Following The Thread
Halle started where she could. The deeds to the house, in her dad's filing folder, said the house had been built in 1928 and that the family who had owned it before Halle's dad had bought it in 1971. That was thirty years too late.
But the deeds went in a list, and at the bottom of the list was a name from much further back: *E. Brennan, 1937–1968*.
The Brennans had lived here during the war.
Halle's dad helped her find an old phone book online — the kind libraries scan in. Brennans on Wendell Street, late 1940s. Two adults. One child listed at the same address as the parents: *Brennan, Imogen, age 11*.
"That could be the one who wrote the letter," said Halle.
"Could be," said her dad. "Imogen would be about ninety-four now."
Halle wrote that down in her notebook. She also wrote: *find out about the cat.*
It took two more weeks of asking. She wrote to the local history society. She walked round to the corner shop, which had been there since 1936, and asked the man who ran it if he had ever heard of an Imogen Brennan from the street.
The shop man scratched his head. "Brennan, Brennan. There was an Imogen at school with my mother. They used to call her Im. She married a man called Patel. Imogen Patel now, I'd think. Lives somewhere on the south coast."
Halle's dad helped her find an Imogen Patel listed in a residential home in Brighton.
Halle wrote her a letter. She did