Chapter 5 - The Necklace in the Photograph
Eleanor ordered the staff to clean the broken glass.
Then she told Rebecca to take the children outside.
Neither child moved.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“What basement?”
“This house has several storage rooms.”
“Sophie said you wear Anna’s necklace when you go there.”
“She is confused.”
Sophie shook her head.
“No, I’m not.”
Rebecca grabbed her daughter’s shoulders.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Sophie pulled away.
“You told me the necklace was a key.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
It happened quickly, almost instinctively, but everyone saw it.
Daniel stepped forward.
Rebecca released Sophie.
“You will not silence her,” he said.
“This is my child.”
“And she is afraid of you.”
“She is dramatic.”
Sophie wiped her eyes.
“I saw Grandma press the blue stone against the wall.”
Daniel remembered the woman outside Lily’s school asking about a necklace with a blue stone.
He took out his phone and opened an old photograph.
Anna stood beside a lake wearing the sapphire pendant.
He showed it to Sophie.
“Is this the necklace?”
Sophie nodded.
Eleanor did not look at the photograph.
Daniel turned the screen toward her.
“You said it was lost in the crash.”
“I assumed it was.”
“Then how did you get it?”
“I didn’t.”
Sophie pointed toward the diamond brooch on Eleanor’s silver dress.
“It’s behind that.”
Eleanor covered the brooch with one hand.
Daniel moved closer.
“Take it off.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“You have forgotten who you are speaking to.”
“No. I am finally remembering.”
Rebecca stepped between them.
“Daniel, stop humiliating her.”
“Then she can show me the brooch.”
Eleanor removed it herself.
Behind the large diamond setting, a smaller chain had been looped around the pin.
A sapphire pendant hung from it.
Anna’s necklace.
Lily stared at it.
Her face became completely still.
“That was Mommy’s.”
Eleanor closed her fingers around the stone.
“She gave it to me.”
“No,” Lily whispered.
Everyone turned toward her.
Lily took one step forward.
“She told me never to let Grandma have it.”
Eleanor’s expression changed.
“You were too young to remember.”
“I remember her crying.”
Daniel crouched beside Lily.
“Where were you?”
“In the car.”
The air left Daniel’s lungs.
“What car?”
“Mommy’s car. Before it rained.”
Daniel had never asked Lily about the day of the accident in detail. Therapists advised him not to force memories she could not understand. Lily remembered Anna leaving her with a babysitter that afternoon, but little else.
Now Lily’s hands were shaking.
“Mommy had the necklace,” she continued. “She put it in my pocket. She said it opened the place where she kept the truth.”
Eleanor moved toward her.
Daniel blocked the path.
“Stay away.”
Eleanor’s voice lowered.
“Daniel, she is inventing this because Sophie frightened her.”
Lily shook her head.
“Grandma came to the car.”
Daniel felt ice spread through his body.
“What happened?”
“Mommy gave her something. Grandma got angry.”
“What did she give her?”
“A paper.”
Eleanor looked toward the hallway.
Rebecca began backing away.
Daniel noticed.
“Where are you going?”
Rebecca stopped.
“To check on the guests.”
“Nobody leaves.”
Rebecca laughed nervously.
“You can’t trap everyone inside.”
“I’m not trapping anyone. I’m asking my sister to remain in the room while my daughter explains why she remembers Mother standing beside Anna’s car hours before Anna died.”
Eleanor’s face remained calm.
“That meeting never happened.”
Lily looked directly at her.
“You broke Mommy’s phone.”
The words struck harder than a scream.
Daniel remembered the police report.
Anna’s phone had not been found after the accident.
He had assumed it was thrown from the vehicle.
Lily pointed toward the blue room upstairs.
“Mommy had another phone.”
Daniel followed her gaze.
“She hid it behind the books.”
May you like
Eleanor turned toward the staircase.
At that exact moment, smoke began pouring from beneath the blue door.
