” Vi said. “After the murders?” “It was a one-off,” Stevie replied. “And it was still the Depression. And this was one of the most famous places in America. Free school from one of the richest men in the country . . . that was a huge deal. And no one thought the kidnappers were coming back. They’d kind of taken
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Alice’s nanny was devoted to her and the family. She refused to give up any details about Alice. Ellingham had a secret file made of information about Alice, so that if anyone came forward, they would be able to check.”
Alice
Usually, when Iris took her drives, she was back in an hour or two. She’d been gone eight. No one had called Flora for dinner.
Dun dun dunnn
Stevie had met people with long hair and people with curly hair and people with red hair, but this hair was like a force of nature. It wasn’t fully curly—it was stretched out and full and golden. It was less like hair and more like a weather pattern. Someone called out the name “Gretchen”
Gretchen
Stevie found herself getting strangely nervous as Janelle and Vi talked, their heads getting a little closer together with each exchange, the laughs a little bigger. A bubble of jealousy rose in her and she clamped it down.
OMG THEY SHOULD BE LESBIAN FOR EACHOTHERRRR <3
David David David
David <3
Say hello, David.” Stevie had a strange thought that she really hoped he didn’t say “hello, David” in reply, but that was exactly what happened. Another point on the scorecard.
Add point to that scorecard girlypops
“Seven of hearts?” he said. “You should probably give up now,” Stevie replied. “No, no,” he said, “I always get it within the first fifty-two guesses.”
Ur not funny
A burst of laughter from behind, and Ellie looked up to see what was going on. No one wanted to hear why Anton Vorachek, the local anarchist who was arrested and tried for the crime, confessed.
Thats so sad
“I think you’re even more screwed than I am.”
Shut up nate
It was three in the morning and Stevie was wide awake.
Thats honestly so real
Let it go, for real. Go full Frozen.
HAHAHA
Yes, the idea of her solving this case sounded improbable. She was a sixteen-year-old from Pittsburgh. This case was decades old. Everyone had tried to solve it. The FBI hadn’t been able to do it. The scores of serious (and not serious) investigators had not been able to do it. Thousands of people obsessed over it all the time. Ellingham himself, a genius, had tried to find out what happened and the search had killed him. You didn’t just solve the Ellingham Affair.
Its giving agggtm <3 u can do it girl
Look! A riddle! Time for fun! Should we use a rope or gun? Knives are sharp and gleam so pretty Poison’s slow, which is a pity Fire is festive, drowning’s slow Hanging’s a ropy way to go A broken head, a nasty fall A car colliding with a wall Bombs make a very jolly noise Such ways to punish naughty boys! What shall we use? We can’t decide. Just like you cannot run or hide. Ha ha. Truly, Devious
It was the Truly Devious letter that always convinced Stevie (and other people) that Vorachek was innocent. Vorachek could barely speak English—he probably wouldn’t have written a poem in English, a poem modeled on the style of Dorothy Parker, no less. No one ever thought it made sense, but they found the marked bills on Vorachek, no one liked him, and he confessed on the stand.
Nate was wearing baggy dark jeans and a slouchy black sweater that hung down to his fingers, making his long arms even longer.
EEE
It was all about slow, careful movement—feeling every millimeter. Locks are tiny, and their pins are tinier still, and the movement needed to lift one is barely a flinch.
