Chapter 2 - THE BOX
The metal box was heavier than Ethan expected.
He and Chloe carried it onto the patio while Sarah kept glancing toward the driveway.
“Does Dad ever come home during lunch?” Chloe asked.
“Sometimes.”
“That’s comforting.”
Ethan brushed away the remaining dirt.
There was no padlock.
Only two metal latches.
He opened the first.
Then the second.
Sarah placed a hand on his wrist.
“Wait.”
Ethan looked at her.
“If we open this,” she said, “we can’t pretend we never found it.”
Chloe stared at her mother.
“He buried it in our backyard at one in the morning.”
Sarah removed her hand.
“Open it.”
The lid lifted.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Gold.
Four small gold bars lay along one side of the box.
Next to them were stacks of hundred-dollar bills wrapped in bank bands.
Ethan lifted one.
Ten thousand dollars.
There were at least fifteen bundles.
Chloe sat down hard in a patio chair.
“This could save us.”
Sarah didn't answer.
Her eyes were fixed on the money.
Two weeks earlier, she had stood at the pharmacy counter debating whether she could afford a medication her doctor had told her not to skip.
Daniel had been beside her.
He had squeezed her shoulder and said they needed to make sacrifices until things improved.
Sarah had left without the prescription.
Now hundreds of thousands of dollars were sitting three feet away.
Ethan moved one stack of cash.
“There’s more.”
Beneath it were documents.
Apartment leases.
Jewelry receipts.
Bank statements.
Wire confirmations.
And three sealed envelopes.
Each had a woman's name handwritten across the front.
VANESSA COLE.
EVELYN BROOKS.
RACHEL MORGAN.
Chloe reached for the last one.
The instant she read the name, she froze.
“Mom…”
Sarah saw it.
All the color drained from her face.
“Rachel.”
Ethan looked between them.
“Who’s Rachel?”
Sarah didn't answer immediately.
Chloe did.
“Mom’s sister.”
Ethan blinked.
He had heard the name before, but rarely.
Rachel Morgan had disappeared from their lives almost nine years earlier.
According to Daniel, Rachel had borrowed money from Sarah's parents, lied repeatedly, and vanished after a bitter inheritance dispute.
Sarah had refused to speak about her ever since.
Ethan opened Rachel's envelope.
Inside were bank-transfer records going back five years.
He expected payments from Daniel.
They weren't.
Each transfer originated from Rachel.
And every transfer went to Daniel.
$5,000.
$8,500.
$12,000.
$20,000.
One transfer every month.
Sometimes more.
Ethan flipped through the pages faster.
“Mom…”
Sarah leaned closer.
“What?”
“The money flows the other way.”
At the bottom of several records were short payment notes.
Ethan read the first one silently.
Then the second.
His expression changed.
Sarah grabbed the paper.
The memo read:
FOR SARAH — MEDICAL.
The next:
FOR CHLOE — TUITION.
And another:
FOR THE FAMILY. PLEASE MAKE SURE SARAH GETS THIS.
Sarah stopped breathing for a moment.
Chloe whispered,
“Aunt Rachel was sending us money?”
Ethan looked at the box.
Daniel had received every dollar.
Sarah had seen none of it.
Then Chloe picked up another document.
An apartment lease.
Tenant: Vanessa Cole.
The rent was paid twelve months in advance.
By Daniel Harper.
Attached was a jewelry receipt.
$18,750.
Sarah stared at the woman's name.
Rachel had been sending money in.
Vanessa appeared to be receiving it.
And Daniel had buried the evidence.
Sarah slowly closed the box.
“We put everything back.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What?”
“If he knows we found this, he'll start destroying whatever isn't buried here.”
For the first time that morning, Sarah no longer looked frightened.
She looked angry.
“We photograph everything.”
Then she looked at Chloe.
“And after that…”
May you like
Sarah picked up Rachel's transfer record.
“…we find my sister.”
