Chapter 2 - The Box Under the Floor
Sophie remembered her mother in pieces.
A perfume bottle.
A yellow sweater.
A song about rain.
The way Anna always cut strawberries too thin.
And a silver key.
Sophie did not understand why she remembered the key.
Anna had shown it to her one night shortly before the accident.
Sophie had been three.
They were lying on the floor of Sophie's bedroom building a castle from wooden blocks.
Anna slipped a little silver key inside a stuffed rabbit.
"That's Bunny's secret," Anna whispered.
Sophie giggled.
"What does it open?"
"Something important."
"Treasure?"
Anna smiled.
"The kind of treasure you only understand when you're older."
Four years passed.
Sophie forgot almost everything about that night.
Until Rebecca began searching her room.
It happened three weeks after Lucas proposed.
Sophie returned from school early because the nurse said she had a fever.
Her babysitter, Mrs. Carter, brought her through the side entrance.
Rebecca did not hear them.
Sophie climbed the stairs.
Her bedroom door was open.
Rebecca was kneeling beside her toy chest.
Every stuffed animal had been removed.
Drawers were open.
Boxes were scattered across the carpet.
Sophie stood in the doorway.
"What are you doing?"
Rebecca jumped.
For half a second her face showed panic.
Then she smiled.
"Cleaning."
"My room?"
"Wedding photographs are coming up. I thought we'd organize everything."
Sophie saw her stuffed rabbit on the bed.
Its seam had been cut open.
Sophie ran toward it.
"You broke Bunny."
Rebecca caught her wrist.
Not hard enough to leave a bruise.
Hard enough to scare her.
"Where did your mother keep her documents?"
Sophie stared.
"What?"
"Her papers. Letters. Maybe a small box."
"I don't know."
Rebecca studied her expression.
"Think."
Sophie pulled her hand away.
"I don't know."
Rebecca released her.
"You shouldn't tell your father I was looking."
"Why?"
"Because he'll think we're fighting."
"We are fighting."
Rebecca smiled without warmth.
"No, Sophie. Fighting happens between equals."
That night Sophie waited until the mansion became quiet.
Lucas was on a business call.
Rebecca was downstairs.
Sophie pulled the damaged rabbit toward her.
She cried while trying to push the stuffing back inside.
Then something metallic dropped onto the carpet.
A silver key.
Sophie stared at it.
The memory returned.
Bunny's secret.
Sophie hid the key in her pajama pocket.
The following Saturday Lucas took Sophie to Anna's old family cottage near Lake Mercer.
He planned to collect childhood photographs for a memorial table Rebecca suggested including at the wedding.
The cottage had been unused for years.
Anna's father had died before Sophie was born.
Margaret had not returned since moving away.
Lucas opened windows while Sophie wandered into the old study.
There was a built-in bookshelf covering one wall.
Sophie found scratches near the bottom.
She pushed.
A narrow panel moved.
Behind it was a wooden box.
There was a silver lock.
Sophie stopped breathing.
She took out the key.
It fit.
Inside were dozens of envelopes.
Bank records.
Photographs.
A blue notebook.
And one sealed letter.
On the front Anna had written:
For Lucas, if anything happens to me before Sophie is old enough to understand.
Sophie recognized her mother's handwriting from birthday cards.
"Daddy?"
Lucas entered.
"What did you find?"
Sophie held up the envelope.
Lucas went pale.
He sat down.
For several seconds he simply stared at Anna's handwriting.
"Where was this?"
"Behind the books."
Lucas reached for it.
Then his phone rang.
Rebecca.
Lucas answered.
"Hey."
Her voice was urgent.
"Lucas, where are you?"
"At the lake house."
There was silence.
"With Sophie?"
"Yes."
"What are you doing there?"
Lucas looked at the envelope.
"Finding things we should have found years ago."
Rebecca's breathing changed.
"What things?"
Before Lucas could answer, Sophie heard the front door open.
Someone had entered the cottage.
Lucas stood.
"Hello?"
No answer.
He put the letter on the desk.
"Stay here."
Lucas walked into the hallway.
Sophie remained beside the desk.
Then she noticed movement outside the window.
A black SUV was parked near the tree line.
A man stood beside it.
Charles Whitmore.
Rebecca's father.
Sophie had met him twice.
He was looking directly at the study window.
Sophie ducked.
A moment later Lucas returned.
"No one there."
Sophie pointed outside.
"Rebecca's dad."
Lucas looked.
The SUV was gone.
He smiled gently.
"Are you sure?"
Sophie nodded.
Lucas picked up Anna's letter.
"Let's take this home."
But when they returned to Rosewood that evening, the envelope disappeared.
Lucas believed he had misplaced it.
Sophie knew he had not.
Because she had seen Rebecca beside the suitcase while Lucas carried groceries into the kitchen.
That night Sophie walked past Rebecca's office.
The door was slightly open.
Rebecca was speaking on the phone.
"I have Anna's letter."
Charles said something Sophie could not hear.
Rebecca answered.
"No. Lucas didn't open it."
Another pause.
May you like
Then Rebecca whispered the sentence Sophie would remember on the wedding day.
"Now we just need to find the trust documents before the girl does."
