EVERYONE THOUGHT THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD HAD DESTROYED THE FAMILY’S PRICELESS CAROUSEL IN A FIT OF ANGER
. THEN THE BROKEN BASE OPENED—AND HIS FATHER FOUND HIS DEAD WIFE’S NAME INSIDE.**
The bronze horse hit the glass dome.
Crash.
“Theo!”
Victor Ashcroft rushed downstairs.
“Stop right now!”
Theo stood beside the shattered carousel, breathing quickly.
Yet instead of looking guilty, he stared at one specific place beneath the broken base.
Lena noticed.
“Theo, don’t move. There’s glass everywhere.”
A thin seam had appeared.
“Sir…”
“What?”
“There’s something underneath.”
She carefully opened the hidden compartment.
A silver key.
A hospital bracelet.
Then Mrs. Ashcroft appeared.
“Put that down this instant.”
Victor turned.
“Why?”
“That music box belonged to this family long before Theo was born.”
“And apparently someone modified it.”
Lena unfolded the bracelet.
Evelyn Ashcroft.
Victor went completely still.
“That’s impossible.”
His wife had supposedly died two years earlier.
“Give it to me.”
Theo stepped protectively in front of the carousel.
“Move, Theo.”
He refused.
“Mother?”
“He’s upset. He doesn’t understand what he’s pointing at.”
Theo shook his head.
Victor picked up the key.
“What does this open?”
“I have no idea.”
Theo immediately looked toward his grandmother.
“You know?”
“Victor, stop interrogating him.”
“I asked my son a question.”
“You’re frightening him.”
“No,” Lena said.
“He was frightened before you arrived.”
“You are an employee.”
“She stays.”
Victor crouched beside Theo.
“You’re not in trouble.”
“Did you know those things were inside?”
Theo nodded.
“How?”
His finger pointed directly toward Mrs. Ashcroft.
“You saw Grandma hide them?”
Another nod.
“That never happened.”
Theo pointed upstairs.
“The west wing?”
Yes.
“What is in the west wing?”
“Storage rooms.”
“You told me those rooms were sealed after Evelyn died.”
“They were.”
Then Theo whispered one word he had barely been able to say for months.
“Mommy.”
Victor’s breath caught.
“What about Mommy?”
Theo pointed from the hospital bracelet toward the west wing.
“She was there?”
He nodded.
“No.”
“Then explain the bracelet.”
Mrs. Ashcroft had no answer.
Theo touched the key.
“Door.”
“The key opens a door?”
He pointed toward the forbidden hallway.
Mrs. Ashcroft backed away.
“Victor, don’t open that door.”
Victor stared at her.
“You just told me you didn’t know what the key opened.”
Silence.
“What is behind that door?”
“There are things about Evelyn you don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
“If you open that room, nothing in this family will remain the same.”
“My wife is dead.”
Theo suddenly reached for his father.
“She locked Mommy in.”
Victor froze.
“What did you say?”
“She locked Mommy in.”
“Where?”
The west wing.
“You told me Evelyn died at the clinic.”
“She did.”
“No.”
“You saw her after that?”
Theo nodded.
“Theo, stop.”
“Do not tell him to stop.”
Then came the detail Victor could not explain away.
“Mommy was crying.”
“She said Daddy would come.”
Victor looked at the silver key.
For two years, one locked door had remained untouched.
May you like
Now his four-year-old son was telling him his supposedly dead mother had once been behind it."
Ready to continue this drama? The next chapter begins at the link below.
