Chapter 2 - The Bracelet in the Blue Box
"Daniel Mercer."
The stranger stopped just inside the door.
He was perhaps fifty, wearing a charcoal jacket and carrying no umbrella, briefcase, or shopping bag. He didn't look at the jewelry.
He looked only at me.
Then Lily.
Then the envelope.
Arthur moved subtly between Lily and the stranger.
"You need to leave," Arthur said.
The man smiled.
"That's not very welcoming."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Someone Emily trusted."
"Name."
"Thomas Reed."
The name stirred nothing.
He took another step.
Lily backed against me.
I felt her tiny shoulder touch my leg.
That decided the conversation.
"Stay there," I said.
Thomas stopped.
His smile disappeared.
"Emily told me you'd react like this."
"You knew Emily?"
"Better than you did."
The words landed deliberately.
I ignored the provocation.
"Why are you here?"
"Because Arthur called me."
I turned toward Arthur.
"I didn't call him," Arthur said.
Thomas laughed softly.
"No. But your alarm did."
Arthur's expression hardened.
Thomas pointed toward the bracelet.
"Emily arranged something before she died. The bracelet leaving that display case was the trigger."
"What trigger?"
"A notification."
"To whom?"
"Me."
Lily looked between us.
I hated that she was hearing any of this.
I crouched.
"Lily, would you go with Mr. Bell into his office for a minute?"
"No."
"You'll be safe."
"No."
Her voice became firmer.
"People always make me leave when they talk about Mama."
That sentence stopped me.
I understood too well what adults did when they believed secrecy was protection.
I'd spent eight years on the receiving end of it.
"Okay," I said. "You stay."
Thomas watched me carefully.
"You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
He looked at Lily.
I stepped into his line of sight.
"Talk to me."
Thomas exhaled.
"Open the letter."
I did.
Inside was a single sheet.
Daniel,
If Lily found the courage to come back for the bracelet, then she's stronger than I was.
My vision blurred.
I kept reading.
Please don't punish her for my fear.
Don't punish yourself either.
There are things I should have told you years ago. I convinced myself silence was protection. Maybe sometimes it was. Mostly it was cowardice.
The bracelet will tell you where to start.
But before you open it, ask Thomas what happened on October 3.
I lowered the page.
October third.
Lily's birthday.
Thomas had gone pale.
"What happened on October third?"
He glanced toward Lily.
"Not here."
"You don't get to decide that."
"Daniel—"
"What happened?"
Lily whispered, "That's my birthday."
Thomas closed his eyes.
"I know."
The little girl stiffened.
"You knew Mama?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't I know you?"
Thomas had no answer.
I placed the letter down.
Then I lifted the bracelet.
It was heavier than expected.
I examined the center setting.
"She said the bracelet would tell me where to start."
Arthur nodded toward the clasp.
"Emily wouldn't let me clean it."
I turned it over.
There.
Almost invisible beneath the clasp was a tiny engraved sequence.
1003-DM.
October 3.
Daniel Mercer.
My hands started shaking.
I hated that Lily saw it.
"Mr. Mercer?"
I looked at her.
She was studying my face.
"Did you know my mama?"
There was no safe lie left.
"Yes."
Her eyes widened.
"When?"
"A long time ago."
"Before me?"
"Yes."
Thomas interrupted.
"We should move somewhere private."
I ignored him.
Lily touched the bracelet.
"Mama wore it every day."
"Do you know who gave it to her?"
She nodded.
"A man she loved."
My breath caught.
"Did she tell you his name?"
"No."
"Anything about him?"
Lily thought.
"She said he was stubborn."
Arthur coughed into his fist.
Despite everything, I nearly laughed.
That sounded like Emily.
"Anything else?"
"She said he thought he could fix everything."
That sounded even more like me.
"And?"
Lily lowered her voice.
"She said she broke his heart."
The room became very still.
Thomas looked away.
I closed my hand around the bracelet.
"October third," I said. "Now."
Thomas finally nodded.
"Emily called me from St. Matthew's Hospital."
My heart began pounding.
"Why?"
"She'd just given birth."
Lily stared at him.
Thomas continued carefully.
"She was alone. Terrified. She asked me to come."
"And where was I?"
"She didn't call you."
"Why?"
"Because two days earlier someone had visited her."
"Who?"
"I never learned his name."
"What did he want?"
"To make sure she disappeared from your life."
Anger moved through me like electricity.
"Who sent him?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Then why keep this secret for eight years?"
Thomas's face tightened.
"Because Emily believed whoever separated you was watching you."
"That makes no sense."
"It will."
He pointed toward the bracelet.
"Open the clasp."
I examined it again.
There was no obvious compartment.
Arthur handed me a jeweler's loupe.
Under magnification, I noticed a tiny recessed pin beside the central setting.
Arthur used a tool to press it.
Click.
The center ornament released.
Inside was something no larger than a fingernail.
A tiny memory card.
Thomas swore.
Arthur stared.
Even he hadn't known.
Lily whispered, "Mama hid that?"
I carefully removed it.
"Apparently."
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a distorted voice said, "Put the bracelet back."
I looked around the shop.
"Who is this?"
"You've already lost Emily."
My blood turned cold.
The voice continued.
"Don't make the mistake of losing her daughter too."
The call ended.
I stared at Lily.
Thomas was already moving toward the windows.
Arthur locked the front door.
"Daniel," Thomas said.
"What?"
He pointed across the street.
A black SUV had been parked behind my car.
May you like
Its rear door was opening.
And someone was stepping out.
