Chapter 2 - A Name No One Mentioned
Margaret spent the entire afternoon searching dusty boxes stored in the attic.
She wasn't looking for the key anymore.
She was looking for Eleanor.
The attic smelled of old paper and cedar wood. Cardboard boxes were stacked neatly against the walls, each labeled in her late husband's careful handwriting. Christmas decorations. Tax records. Daniel's school projects. Vacation photographs.
Finally she found one simply marked "Family."
Inside were faded birthday cards, newspaper clippings, recipes written by her mother, and dozens of photographs she had almost forgotten existed.
Eleanor smiled from every page.
She looked remarkably like Margaret, though younger, bolder, and endlessly adventurous.
Then the pictures stopped.
Abruptly.
No farewell.
No obituary.
No explanation.
Margaret frowned.
How had she accepted that silence for more than forty years?
As evening approached, she carried the brass key into her study and cleaned it carefully with a soft cloth.
More markings emerged.
The lighthouse crest surrounded three tiny letters.
H.F.A.
Those initials stirred something buried deep within her memory.
Late that night she opened one final box containing her father's journals.
Most pages described ordinary life.
Harvests.
Bills.
Weather.
Then one paragraph caught her attention.
"If anything happens to Eleanor, the Harbor Foundation Archive must remain protected until the right person finds the lighthouse key."
Harbor Foundation Archive.
H.F.A.
Margaret read the sentence three times.
Her father had never mentioned such a place.
The next page had been ripped out.
Several pages after that were missing as well.
Someone hadn't merely hidden information.
Someone had deliberately erased it.
Before Margaret could continue, headlights swept across her living room window.
Rebecca's car slowly stopped outside.
She didn't get out immediately.
Instead she stared directly at Margaret's house.
May you like
Almost as if she knew...
The blanket had been rescued.
