We let out a huge sigh of relief.
I hung up my call with Thomas, but did not stop touching things.
A small notebook had fallen out from beneath the bed. Tidy columns. Dates. Numbers. Ratios. Little checkmarks.
Inside a mesh pocket of the suitcase was also a hand-drawn map of our county. Tiny X’s scattered across it.
One X sat right on top of the Saturday farmers’ market where Thomas and I bought peaches every weekend. Others hugged the county highway, tucked into places I didn’t recognize.
A small notebook had fallen out.
In the margin, in Eleanor’s careful cursive: “J.J. Mill, Sat. 9 a.m., bring thank-you card.”
A mill. A time. A thank-you card.
My brain tried, very briefly, to offer another explanation. Something wholesome. Something normal.
But then I looked at the bags again.
The codes. I thought of the door closed for six months and the humming.
I shoved the softer thought away and let the darker one win.
I looked at the bags again.
I snapped a photo of the row of bags and sent it to my sister.
Me: “Margot! Look what I just found under my in-laws’ mattress!”
Three dots appeared instantly.
Margot: “ girl, WHAT?! Is that… is that what I think it is?!”
Me: “I don’t know what to think!”
Margot: “CLAIRE!”
Margot: “Call the police??? Or don’t??? Oh my God, I’m at work; I can’t handle this!”
“Look what I just found!”
Me: “Thomas is coming to assist.”
Margot: “Update me the SECOND he gets there, I mean it!”
I stared at the screen. I didn’t know what to do. I kept wondering what was taking Thomas so long.
I sat down on the edge of the stripped mattress and tried to breathe.
Six months she’d lived in my house. Six months of “I’ll do our laundry, dear,” and afternoon disappearances into that same room.
Six months of me telling myself that respecting her privacy made me a good DIL.
I didn’t know what to do.
I thought about my own mother. About the day I’d finally understood what was behind her closed doors: stolen items. My mother had been a kleptomaniac; now, how would I describe Eleanor?
My chest tightened.
“Not again,” I whispered. “Please.”
“Honey, what did you find?” Thomas asked as he rushed in. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the packets of powder strewn around.
My mother had been a kleptomaniac.
Before I could respond, I heard tires on the driveway.
I scrambled to the window, still clutching one of the bags, and pulled the curtain back.
I blinked.
Eleanor’s silver sedan. Slowing to a stop right behind Thomas’ parked car. I could see Harold in the passenger seat, calmly adjusting his glasses.
The bag slipped from my fingers onto the floor.
I heard tires on the driveway.
“What did you do?!” I asked my husband.
“Nothing, I… I thought it would be best if my parents came and fetched what they left. I didn’t know that it was… this!” Thomas responded, his eyes wide.
The front door opened before I could think of what to say in response. Eleanor breezed in ahead of her husband, a Tupperware container of banana bread balanced on one palm as if this were a normal weekend visit.
“What did you do?!”
Harold trailed behind her, hands in his coat pockets, eyebrows already lifted at the state of me.
“Sweetheart,” Eleanor said, “we were halfway here with this anyway, a little thank-you for letting us camp out, and then Thomas called and said you were upset, so we just drove straight over.”
I couldn’t speak. I just stepped aside and pointed toward the guest room like a woman gesturing at a crime scene.
Thomas caught my elbow as he passed. “Claire, baby, breathe. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”
“Thomas called and said you were upset.”
“Figure it out,” I repeated, my voice climbing. “Thomas, there are illegal substances in our house!”
When Eleanor saw what was lying on the floor and the bed, the Tupperware container sagged in her grip.
She took in the propped mattress, the rows of little bags fanned across the floor, the open notebook, and the careful map. Her face changed.
Confusion first. Then a slow, dawning horror.
Then a pink flush climbed to her hairline!
Her face changed.
Personally, I felt her reaction to our discovery of her criminal life was very mild.
My MIL sat down heavily on the bed.
“Oh,” she said. Just that.
“Oh?” I said. “Eleanor. Oh?!”
She pressed her fingertips to her mouth. “Claire, honey. Did you open any of them?”
“No!”
“Thank God.” She exhaled so hard it came out shaky, and then, to my absolute bewilderment, she laughed! A short, embarrassed laugh!
Her criminal life.
Then her eyes filled up, and she laughed again!
Harold stepped closer to her. “Ellie, honey. Just tell them.”
My MIL waved him off without looking at him.
Thomas glanced between his mother and me, clearly trying to decide whose side of the crazy circus to stand on. “Mom. You’re not helping.”
“I know! I know!” She twisted her wedding ring around her finger. “I just… I really didn’t expect any of this.”
“Just tell them.”
