Chapter 11 - The Empty Nursery
Three weeks passed.
Life slowly became ordinary.
That felt miraculous.
Leo gained weight.
Elena regained strength.
I took leave from work.
We spent mornings drinking coffee while Leo slept.
Sometimes Elena laughed again.
Real laughter.
Then one Thursday afternoon, I came home from the grocery store.
The front door was unlocked.
I knew I had locked it.
“Elena?”
No answer.
My heart stopped.
I ran upstairs.
The nursery was empty.
The crib was empty.
“Elena!”
Then I heard her downstairs.
“Michael!”
I ran toward the back of the house.
Elena stood near the kitchen holding Leo.
She was safe.
I nearly collapsed with relief.
“What happened?”
“Someone was inside.”
My blood turned cold.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
She had been upstairs feeding Leo when she heard the front door.
She assumed it was me.
Then she heard footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
She locked herself in the nursery and called the police.
Whoever entered left before officers arrived.
Nothing obvious was stolen.
Except one thing.
The box Daniel brought us.
Margaret's photographs.
The printed screenshots.
The documents.
Gone.
But whoever took them made one mistake.
We had installed cameras.
The front camera captured a man wearing a baseball cap.
Daniel recognized him.
“That's Eric.”
Our cousin.
Police found him that evening.
He admitted everything.
Margaret had asked him to retrieve the box.
She told him the documents belonged to her.
He believed her.
Or wanted to.
But entering our home without permission was not something family loyalty could erase.
Eric gave the police his phone.
On it were dozens of messages from Margaret.
One stood out.
GET THE BOX BEFORE MICHAEL REALIZES WHAT ELSE IS INSIDE.
What else?
We had already copied everything.
So I opened the digital scans.
And this time, I looked at every page.
At the bottom of the box inventory was an envelope I didn't remember seeing.
Daniel didn't remember it either.
May you like
Which meant Margaret had removed something before he found the box.
The question was what.
