Chapter 3 — Noah Had Tried to Warn Her Twice
Michael set Noah down.
“Buddy, did you see the shelf move another time?”
Noah nodded.
“Yesterday.”
Vanessa frowned.
“Yesterday?”
Noah pointed toward a plastic dinosaur sitting near the refrigerator.
Then toward the shelf.
“Dino fell.”
Vanessa suddenly remembered.
Yesterday afternoon, she found Noah’s toy dinosaur on the kitchen floor beneath the shelf.
A small jar of sugar had also tipped sideways.
She asked Noah why he had been playing near the counter.
He said:
“Shelf pushed it.”
Vanessa thought he was inventing an excuse.
She told him toys did not belong in the kitchen.
Then moved the dinosaur back to his room.
She never checked the shelf.
Michael slowly looked toward her.
“That’s twice.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I know.”
“He told you twice that something was wrong.”
“I know.”
Noah looked toward her.
“You said I did it.”
Vanessa crouched.
“I did.”
He looked confused.
“But shelf did it.”
Vanessa closed her eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
“Why you say Noah?”
She had no comfortable answer.
Michael remained quiet.
Vanessa needed to answer herself.
“Because I thought I already knew what happened.”
Noah frowned.
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Then:
“I didn’t.”
Michael looked toward the loose shelf.
“Who installed this?”
Vanessa stood.
The kitchen had been partially renovated only one week earlier.
A local carpenter named Evan Brooks had installed three floating shelves.
All three looked beautiful.
Now Michael pressed the second shelf.
It moved too.
The third did not feel much better.
His expression changed.
“Nobody stands under these until we figure this out.”
The cracked phone suddenly became the smaller problem.