Chapter 1
My daughter survived a terrifying fall, but the tiny key clenched in her fist frightened her more than the hospital did. When I asked what it opened, she whispered, “Daddy, don’t let her find it.”
My name is Daniel Carter, and my nine-year-old daughter, Lily, fell from the upstairs landing of our home outside Boston.
I was at work when my wife, Rebecca, called screaming.
By the time I reached the hospital, Lily was awake but terrified.
Rebecca told me it had been an accident.
“She slipped while running downstairs.”
But Lily wouldn’t look at her.
Then I noticed her right hand.
Her fingers were wrapped tightly around something.
“Sweetheart, what are you holding?”
Lily shook her head.
Rebecca immediately leaned closer.
“She probably picked up some junk before she fell.”
Lily pulled her hand beneath the blanket.
That reaction stopped me.
“Rebecca, give us a minute.”
My wife hesitated.
Then Lily suddenly whispered, “No.”
Rebecca froze.
“I want Daddy.”
After Rebecca left, Lily slowly opened her hand.
A small brass key rested against her palm.
“Where did you get this?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Upstairs.”
I frowned because I had never seen the key before.
Then Lily whispered, “I found the door.”
“What door?”
“The one behind Grandma’s old bookcase.”
My mother had owned our house before she died three years earlier.
Rebecca always claimed the bookcase was too heavy to move.
“What was behind it?”
Lily began shaking.
“A little room.”
Then she grabbed my wrist.
“Rebecca was inside.”
My stomach dropped.
“She saw me looking and started chasing me.”
I stared at my daughter.
“Are you saying you didn’t slip?”
Lily shook her head.
Before she could say more, the hospital room door opened.
Rebecca stood there smiling.
But her eyes weren’t on Lily.
They were fixed on the key in my hand.
“Daniel,” she whispered, “give that to me.”
I closed my fist around it.
That night, after Rebecca fell asleep, I moved my mother’s bookcase.
Behind it was a narrow locked door.
The brass key fit perfectly.
And when I switched on the light inside, the first thing I saw was a wall covered with photographs of me and Lily.
May you like
Then I noticed the date written beneath the oldest picture.
It had been taken two years before I ever met Rebecca.
