Chapter 4 - The Secret Inside the Locket
Adeline refused to let go of the necklace.
When I approached, she immediately covered it with both hands.
“Daddy, Uncle Vin said I had to keep it safe.”
I crouched in front of her.
“Did he tell you why?”
She shook her head.
“He said Mommy put something inside.”
My chest tightened.
My wife, Elena, had died three years earlier.
At least, that was what everyone had told me.
Her car had supposedly gone off a bridge during a storm. The vehicle was recovered, but her body was never found.
Vincent had been the one to identify her personal belongings.
He had comforted me at the funeral.
He had helped me raise Adeline.
And now my daughter was telling me that her mother had hidden something inside her necklace.
“Can I see it?” I asked.
Adeline hesitated.
Then she slowly unclasped the chain.
The locket looked ordinary. A small silver heart with a delicate engraving on the back.
But when I turned it over, I noticed a tiny screw near the hinge.
I had never seen it before.
“Daddy, Uncle Vin said Mommy was alive.”
Everything around me seemed to stop.
“What?”
“He said she was waiting somewhere. He said Grandpa Richard knew.”
I looked at her carefully.
“Sweetheart, did Uncle Vin tell you that today?”
She nodded.
“Before he stopped talking, he said Mommy would come back when the bad people were gone.”
My throat tightened.
I wanted to ask a hundred questions, but she was already overwhelmed.
Instead, I kissed her forehead and asked the nurse to stay with her.
Then I called Dr. Morales.
She answered immediately.
“Marcus, Vincent is in surgery. His condition is critical.”
“Did you see his wedding ring?”
A pause.
“No. Why?”
“Because it was missing.”
Another pause.
“Marcus, there's something you need to know. The wound wasn't the only injury. Vincent was given a powerful sedative before the stabbing. Whoever attacked him wanted him unconscious.”
“Can you identify it?”
“Not yet.”
I looked at the locket.
“Can you examine something for me?”
Before I could explain, she interrupted.
“Not over the phone.”
The call ended.
I found a small jeweler's screwdriver in the maintenance room and carefully loosened the tiny screw.
Inside was a micro-SD card.
There was also a folded photograph.
Elena.
Standing beside Vincent.
And behind them, partially visible through a glass doorway, was Richard.
The photograph was dated six months after Elena's supposed death.
My hands began to shake.
On the back, Elena had written six words.
If Marcus knows, he is next.
I immediately contacted an old friend who specialized in digital forensics.
Within minutes, he confirmed that the card contained an encrypted video file.
It took him nearly twenty minutes to unlock it.
Then Elena's face appeared on my phone.
She looked tired.
Older.
But alive.
“Marcus,” she whispered into the camera. “If you're watching this, Vincent finally found the courage to tell you the truth.”
She glanced behind her.
Then she leaned closer.
“Your father didn't die in that accident.”
I stopped breathing.
My father had supposedly died in a warehouse fire when I was twelve.
Elena continued.
“Richard arranged everything. And Vincent helped him.”
The video suddenly glitched.
Before it ended, Elena looked directly into the camera.
“There's only one person who can prove it.”
She whispered a name.
May you like
And it wasn't Richard's.
It was Dr. Morales.
