Chapter 3 - The Locket Opens

Thomas tried to walk away.

I caught his sleeve.

"Answer me."

He yanked his arm free. "Not here."

"Here is perfect."

Emily stood rigid beside Kevin, one hand pressed against the locket. Daniel laid the old incident log on the table.

The entry was blurred with age, but I could read his handwriting.

02:19 - T. Ashford exiting restricted corridor. Carrying bundle. Refused assistance.

My stomach turned.

"Why didn't you tell the police?" I asked.

Daniel's eyes lowered. "I did."

Thomas laughed once. "There was a fire. People were confused."

Daniel looked at me. "My statement disappeared from the final report. Two weeks later, I was fired."

Thomas's expression did not change, but a pulse jumped in his neck.

Emily suddenly unclasped her necklace.

"You said this belonged to you?"

She held the locket toward me.

I did not touch it at first. I was afraid that if I did, the last eighteen years would become real in a way I could not survive.

Then I took it.

The metal was scratched. The hinge was stiff. I pressed my thumbnail into the tiny groove and opened it.

Inside, the left side was empty.

On the right were two nearly invisible letters.

M.A.

My initials.

I covered my mouth.

"My mother gave me this," I whispered. "I put it around my baby's neck because she said every Ashford woman should carry something from the woman before her."

Emily stared at me.

"My last name isn't really Hart," she said quietly. "The state gave me that name when I entered foster care."

Thomas snapped, "Enough."

I turned on him. "Why are you scared?"

"I'm not scared. I'm embarrassed. You're interrogating a waitress in front of half the city."

Emily flinched at the word waitress.

I stepped closer to him.

"Her name is Emily."

For one second, Thomas looked at her with something colder than fear.

Recognition.

Daniel reached into the envelope again.

"There's more."

Thomas lunged for the papers.

Kevin blocked him.

"Sir, don't."

The dining room went silent again.

Daniel pulled out a photograph. It showed the rear entrance of St. Anne's Convent on the morning after the hospital fire. A dark sedan was parked near the gate.

Thomas owned that model in 2008.

On the back, someone had written a license plate number.

It matched his old car.

I looked up.

Thomas's face was blank now.

Too blank.

Then Emily whispered, "There's something else inside the locket."

She pointed to the velvet lining.

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A corner had come loose.

Behind it was a tiny folded piece of paper.