Chapter 12 - What Lily Remembered
By the time we got back to Nora’s, the entire block was full of police.
Lily was safe.
Marcus had never reached the house.
But Claire’s warning changed the questions Rachel asked.
“Lily,” she said gently, “did your mommy ever hide something with you?”
Lily stared at Benny, now badly stitched by Nora with blue thread.
“She made a treasure game.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“When I was little.”
“You were already little,” Nora said softly.
Lily frowned. “Littler.”
Despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped me.
Then Lily climbed off the couch.
“Mommy said find the place where Daddy makes thunder.”
Nora looked at me.
I knew exactly what it meant.
My workshop.
Before Lily was born, I restored old furniture in the detached garage. Anna used to complain that the nail gun sounded like thunder.
Police searched the workshop.
Nothing.
Then Lily walked to an old red toolbox and tapped the bottom drawer.
“Here.”
Inside were nails, clamps, measuring tape.
Rachel removed the drawer.
Behind it was a sealed envelope.
Inside: a brass key and a handwritten note from Anna.
Ethan,
If Lily is old enough to lead you here, I failed to keep this away from her life.
The key opens a storage unit under Nora’s maiden name. Everything is there. Do not bring Daniel. Do not trust Claire unless she tells you who she is without being forced.
I looked at Claire.
Her face collapsed.
Anna had known exactly what might happen.
Rachel checked the storage company.
Unit 118 still existed.
Paid automatically for three years from an account nobody recognized.
We arrived with a warrant just after noon.
Inside were twelve banker’s boxes.
Ledgers. Contracts. Photographs. Audio drives.
Enough paper to bury a company.
And sitting on top was a sealed envelope addressed to Marcus Vale.
Rachel opened it.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
Marcus,
If you are reading this, Ethan finally stopped trusting the wrong people.
May you like
Under the sentence was a list of six names.
The last name was mine.
