The Castle Knoll Files, September 10, 1966

I’m writing this all here because I just know there will be things I’ve seen that might matter further down the road. Some details that seem small now will turn out to be extremely important, or the other way around. So I’m keeping everything together, and I’m making careful notes.

Rose still thinks I’m bonkers for fixating on this fortune. But she doesn’t know the reason I believe in it so fiercely.

Because someone’s been threatening me even before we saw the fortune-teller.

I found a piece of paper in my skirt pocket that read “I’ll put your bones in a box.” That threat gives me shivers when I think about it, but I have to keep it close in case there’s something I can learn from it. Some clue that might help me stop whatever ill fate is already in motion.

And then there was my fortune—“Your future contains dry bones.” Two mentions of bones—it can’t be a coincidence. And then Emily, vanishing a few weeks ago, almost exactly a year after that fortune was told.

When the police interviewed me, I could tell they didn’t fully believe what I said. They even asked me if I was feeling like I needed some attention, now that all the focus is on finding Emily.

So I didn’t bother to tell them the rest. I decided then and there to take matters into my own hands. Because the last people I want knowing about this past year are the police.