Chapter Thirty-Four

IN THE MORNING WHEN I HURRY down the stairs, I want to ignore it. I want to let my eyes do that thing where they slip right past the window without seeing the wrongness. Without realizing the glass is back in the window frame, intact. And I do for a moment. I succeed in seeing only what I want to see, until I round the banister and see the coffee table, with the vase back in the center.

I grab it and run outside to the garbage bins. It’s raining, but I don’t care; I take my time and bury it deep, in the same bag where I swept its shards last night.

A crow caws in the tree in our front yard, and I look up.

I take a step back when I realize that the tree is full, like on the first day of school. Only now that all the leaves have fallen, there is nothing but black birds.

Joe caws from the lowest branch of the tree, and I walk over to him. I tug a slip of paper that is clenched to the branch under his claw and find Juniper’s sprawling handwriting.

Dear Joe, please help us.

I back away from the branch, soaking wet and my eyes filling with tears. Joe flutters down to the ground beside me, then back to the tree. I ignore him, staring at Junie’s latest note.

Joe flies back down again, nudges at something in the grass.

He lifts something shiny in his beak, and hops toward me, until he’s just inches away from my freezing bare feet.

He drops the object.

I reach into the grass and pick up a wedding band. Our dad’s wedding band. When he’s working, he tucks it into the front pocket of his wallet.

I remember his lost wallet, and how Juniper was all wet from going out in the rain, and I realize that she didn’t go out to search the truck at all. She went out to check for gifts.

And she returned with the wallet.

I stare at the ring in my palm.

I’ve been emailing back and forth with the ornithologist I interviewed, and I’ve learned a lot. Crows are actually exceptionally bright creatures. They can understand reciprocity, like leaving Juniper gifts in exchange for food. Like returning her leather cuff bracelet when she lost it.

They can also understand retribution. They hold grudges.

I wonder what the crows understand about this house. I wonder what Joe understands.

Maybe the crows found the wallet where it was dropped, and somehow knew to return it to Juniper.

Or maybe the crows stole it in the first place.