“Did she keep records?”
“Rachel kept everything.”
“Where?”
Gavin’s voice dropped.
“In a storage unit.”
Amelia’s heart began to pound.
“What storage unit?”
“Outside Huntsville. I paid it ahead for a year before I was arrested. After Rachel died, I assumed everything was gone.”
But everything was not gone.
Denise found the old payment receipts in Rachel’s belongings, tucked inside a cookbook Chloe had kept because it smelled faintly of cinnamon. The storage company had changed names twice, but the unit had never been cleared. Payments had continued anonymously every January.
For five years.
No one knew by whom.
Mitchell, Amelia, Denise, and a court-appointed investigator arrived at the facility just before sunset. Chloe stayed behind with a trusted neighbor, though she insisted they bring the Coming Home Box for luck.
The storage manager led them down a row of orange metal doors.
“Unit 27,” he said, checking his clipboard. “Hasn’t been opened in years, far as I know.”
