Chapter 2 - The Woman at the School Gate
Daniel called the unknown number immediately.
The call did not connect.
He tried again from his office phone and received the same result. The number had either been disabled or created only to send the warning.
He spent the next morning asking his security director to trace it.
By noon, the answer came back.
The message had been routed through several temporary services. The origin could not be confirmed.
Daniel did not tell Lily.
She had already begun preparing Sophie’s birthday gift, a handmade scrapbook filled with photographs from school plays, family picnics and the few holidays the cousins had spent together.
On Friday afternoon, Daniel arrived at Lily’s school ten minutes earlier than usual.
He saw her standing near the gate with Sophie.
Sophie wore an expensive red coat and kept glancing toward a black car parked across the street.
Lily was holding something small in her palm.
Daniel stepped out of his car.
The moment Sophie saw him, she closed Lily’s fingers around the object.
“Don’t show anyone,” Sophie whispered.
Then she hurried toward Rebecca’s waiting driver.
Daniel walked over.
“What did Sophie give you?”
Lily opened her hand.
A tiny silver key rested in her palm.
It was old, narrow and engraved with the initials A.C.
Anna Collins.
Daniel felt the world tilt beneath him.
“Where did she get this?”
“She said it was taped under the box.”
“Did she bring the box to school?”
“No. Aunt Rebecca caught her looking at it and locked it somewhere else.”
Daniel examined the key.
Anna had owned several pieces of jewelry, but none used a key like this. The engraving was unmistakable. Anna used the same initials on her notebooks and teaching supplies.
A shadow moved near the school fence.
Daniel turned.
A woman in a beige coat stood on the opposite sidewalk.
She was watching Lily.
Daniel took one step toward her.
The woman turned and began walking quickly away.
“Stay here,” Daniel told Lily.
He crossed the road, but a bus moved between them. By the time it passed, the woman had disappeared into the afternoon crowd.
Daniel returned to Lily.
“Have you seen her before?”
Lily looked confused.
“The woman in the beige coat.”
Lily’s face changed.
Only for an instant.
“No.”
Daniel crouched in front of her.
“Lily.”
The child looked down.
“She came to the school last week.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked if you still kept Mom’s photographs.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She said you would be in danger if I did.”
Daniel looked toward the street again.
“What else did she ask?”
“She wanted to know if Grandma ever gave me a necklace.”
“A necklace?”
Lily touched the collar of her dress.
“She said it would have a small blue stone.”
Daniel remembered a sapphire pendant Anna had worn during the first year of their marriage. After the accident, it had not been among her personal belongings.
Eleanor claimed it must have been lost in the crash.
“Did the woman tell you her name?”
Lily nodded slowly.
“She said her name was Claire.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
It was Rebecca.
He answered without greeting her.
“Why was Sophie carrying something from Mother’s room?” he asked.
There was a pause.
“What are you talking about?”
“The silver key.”
Rebecca’s voice became careful.
“Sophie has been stealing small things recently. I’m dealing with it.”
“The key belonged to Anna.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Her initials are engraved on it.”
Rebecca said nothing.
Daniel heard a door close on her end of the call.
Then Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Bring the key tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever Sophie found belongs to Mother.”
“It has Anna’s initials.”
“Anna is dead, Daniel.”
The coldness in her voice made him grip the phone harder.
“That doesn’t make her belongings yours.”
“You are creating a mystery where there isn’t one.”
“Then tell me what the key opens.”
Rebecca exhaled.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She was staring across the street at the place where Claire had disappeared.
“Rebecca, did Anna ever speak to you about the Mercer Children’s Foundation?”
The silence lasted too long.
“I have guests arriving,” Rebecca said. “We’ll speak tomorrow.”
She ended the call.
Daniel lowered his phone.
Lily touched his hand.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“The woman from the school gate said one more thing.”
“What?”
“She said the box doesn’t belong to Grandma.”
Daniel waited.
May you like
Lily’s fingers closed around the silver key.
“She said it belongs to me.”
