Chapter 3 - The Visitor Before Sunrise
Margaret barely slept.
The brass key remained locked inside a small wooden box beside her bed.
Every unfamiliar sound outside made her wonder whether someone would come searching for it before morning.
At dawn, a gentle knock echoed through the front door.
Not loud.
Not impatient.
Three slow taps.
Standing outside was an elderly man dressed in a weathered brown coat.
His silver hair framed a calm but exhausted face.
"I apologize for arriving so early," he said politely.
"My name is Arthur Hale."
Margaret had never met him.
"I believe you've recently found something that belonged to my family."
Margaret froze but revealed nothing.
"I'm afraid you have the wrong address."
Arthur smiled faintly.
"I expected you to say that."
From his coat pocket he produced an old photograph.
It showed a young Eleanor standing beside an abandoned lighthouse.
In her hands...
The same blue blanket.
Arthur continued quietly.
"Your sister didn't disappear."
"She was protecting something."
"And after all these years..."
He glanced toward the wooden box sitting on Margaret's hallway table.
"...it appears the protection has finally ended."
Before Margaret could ask another question, a black SUV rolled slowly past the house.
Arthur's expression changed instantly.
"They've found us."
"Who?"
"The people your sister spent the last forty-three years hiding from."
The SUV stopped at the end of the street.
Its windows remained completely black.
May you like
Neither Arthur nor Margaret moved.
Then the rear passenger door slowly opened.
