Chapter 13 - The Song in the Box
The music box was painted green, with a silver bird on its lid. It had belonged to Nora's grandmother and played a thin, sweet tune that I hadn't heard since the funeral.
With Priya's guidance and proper access, I retrieved it from the reading room. The wooden bottom had come loose. Behind it lay a small folded page, smoothed by Wren's careful fingers.
It was a drawing, not a contract. Wren had drawn Grandma Elaine in purple, Celia in red, and a man with a square briefcase. Beside them was a large blue rectangle. Under it, in uneven letters, she had written: THEY SAY DADDY WILL SIGN WHEN I GO AWAY.
I had to sit down.
Rose recognized the date written at the top. "That's the night Celia told Wren she'd be sent to the special school. She was crying when I found her."
The drawing didn't prove what the adults had said, but it told me how Wren had understood it. I copied it for her advocate without asking her to explain it again.
Detective Park called. Investigators had identified payments from a company linked to West into an account Celia shared with Elaine. The transfers began months before the soup incident.
"We have questions about the purpose of those payments," Park said. "West has retained counsel."
"Do you think they planned to take Wren away?"
"We don't have evidence of an actual removal arranged. But we've seen documents that point toward an effort to portray her as unmanageable."
I put the music box back in Wren's hands at Hannah's. She opened it once, listened to two bars, then snapped it shut.
"Daddy," she said, "the man with the briefcase said the lake house was already gone."
May you like
I stared at her drawing. The man wore a tie with orange stripes.
The next morning, West appeared on the news in that exact tie, announcing a development planned for Willow Point.
