“She disappeared after an argument. We searched for months. The police searched, too. But they never found her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Your mother wanted to tell you when you were old enough.”
“And the letter?”
His face changed.
“I don’t know who sent it.”
Emily placed the envelope in front of him.
He touched the paper as though it burned.
“That handwriting…” he whispered.
“Yes. It’s Mom’s.”
Her father closed his eyes.
“Your mother wrote dozens of letters before she died. She asked me to give them to you when the time was right.”
“Where are the others?”
He didn’t answer.
“Where are they, Dad?”
“In a locked drawer in my office.”
Emily stood up.
“Then we’re going to open it.”
For the first time in her life, her father looked afraid of her.
