Chapter 1 - The Name on the Music Box
Claire knelt in the wet grass.
She placed white roses beside the marble tombstone.
Her seven-year-old daughter Lily had died five years ago.
The cold stone bore Lily’s name and birthdate.
Claire touched the carved letters gently.
A shadow fell over the grass.
Claire looked up slowly.
A little boy stood beside the grave.
He wore an oversized blue coat.
He held a dusty wooden music box in his hands.
Claire stared at the boy’s face.
He looked about seven years old.
The boy pointed a trembling finger at the tombstone.
"Is this where Lily sleeps?" he asked.
Claire’s voice caught in her throat.
"Yes," she whispered.
"How do you know her name?"
The boy did not answer her question.
He stepped closer to the marble headstone.
He set the wooden box on the wet grass.
"My name is Toby," the boy said softly.
"My mother told me to find you today."
Claire frowned in deep confusion.
She had never seen this child before.
Toby turned the small metal crank on the side.
A faint melody began to play.
Claire froze completely.
It was an obscure lullaby her own mother had composed.
Nobody outside her family knew that song.
Claire reached out with shaking fingers.
She picked up the wooden music box.
On the bottom, three letters were carved into the wood.
L. E. M.
Those were Lily’s full initials.
Claire held the box against her chest.
"Where did you get this?" Claire demanded.
Toby looked back toward the cemetery gates.
An old silver sedan was idling near the curb.
The tinted windows were completely rolled up.
"She said you traded me," Toby whispered.
Claire dropped the box into the grass.
"What did you just say?"
"She said I belonged to you first," Toby said.
Claire grabbed Toby’s small shoulders.
"Who sent you here, Toby?"
"My mother," Toby said softly.
"She told me to give you the box."
"What is her name?" Claire asked.
Toby pointed at the idling silver car.
"Her name is Sarah."
Claire felt the ground shift beneath her feet.
Sarah was Claire’s younger sister.
Sarah had moved away six years ago.
They had not spoken since Lily’s death.
The silver car shifted into drive.
Tires screeched against the gravel path.
The car sped away from the cemetery.
"Wait!" Claire shouted into the air.
Toby reached into his heavy coat pocket.
He pulled out a folded white envelope.
"She said to give you this paper."
Claire took the envelope from his hand.
Her fingers were stiff from the cold wind.
She opened the paper with trembling hands.
Inside was an official birth certificate.
The document was stamped by the county hospital.
It listed the birth of a baby boy.
The mother’s name was listed as Claire Miller.
The date of birth was seven years ago.
It was the exact day Lily was born.
Claire wiped a tear from her cheek.
She had given birth to a girl.
The hospital records had always said a girl.
Claire pulled her cell phone from her purse.
She dialed her husband Julian’s number.
Julian answered on the third ring.
"Claire, are you okay at the cemetery?"
"Julian, where are you right now?" she asked.
"I am at the office," Julian replied.
"I have a meeting in five minutes."
Claire heard a car horn in the background.
It sounded like the cemetery parking lot.
"Are you driving a silver sedan?" Claire asked.
Julian went silent for three seconds.
"Why would you ask me that?"
"There is a boy here," Claire said.
"He has Lily’s music box."
Julian took a heavy breath over the line.
"Claire, come home right now."
"Do not speak to anyone else."
"Do not look at any papers."
Claire looked down at the birth certificate.
Below her name was the father’s signature.
The signature belonged to Julian Miller.
Beside it was a second legal signature.
It belonged to Sarah Miller.
Claire looked at Toby standing in the grass.
"Who brought you to the hospital, Toby?"
"A doctor with silver hair," Toby answered.
Claire remembered the doctor from seven years ago.
Doctor Aris Thorne had delivered Lily.
Doctor Thorne was Julian’s uncle.
He had retired immediately after Lily’s birth.
Claire took Toby’s small hand in hers.
"We are going to my house," Claire said.
Toby nodded and pulled his hood up.
Claire walked the boy to her SUV.
She buckled him into the back seat.
The music box sat on the passenger seat.
Claire turned the key in the ignition.
Her hands were shaking on the steering wheel.
She drove straight to her suburban neighborhood.
Ten minutes later, she pulled into her driveway.
Julian’s car was already parked out front.
It was not his black truck.
A silver sedan sat in the driveway.
The engine was still warm and ticking.
Claire unbuckled Toby and held his hand.
They walked up the front wooden steps.
The front door was already unlocked.
Claire pushed the front door open slowly.
The living room was completely dark.
Julian was sitting in the wooden armchair.
A suit jacket lay across his lap.
Beside him stood an elderly man in a suit.
It was Doctor Aris Thorne.
Doctor Thorne carried a black leather briefcase.
Julian looked at Toby with cold eyes.
"You should not have brought him here," Julian said.
"He doesn't belong in this house."
Claire stood in the doorway holding Toby.
"Explain this birth certificate, Julian."
Doctor Thorne stepped forward into the light.
"Claire, you need to remain calm," Doctor Thorne said.
"You were very sick seven years ago."
"You remember how confused you were," the doctor said.
Claire shook her head in refusal.
"I was not confused about my child."
Julian stood up from his chair slowly.
"You gave birth to twins, Claire."
Claire stopped breathing for two seconds.
"Twins?" she whispered in disbelief.
"A boy and a girl," Julian said.
"The girl was very sick from birth."
"The boy was perfectly healthy," Julian added.
Claire looked down at Toby’s face.
"Why did I only hold one baby?"
Doctor Thorne set his briefcase on the table.
"Because your sister made a choice," Thorne said.
"Sarah took the boy six hours after birth."
Claire felt a sharp pain in her chest.
"Sarah stole my son?" Claire screamed.
Julian took a step toward Claire.
"She didn't steal him, Claire."
"I signed the adoption papers myself."
Claire took a step backward toward the door.
"You gave our son to Sarah?"
Julian opened his hands in a calm gesture.
"Sarah could not have children of her own."
"You were clinging to the dying girl."
"I thought it was best for everyone."
Toby gripped Claire’s coat sleeve tightly.
"Is he my dad?" Toby asked Claire.
Julian did not answer the little boy.
He opened Doctor Thorne’s black briefcase.
Inside were stacks of original hospital files.
Julian pulled out a sealed white envelope.
"Sarah broke our agreement by coming here," Julian said.
"She was supposed to stay in Chicago."
Doctor Thorne pulled a pen from his pocket.
"Claire, sign these final custody papers now."
"We will send Toby to a boarding school."
"He will be cared for properly there."
"No one ever needs to know about this."
Claire pulled Toby behind her back.
"I am not signing anything," Claire declared.
Doctor Thorne smiled weakly at Claire.
"If you refuse, Claire, think about the legalities."
"You abandoned this boy seven years ago."
"The hospital records show you signed him away."
"Your signature is on page three."
Claire stared at the document on the table.
Her signature was clearly written in black ink.
It was dated the morning after her delivery.
She had been heavily medicated that morning.
Claire remembered signing papers for medication.
She had never signed adoption paper work willingly.
Julian stepped closer to his wife.
"Sign the papers, Claire, or lose everything."
"If you fight this, you will look insane."
"A mother who forgot her own twin child."
"No court will take your side."
Toby tugged on Claire’s jacket sleeve again.
"Look inside the box," Toby whispered.
Claire looked at the wooden music box.
It was still in her jacket pocket.
Claire pulled the music box out slowly.
She opened the small wooden lid on top.
Underneath the velvet lining was an old key.
A metal tag was attached to the key.
The tag had a hand-written address on it.
It listed a storage facility on Main Street.
Unit forty-two was written in red ink.
Sarah had left the key for Claire.
Julian saw the key in Claire’s hand.
His face turned instantly pale with fear.
He lunged forward to grab the key.
Claire stepped sideways into the doorway.
She slammed the heavy oak door shut.
She locked the deadbolt from the outside.
Julian pounded his fist against the wood.
"Claire! Give me that key right now!"
Claire grabbed Toby’s hand tightly.
They ran down the wooden porch steps.
They got into her SUV and locked doors.
Julian’s shouting faded behind the glass.
Claire started the engine and reversed quickly.
She drove down the dark suburban street.
Rain began to fall against the windshield.
Claire looked at Toby in the rearview mirror.
"Are you okay back there?" she asked.
"Where are we going?" Toby asked quietly.
"To find out what your aunt left us," Claire said.
Ten minutes later, she pulled up to the storage.
The metal gates were open for the evening.
Claire found unit forty-two near the back.
She stepped out of the vehicle into rain.
Toby stayed inside the dry passenger seat.
Claire slipped the key into the heavy padlock.
The lock turned with a sharp click.
Claire pulled the heavy metal door upward.
The storage unit was mostly empty inside.
In the center sat a single oak desk.
On top of the desk was a laptop computer.
Beside the laptop was a cassette tape recorder.
A note was taped to the desk surface.
Claire read her sister’s handwriting in the dim light.
"Play the tape before Julian finds you."
Claire pressed the plastic button on the recorder.
The magnetic tape began to spin slowly.
Sarah’s voice came through the small speaker.
"Claire, if you are listening, I am dead."
Claire gasped and covered her mouth.
"Julian did not give me your son," Sarah said on tape.
"He sold him to me for fifty thousand dollars."
May you like
"And Lily did not die in that hospital."
The cassette tape popped and stopped spinning abruptly.
