CHAPTER 14 — THE SECRET GRANT LEFT IN PLAIN SIGHT
When I returned home, I searched every photograph, drawer, and document Grant had left behind.
Then Sophie said something that changed everything.
“Mom, Daddy gave me two presents before his last trip.”
I turned.
“Two?”
She nodded.
“Mr.
Buttons and the music box.”
My heart skipped.
“What music box?”
“The one in my closet.”
She hurried upstairs.
Minutes later, she returned carrying a small wooden music box decorated with painted bluebirds.
I remembered Grant giving it to her.
She had been six.
He told her it was special because it played our family’s favorite lullaby.
She wound the key.
A familiar melody drifted through the room.
I began to cry.
Then Sophie turned it upside down.
“There’s something funny underneath.”
A tiny brass plate covered the base.
It was held by two screws.
Hannah fetched a screwdriver.
Beneath the plate was a small compartment.
