Chapter 1: The Ring That Was Supposed to Be Gone
My 8-year-old granddaughter pointed at my high school sweetheart in my 1984 prom photo and said, "Grandma, that man gives me extra dessert at school." The boy beside me had been g0ne for 42 years.
Then she reached into her backpack and whispered, "He told me to give you this."
I was cleaning the attic with Ellie when she found an old photo album beneath our Christmas decorations.
"Grandma, look at your hair!"
I laughed at eighteen-year-old me in a pale blue prom dress, my bangs sprayed high enough to survive a hurricane.
Beside me stood David, my first love.
We'd been together since sophomore year.
He worked evenings at his father's hardware store and saved nearly every dollar because we planned to attend community college together, then rent what he jokingly called "the smallest apartment in America."
Six weeks after prom, his family's house caught fire before dawn.
David was pulled out alive but badly burned.
Three days later, his mother called me in tears and said he hadn't made it.
I was eighteen.
For weeks, I barely ate, and after his parents suddenly left town, I eventually forced myself to accept that David was g0ne.
Life moved on.
I married, raised two children, and became a grandmother, but I never threw away that prom photograph.
Ellie studied it for several seconds before tapping David's face.
"That's him."
I smiled.
"Who's him?"
"The man at my school.
He always gives me extra desserts."
My smile disappeared.
Ellie explained that a new custodian had started cleaning the cafeteria after lunch.
He always saved her an unopened cookie or pudding, and lately he'd begun asking questions about me.
"He asked if my grandma's name was Laura."
A chill ran through me.
Then Ellie pointed just above David's left eyebrow.
"He has that little moon-shaped mark too."
David had gotten that crescent scar at sixteen after falling off my brother's bicycle.
It was so faint that most people never noticed it.
Before I could speak, Ellie suddenly brightened.
"Oh!
I almost forgot.
He gave me something for you yesterday."
She unzipped her backpack.
"He said you'd know exactly what it meant."
My mouth went dry.
Ellie reached into the front pocket and placed something in my palm.
The moment I saw it, my knees nearly gave out.
I hadn't seen that object in forty-two years.
And I was never supposed to.
Attached to it was a note that read: "Call this number.
The truth isn't what it seems.
You shouldn't have trusted your family."
With trembling hands, I dialed the number.
What I heard next made my little granddaughter call an ambulance for me.
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What did Ellie place in Laura's hand — and what did David's voice say that sent her to the hospital?
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