Chapter 10 - The Memory
They searched the second floor.
Nothing.
No intruder.
No open window.
No hidden passage.
But in the old nursery, Nora found something.
A wooden music box.
She recognized it immediately.
Her mother had owned one.
Nora picked it up.
When she opened it, a melody played.
And suddenly the memory returned.
She was four years old.
She was under a desk.
Her grandfather was shouting.
Silas stood across from him.
Another man stood beside him.
Nora recognized the voice.
Julian's father.
But there was someone else.
A woman.
Nora couldn't see her face.
The woman placed a black ledger on the desk.
Her grandfather reached for it.
The woman pulled it away.
Then the gunshot.
Nora gasped.
The memory vanished.
Julian rushed toward her.
What did you see?
Nora looked at him.
Your father.
He was there.
Julian's face tightened.
And?
A woman.
Who?
I don't know.
Evelyn stepped closer.
What did she look like?
Nora closed her eyes.
She wore a silver bracelet.
Evelyn went completely still.
What?
The bracelet.
Evelyn looked at Charles.
You never told her.
Told me what?
Evelyn slowly raised her wrist.
Around it was a thin silver bracelet.
Nora stared.
The same design.
No.
Evelyn whispered.
It can't be.
Charles looked terrified.
Who gave you that?
Evelyn touched it.
My sister.
Nora frowned.
You had a sister?
Evelyn nodded.
Her name was Clara.
What happened to her?
Evelyn's eyes filled with fear.
She died before you were born.
Charles shook his head.
No.
Evelyn turned.
What?
Charles looked toward the hallway.
Clara didn't die.
Nora felt the same cold sensation she had felt when Evelyn first entered the chapel.
Then who was the woman in the memory?
Charles didn't answer.
David did.
The woman who disappeared after the shooting.
The woman Silas spent twenty-five years trying to find.
Evelyn whispered.
Clara.
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
The sound came from inside Nora's purse.
She pulled it out.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Hello?
A woman's voice whispered.
Nora.
Who is this?
The voice became softer.
Your aunt.
Nora's eyes widened.
Clara?
The woman said:
May you like
Don't trust your mother.
Then the call ended.
