I Came Home From Deployment Three Days Early… Then I Found a Notebook With My Name on It
Chapter 10
Claire couldn’t remember.
That was the problem.
Her mother had died years ago.
Her memories of that night were fragmented.
A storm.
A ringing phone.
Her mother crying.
A man standing outside.
And Ethan’s father.
She had never understood why he was there.
Until now.
Ethan found an old photograph in Lucas’s box.
It showed his father standing outside Claire’s childhood home.
The date was the night he died.
Claire stared at it.
“Why was he there?”
Lucas found another document.
A police report.
No crime.
No accusation.
Just a note:
Witness states that Thomas Cole arrived shortly before midnight.
Claire’s breathing became shallow.
“I remember.”
Everyone looked at her.
“He came to my house.”
“Why?”
“My mother had found something.”
“What?”
“The key.”
Claire suddenly covered her mouth.
“My mother gave it to him.”
Ethan felt a chill.
“Then where did it go?”
Claire looked at him.
“She told me to hide it.”
“Where?”
“I don’t remember.”
Mia took her hand.
“Think.”
Claire closed her eyes.
She remembered her childhood bedroom.
A wooden music box.
A loose floorboard.
Her mother saying:
Don’t tell anyone where you put it.
Claire opened her eyes.
“The music box.”
They returned to her mother’s old house.
The place had been sold years ago, but Claire still had an old box of belongings.
At the bottom was the music box.
Its melody still worked.
Ethan turned it over.
There was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a brass key.
Number seven.
Claire started crying.
“Why would my mother keep this all these years?”
Ethan turned the key over.
A tiny inscription was carved into the back.
For the one who was never supposed to inherit.
Mia stared at the words.
Lucas whispered,
“My father.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Claire.
“The key wasn’t meant for an heir.”
He understood.
“It was meant for the person who could expose them.”
