Picking the millionth splinter out of her finger, she continued digging at the hole in the wall. She knew beyond the attic door was some space. Ten years ago an electrical fire had hit the house and the backstairs that led up to the second floor hallway had caught on fire. Instead of building another staircase, Nanna hired someone to just build a ladder, so if there was another fire, no one would get trapped on the second floor. Another thing Nicole remembered the fire doing was messing up the attic which was why her bedroom was almost like a closet. Nanna had enclosed the burned walls promising to redecorate the upstairs as soon as they had the time, but things happened and they were never able to get to it. The guy who had done the construction on the house though had made a makeshift closet sort of with a door over the ladder, but Nanna thinking some crack head might come and try to get in, put a master lock on the door.
Nicole knew exactly where the lock was positioned at by looking at the nail holes, but she also knew it would be faster to get the hinges off the door too and she could jump on the roof and go down. Her objective after that would be to make it to Cleo's house and get help for herself.
One hinge was loose and by the end of the night she would have the other hinge off. From listening to the vents, she knew Nanna was still alive. Lynne and Marvin were arguing about ways to make the death look as natural as possible. They had told the nurses to stop coming.
Marvin had told her if she attracted any attention to her while she was in the room, he would come up there and beat her. He checked on her constantly during the day, but at night she knew he was with Lynne. Most times he could hear them together. In a way, she almost thought her mother was becoming a prisoner in the house just like she had been, but he needed Lynne in order to get to the money he wanted when they sold Nanna's business.
In two weeks, Mr. Mills would be paying a visit to the Laundromat to look it over and to sign the papers. He had insisted on meeting at the Laundromat even though Lynne had tried to convince him to meet at Mills' offices. If she got out in time and contacted him then there was a chance of saving the business. Whatever her mother had used to entice, Mr. Mills to buy the business, she would have to find a way to get him not to buy it.