Chapter 4 — Someone Has to Want to Look

One month before the final hearing, Professor Miriam Alden called. Miriam had taught Evelyn at art school and still remembered the student who painted empty rooms as though they contained witnesses.

“I’m going to be in New York,” Miriam said. “May I see you?”

Evelyn nearly refused. Instead, she invited her to the brownstone.

Miriam entered the attic at two in the afternoon and did not speak again until two thirty-seven. She moved slowly between the canvases, lifting protective sheets, stepping back, leaning closer, occasionally pressing a hand to her chest.

Finally, she stopped in front of The House That Swallowed Her.

“When did you make this?”