“Blair never went to Greece, Miss Keller. There is no record of her ever being there.”
Emily’s lips parted as her wide eyes glanced to Hank in front of her. Her stomach churned as she shook her head, unable to believe the words that just came through her speaker.
If Blair wasn’t in Greece…
Then where the hell was she for an entire year?
the box
Emily watched as the tiny water streams slithered down the windshield of her car. The plump raindrops smashed on the roof as she squinted, her eyes locked on the front entrance of Blair and Cole’s apartment complex. She knew Cole was hiding something. She knew there had to be more to the story. He had to have known where Blair was for this entire year. If she wasn’t in Greece, then where was she?
He knew.
It had to be him.
Emily sat up in the driver’s seat of her car as she watched the glass entrance door of the complex open. Cole stepped out into the rain, pulling the hood of his athletic sweatshirt over his head as he dashed forward, his black running shoes splashing through the puddles scattered along the concrete walkway.
This was her only chance.
She had to get inside.
Emily sank down, hiding from his view, as she watched Cole get into his red pickup truck and reverse.
It was now or never.
***
Emily’s black rain boots shuffled along the red hallway carpet as she made her way to Blair’s apartment door. Emily glanced up to the top of the door, stepping on her tiptoes as her fingers felt along the top of the wooden frame.
It had to be here.
A smile spread across Emily’s face as she felt the cool, brass surface of the tiny spare key graze her fingertips. Emily held the key in her trembling hands as she stabbed it into the door handle, turning the key. She had to be fast. She had no idea how long he’d be gone.
Emily rushed inside and closed the apartment door behind her as her eyes scanned the dim apartment, now immaculate and not a single piece of trash or empty beer bottle in sight. He finally cleaned up. Emily sped forward and stepped around the couch, staring down at the coffee table in front of her. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she knew something had to be here, anything to help her understand just what Blair was up to. Emily leaned down and pulled the large drawer of the coffee table open to see a tobacco pipe inside next to a small bag of weed and a peeling blue lighter.
“Good God.” Emily groaned, rolling her eyes as she slammed the drawer shut. Emily spun around, rushing forward and through the bedroom door. If Cole was hiding anything, it would be in here. Emily eyed the neatly made bed, the black comforter perfectly smoothed and folded with the black-and-white decorative pillows resting against the dark oak headboard. Emily leaned forward, pulling the drawer of the side table along the right side of the bed open. Emily’s fingers combed through the useless objects inside: a pack of condoms, a bottle of lube, and some junk mail. Emily sighed as she slammed the drawer shut and ran around the edge of the bed, making her way toward the left side.
Emily grabbed the drawer handle of the side table on the left side of the bed and pulled it open, her eyes widening.
A small, black .22 caliber stared back at her, the weapon placed on the top of a small, black, wooden box. Blair never told her they had a gun. Emily swallowed as she grabbed the gun in her hands and carefully placed it on the edge of the bed. Emily glanced back into the drawer as her eyes settled on the small, black box inside. Emily’s hands wrapped around the cold, hard edges as she lifted it into the air, eying the tiny keyhole on the top of the lid.
Emily knelt in front of the bed, placing the box on the mattress in front of her, as she ran her hands through her hair. She plucked a brown bobby pin from her hair, causing her bangs to fall over her eyes. Emily stuck the two prongs into her mouth and tightened them between her teeth, bending the prongs slightly.
Thank God for her criminal cousins.
Emily shoved the two prongs of the bobby pin into the keyhole of the black box and turned it to the left and to the right, the vibrating latches inside ticking and clicking against the metal prongs inside.
CLICK!
Emily smiled as she laid the bobby pin on the bed and lifted the lid of the black box open. The large stack of Polaroid photos inside nearly spilled over the black edges of the box as Emily grabbed them in her hands. Emily stood up and sat on the edge of the bed, flipping through them.
All the pictures, random and foggy.
A zoomed-in picture of blue fabric.
A shot of a yellow sock on a wooden floor.
All of them, more random and useless than the last. Why would she keep these? What was the point of hanging on to them?
Emily flipped to the next Polaroid in the stack as her heart raced in her chest.
Blair’s face stared back at the camera. Her tiny button nose and her eyes, swollen with tears. Her thin, blonde curls draped her chubby cheeks. The bright flash of the camera, illuminating her soft, pale skin in a ghostly light. She couldn’t have been older than six in this picture.
Why did she look so scared?
Emily didn’t remember this…
Emily flipped to the next picture as her eyes widened. The stack of Polaroid photos fell from her hands
