Chapter 5: The Key Beneath the Rabbit
I held the silver key between my thumb and forefinger.
It was small, old-fashioned, and worn smooth around the edges. A tiny number had been stamped into its head.
*214.*
I turned toward Vanessa.
“What does two-fourteen mean?””
She shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“You just told me it opens a place you prayed I'd never find.””
“I said that because I panicked.””
“You recognized the key.””
“I recognized the number.””
“From where?””
Vanessa looked at Lily.
“Not in front of her.””
I almost lost my temper.
“You've spent the entire afternoon telling me what Lily should and shouldn't hear. Yet you've had no problem frightening her, burning her mother's belongings, and making her believe she did something wrong by loving Rachel.””
Vanessa flinched.
Lily pressed Bunny closer.
“Daddy, please don't shout.””
I immediately lowered my voice.
“I'm sorry, baby.””
Vanessa looked at our daughter, then at me.
For a moment, something resembling guilt crossed her face.
Then she reached toward the box.
“Let me see the note.””
I pulled it away.
“No.””
“Marcus, I'm asking you to be reasonable.””
“Reasonable would have been leaving this box alone.””
“I didn't know it existed!””
“Then why do you recognize the key?””
She stared at the floor.
I waited.
Finally, she whispered, “Because I have seen that number before.””
“Where?””
“At a storage facility.””
The room seemed to grow smaller.
“What storage facility?””
“I don't remember the name.””
“You remember the number.””
Her eyes flashed.
“Because Rachel wrote it on the letter she sent me!””
I froze.
Vanessa seemed startled by her own confession.
I slowly lowered the note.
“Tell me everything.””
She pressed both hands against her forehead.
“Rachel told me she had left something somewhere safe. She wrote that if I ever saw you looking for it, I should tell you to stop.””
“What was it?””
“She didn't say.””
“Why would she send you a letter about something hidden from me?””
“I don't know!””
“Did she ask you to protect it?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“She asked me to keep you away from it.””
The answer settled over the room like dust.
I stared at the woman I had married.
“Why would Rachel trust you with that?””
“She didn't trust me.””
“Then why contact you?””
Vanessa looked at the silver key.
“Because she thought I was the only person who could make sure you never found it.””
I took a slow breath.
“That's not an explanation.””
“No,” she said.
“It's all I have.””
I wanted to believe she was lying. It would have been easier if I could have reduced everything to one clear act of cruelty.
But Rachel's handwriting was in front of me.
Her warning was in my pocket.
And Vanessa knew details she could not explain away.
I placed the note back in the box and examined the photographs.
The first showed Rachel and me standing outside a small brick building. I recognized the coat she wore. It was the red one I had bought her for our anniversary.
On the back, she had written a date.
Three weeks before she died.
The next photograph showed Rachel standing beside a row of metal doors. Each door had a number.
The third photograph was blurred, but I could make out a white sign above the entrance.
*STORAGE UNITS.*
I turned the picture over.
Rachel had written only one word.
*214.*
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Please, Marcus.””
I held up the photograph.
“Is this the place?””
She nodded.
“What's there?””
“I don't know.””
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I have never been inside that unit.””
“Did Rachel give you the key?””
“No.””
“Then how did you know about the number?””
“Because she told me where it was. She wanted me to know the location in case something happened.””
I looked at her sharply.
“In case what happened?””
Vanessa swallowed.
“She said that if she couldn't finish what she started, someone would have to.””
“What did she start?””
“I don't know!””
Her voice cracked.
Then she covered her mouth, as if she regretted speaking so loudly.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Daddy, can we go get the box?””
I crouched beside her.
“We're going to find out what's inside, sweetheart. But I need you to stay with someone you trust while I do.””
She looked at Bunny.
“Can Bunny come?””
I smiled sadly.
“Bunny can come.””
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Marcus, you cannot take Lily there.””
“Why?””
“Because it isn't safe.””
“What isn't safe?””
She stared at the photographs.
“I don't know what Rachel left behind.””
“Then we'll find out.””
“Please listen to me. Whatever is inside that unit, it could destroy everything you've built.””
I stood.
“You mean our marriage?””
She shook her head.
“I mean your life.””
For the first time, she did not sound controlling.
She sounded desperate.
I looked at the woman who had shared my bed, eaten at my table, and helped Lily with her schoolwork. I remembered Vanessa sitting beside me during my first Christmas without Rachel, telling me I didn't have to pretend to be strong.
Had any of that been real?
“Did you marry me because of Rachel?”” I asked.
Vanessa's lips parted.
“No.””
“Did you know about this box before today?””
“No.””
“Did you know Rachel left me a warning?””
Her eyes dropped.
“I knew she was afraid of something.””
“Something involving you?””
“I don't know.””
I stepped away from her.
“Then I'm going to find out.””
Vanessa reached for my hand.
I moved before she could touch it.
Her fingers remained suspended between us.
“Marcus, don't make me lose you.””
I looked at her.
“You should have thought about that before you lit the fire.””
I took the box downstairs.
In the kitchen, I called my sister, Denise, and asked if Lily could stay with her for the evening. Denise agreed immediately. When I explained that I needed to investigate something Rachel had left behind, she didn't ask questions.
Twenty minutes later, she arrived at the front door.
Lily hugged me before leaving.
“Will you tell me what Mommy left?””
“I promise.””
“And will you bring Bunny back?””
I kissed her forehead.
“Both of them.””
Vanessa stood near the staircase, watching us.
Lily hesitated before approaching her.
“Why did you burn Mommy's things?””
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“Lily, I'm sorry.””
Lily shook her head.
“You didn't look sorry when you did it.””
Then she walked out with Denise.
The door closed.
Vanessa stood motionless.
I picked up the silver key and the photograph marked 214.
“I'm going now.””
She moved in front of the doorway.
“Please don't.””
I stopped.
“Move.””
“You don't understand what you're risking.””
“Then tell me.””
She looked at me for a long moment.
Finally, she stepped aside.
I drove to the storage facility just before sunset.
It stood behind a row of small businesses, surrounded by a chain-link fence and a line of neatly trimmed shrubs. Inside the office, a middle-aged man in a blue shirt looked up from his computer.
“Can I help you?”” he asked.
I placed the key on the counter.
“I'm looking for unit 214.””
He studied the key.
“Do you have an account number?””
“No. This belonged to my late wife.””
His expression softened slightly.
“I'm sorry, sir. What's her name?””
“Rachel.””
He typed something into his computer.
Then he stopped.
His fingers hovered above the keyboard.
I leaned forward.
“Is there a problem?””
He looked at me, then back at the screen.
“Mr. Cole, this unit was paid for in advance.””
“By Rachel?””
“No.””
He turned the monitor slightly.
The name on the account was not Rachel's.
It was Vanessa's.
I stared at the screen.
The manager lowered his voice.
“According to our records, your wife has been paying for this unit for nearly two years.””
My stomach turned.
“That's impossible.””
He checked the account again.
“I'm afraid it isn't.””
I gripped the edge of the counter.
“Has anyone accessed the unit recently?””
The manager hesitated.
“Yes, sir.””
“When?””
He looked at the screen.
“Yesterday afternoon.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Who opened it?””
The manager pointed toward the security camera monitor behind him.
“I can show you.””
He clicked on a recording.
The grainy image showed the corridor outside unit 214.
A woman walked into view wearing a dark coat.
She stopped at the door, looked over her shoulder, and unlocked it.
Even through the low-resolution footage, I recognized the way she tilted her head.
The way she tucked her hair behind one ear.
It was Vanessa.
But she wasn't alone.
A second person stepped out from behind her.
The manager paused the recording.
“Do you know who that is?””
I leaned closer to the screen.
The second figure turned toward the camera.
May you like
And I recognized the face.
It belonged to a man I had buried two years ago.
