Chapter 6: The Secret Compartment
I ran upstairs so quickly that I nearly slipped on the last step.
The oak box sat where Vanessa had abandoned it, its contents scattered across my bedroom floor. My mother's photographs lay beside the bed. A faded birthday card had been crushed beneath one of my textbooks.
I dropped to my knees and lifted the box.
“False bottom,” I whispered.
The wood felt heavier than it should have.
I ran my fingers along the interior, searching for a seam. At first, I found nothing. Then I remembered the tiny brass key my mother had attached to a ribbon inside the box when she gave it to me.
I'd never known what it opened.
I found it beneath a stack of old letters.
A narrow brass plate sat near one corner of the box. When I pressed it, something clicked.
The bottom panel lifted.
Inside was a small black flash drive, a folded receipt, and a photograph of my mother standing with Daniel Mercer outside the same brick office building.
On the back of the photograph, she'd written:
For Emily, when she is old enough to ask why.
I picked up the flash drive.
Behind me, Dad appeared in the doorway.
“Did you find it?””
I held up the drive.
He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
“That's it,” he whispered.
“What's on it?””
“Probably copies of the financial records Daniel was investigating.””
“Then why hide it in my box?””
“Because your mother knew you would keep it safe.””
I looked at the photograph.
“Why didn't you search the box yourself?””
“I did. After she died, I looked through everything I could find. But I never knew there was a hidden compartment.””
“Did Vanessa know?””
Dad's silence answered me.
A moment later, his phone rang again.
Daniel.
Dad put it on speaker.
“Richard, did Emily find the drive?””
“Yes.””
“Good. Don't plug it into a computer connected to the internet. Make a copy first, and don't let Vanessa near it.””
I gripped the phone.
“You keep saying she knows you're alive. Why would she care about a flash drive after eleven years?””
Daniel's voice softened.
“Because the files don't just show where the money went. They show who authorized the transfers, who altered the records, and who benefited when your mother died.””
My stomach twisted.
“Are you saying Vanessa killed my mother?””
“No,” Daniel replied.
“I'm saying the evidence raises questions the police never got to investigate properly. I won't accuse anyone of murder without proof.””
Dad leaned closer to the phone.
“Then why did you disappear?””
A long silence followed.
“Because someone broke into my office three nights after Eleanor died,” Daniel said.
“They took the originals and left a message telling me to stop investigating. The next day, I found out someone had accessed my bank accounts and emptied them. My reputation was destroyed before I could defend myself.””
“Why didn't you go to the police?”” I asked.
“I did. But I couldn't prove who had done it. I was afraid that if I stayed, whoever was responsible would come after my family.””
“You had a family?””
“My wife and daughter. I sent them out of state, then followed them under a different name. I spent years trying to rebuild my life while quietly looking for a way to prove what happened.””
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“And you never contacted me?””
“I did, once. Six months after Eleanor died. Someone answered your phone and told me you wanted nothing more to do with the case.””
Dad's head lifted.
“I never received that call.””
“That's what I feared.””
I thought of Vanessa answering the house phone while Dad was at work. Of the way she'd always insisted on screening his calls. Of the messages she claimed were wrong numbers.
“Who answered?”” I asked.
“I couldn't identify the voice. But I recognized something else.””
“What?””
“A phrase. The person said, 'The past is buried, and it needs to stay that way.'' Eleanor used those exact words in a letter she wrote me shortly before her death. She was quoting someone who had threatened her.””
Dad stood motionless.
“Who threatened her?””
Daniel's reply came quietly.
“I believe it was Vanessa.””
A sound came from downstairs.
The front door opened.
Dad glanced toward the hallway.
“Emily, stay here.””
He hurried down the stairs.
I followed, keeping the phone in my hand.
Vanessa stood in the foyer, her purse hanging from her shoulder. She looked directly at Dad, then at me.
Her eyes dropped to the flash drive.
For a second, her face revealed everything.
Fear.
“You found it,” she whispered.
I stepped backward.
“How did you know?””
Vanessa shut the front door behind her.
“Richard, give me the drive.””
Dad positioned himself between us.
“No.””
“You don't understand what you're doing.””
“Then explain it.””
She shook her head, breathing hard.
“Those files are incomplete. They'll make everything look worse than it was.””
“Were you taking money from the company?”” I asked.
She turned toward me.
“I was borrowing it.””
“Without permission?””
“I intended to pay it back.””
“How much?””
Vanessa looked at Dad.
“Three hundred thousand dollars.””
The number landed like a physical blow.
“Mom found out?””
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears, but I couldn't tell whether they were genuine.
“Yes.””
“And you met her that night.””
“Yes.””
“What happened after she left?””
Vanessa pressed a hand against her mouth.
“I didn't follow her.””
Dad's voice cracked.
“Then why did you lie about seeing her?””
“Because I knew what it looked like! Eleanor threatened to expose me. I was afraid of losing everything.””
“You told me she left before you arrived,” Dad said.
“I panicked!””
I held the flash drive tightly.
“Did you have anything to do with Daniel disappearing?””
“No.””
“Did you break into his office?””
“No!””
“Did you threaten Mom?””
Vanessa's expression changed.
She looked at me for a long moment, then whispered, “Your mother was going to destroy my life.””
“That doesn't answer my question.””
“She wouldn't listen to reason.””
“Did you threaten her?””
Vanessa's eyes flickered toward the staircase.
Then she said, “I told her that if she exposed me, she would regret it.””
Dad staggered backward.
I felt the room tilt.
“You threatened my mother the night she died?””
“I didn't kill her!”” Vanessa shouted.
“I swear to you, I didn't touch her car. I didn't cause that accident.””
Nobody spoke.
Then a sound came from the phone in my hand.
Daniel was still on the line.
“Emily,” he said urgently, “listen to me. The drive is only half the evidence.””
I looked down at it.
“What do you mean?””
“Your mother recorded a conversation the night she died. The recording was never on the drive. She gave it to someone she trusted to keep it safe.””
Dad's face tightened.
“Who?””
Daniel hesitated.
Then he answered.
“Your mother told me she gave the recording to her daughter.””
I stared at him.
“But I was six.””
“I know. She said she hid it somewhere you would find when you were old enough.””
My gaze drifted toward the kitchen, where the broken photograph still lay beside the trash can.
Then I remembered the small silver locket my mother had worn every day.
The locket Dad had told me was lost after her funeral.
“Dad,” I whispered, “where is Mom's locket?””
He looked confused.
“I thought you had it.””
“I don't.””
Vanessa suddenly went rigid.
Her hand moved instinctively toward the pocket of her coat.
I saw it.
Dad saw it too.
“Vanessa,” he said slowly, “what's in your pocket?””
She backed toward the door.
“Nothing.””
I took one step toward her.
“Give me my mother's locket.””
Her face crumpled.
Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small silver chain.
At its end hung the locket I'd spent eleven years believing was lost.
But Vanessa wasn't looking at the locket.
She was staring at the tiny memory card concealed inside its opened clasp.
May you like
And when Dad saw the label written on the card in my mother's handwriting, he whispered the words that brought the room to a standstill.
*“This recording could prove who was in the car that night.””*
