Chapter 2: The Shoebox
I was already in the parking lot when my phone rang.
It was my neighbor, Mrs.
Calloway.
She was whispering.
"Skylar.
He's back.
And he found something in your closet.
He's screaming.
The sister is here too."
My hands went cold.
I knew exactly what was in that shoebox.
The officers offered to go back up with me.
I said no.
I needed to hear what Derek said when he thought I was gone.
I stood outside the apartment door.
I could hear him clearly.
"She kept all of it.
Every receipt.
Every transfer.
Suzanne, she has records going back three years."
Suzanne's voice came fast and sharp.
"Then we destroy it.
All of it."
"You can't," Derek said.
And for the first time, his voice cracked.
"It's already been sent somewhere.
There's a note in the box.
She sent copies to someone before she even went to the hospital."
Silence.
Then Suzanne said the name I never expected to hear.
"Does Patricia know?"
Derek didn't answer.
That silence told me everything.
His mother.
His perfect, devoted mother Patricia — she wasn't just watching from the sidelines.
She was part of it.
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May you like
What Skylar discovered next — about Patricia, the money, and what was really inside that shoebox — will leave you speechless.
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