Chapter 6 - LOCKER 317
Nora asked for a postponement of the guardianship hearing while the doctor's affidavit was investigated. The court granted a short delay, not a victory. Beatrice remained free to tell anyone who would listen that Clara had endangered Rosie.
At the hospital, Rosie woke long enough to whisper, “Duck swim.”
Clara brushed damp curls from her forehead. “Did someone give you the duck, sweetheart?”
Rosie pressed her face into the stuffed rabbit. “White lady.”
Clara stopped breathing. Beatrice had worn white linen beside the pool. But toddlers mixed words and memories. Clara refused to turn a frightened child's sentence into an interrogation.
That afternoon Silas recognized 317 on a rental receipt Daniel had tucked into an old gardening invoice: Northline Storage, unit 317. Daniel had paid six months in cash. Nora arranged to open it with the company's manager and recorded the inventory as they went.
Inside stood a cardboard box, one folding chair, and a plastic bin labeled CHRISTMAS. Clara nearly cried at the sight of Daniel's handwriting.
“Don't touch the laptop yet,” Nora warned. “We want an independent forensic copy.”
Beneath the chair, they found a photograph of Rosie on her first birthday. Daniel had written on the back: Tell her I was trying to keep her safe. Clara put the picture against her heart.
In the bin lay an old phone, bank statements, a sealed envelope addressed to Nora, and a jeweler's receipt for a custom alteration to Daniel's wedding band. Nora opened her envelope.
If you're reading this, the ledger is real, Daniel had written. But the ledger isn't the worst thing. Ask who ordered the cameras turned off the first time.
Clara looked at the receipt again. Engraved under “repair instructions” were six words:
DO NOT FORCE THE INNER SEAM.
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The ring around her neck suddenly felt heavier than gold.
