CHAPTER 6 : THE MESSAGE IN THE BOX
Emma remained beside the lake long after her father returned to the mansion.
The sunrise spread across the water, turning the surface into a sheet of gold. For the first time in years, she felt no need to check the time, answer a demand, or prepare herself for someone else’s anger.
She was free.
At least, that was what she believed.
Emma carried the wooden box back to her room and placed it on the dresser. The diamond pendant rested inside, harmless now that the miniature recorder had been removed.
She touched the stone with one finger.
It had recorded Adrian’s confession.
It had helped convict him.
It had saved her life.
But something about the box bothered her.
The pendant had always been stored in a velvet case, not a wooden one.
She lifted it again and examined the interior. The lining felt uneven beneath her fingertips. Pressing against one corner, she heard a faint click.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the velvet.
Inside was a tiny brass key and a folded piece of paper.
Emma’s heartbeat quickened.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
She unfolded the note.
Adrian was not working alone.
Beneath the sentence was an address in downtown Chicago and a date.
Tomorrow.
At midnight.
Emma immediately carried the note downstairs.
Richard was in his study, speaking with one of his attorneys. When he saw his daughter’s face, he ended the call.
“What happened?”
Emma placed the note and the key on his desk.
Richard read the message twice.
His expression hardened.
“Where did you find this?”
“In the box you gave me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You didn’t put it there?”
“No.”
Richard picked up the wooden box and examined the base.
“This came from the evidence department,” he said. “My attorney collected it after the trial.”
“Then someone placed the message inside before it reached you.”
Richard reached for his phone.
Emma stopped him.
“Wait.”
“We need to call the police.”
“And tell them what? That an anonymous person left me a mysterious key?”
“We tell them everything.”
Emma looked at the address again.
“No. First, we find out who owns that building.”
Richard studied her carefully.
Six months earlier, she would have lowered her eyes and allowed him to make every decision.
Now she held his gaze.
“I’m not walking into another trap,” she said. “But I’m not hiding from the truth either.”
Richard gave a reluctant nod.
Within an hour, his security team discovered that the address belonged to an abandoned private bank that had closed fourteen years earlier.
The property was scheduled for demolition.
The date on the note was the final night anyone could enter the building.
Richard placed the brass key beside the address.
“Whatever Adrian hid there,” he said, “someone is afraid it will be destroyed.”
Emma stared at the key.
“Or someone wants me to find it.”
That evening, a guard discovered a black envelope beneath the estate’s front gate.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Emma standing beside the lake that morning.
The picture had been taken from the trees.
May you like
Written across the bottom were five words:
Prison walls cannot protect you.
