Chapter 2 - The Box in Storage
The box was dusty but not old.
That was the first strange thing.
The second was the label.
BENNETT.
Charlie followed.
He did not cry anymore.
Inside were three sweaters, a pair of worn work gloves, a coffee mug, and a small cedar box.
Robert.
I knew because Charlie climbed into the cardboard box and buried his face in one sweater.
I called Margaret.
“Hello?”
“Margaret, this is Claire from Lakeside.”
“Is Charlie okay?”
“Yes. But I found something.”
Silence.
“What?”
“A box with Robert’s things.”
Her breathing changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because I packed Robert’s clothes myself.”
“Could someone have donated them?”
“No.”
I opened the cedar box.
The note had Robert’s name at the top.
I did not read further.
“Margaret, there’s also a key and a letter.”
She whispered, “Don’t open it.”
“I haven’t.”
“I’m coming.”
She arrived twenty minutes later wearing slippers and a raincoat over pajamas.
“That was his favorite.”
“Do you know how it got here?”
“No.”
She picked up the note.
Her hands shook.
It read:
Margaret,
If this box reaches Lakeside, something happened before I could explain.
Please trust Charlie.
He knows where I kept the rest.
Margaret stared at the page.
I felt cold.
“What rest?”
“I don’t know.”
Charlie jumped onto the chair beside her.
Then he pawed the brass key.
Margaret looked at me.
“Robert had been acting strange the week before he died.”
“How?”
“Checking the windows. Locking the garage. He asked me if the cat ever cried when he was scared.”
I looked down at Charlie.
“What did you say?”
“I told him Charlie cried when he wanted Robert.”
Margaret unfolded the bottom of the note.
There was one more line.
Do not let Laura see this.
Margaret went completely still.
May you like
Laura was her daughter.
The woman Margaret was moving in with the next morning.
