The red key was nowhere in the reception room.
Lily checked the obvious places first.
She looked beneath the gift table. She looked beside the cake. She even crouched near the coat rack and searched the floor around the legs of the wooden chairs.
Nothing.
Button rested beneath her arm.
The note was hidden in her pocket.
Her mother had not noticed.
Yet.
Lily knew she should tell Claire.
That was what children were supposed to do when something frightening happened.
But Claire had looked at the stranger as if seeing a ghost.
And the note had specifically warned her not to let Claire find the key.
Lily did not know whom to trust.
She hated that feeling.
Across the room, Claire was still talking with Sophie.
Lily watched her mother's face.
Claire kept glancing toward the entrance.
Then toward Daniel.
Then toward Lily.
Lily quickly looked away.
She moved toward the gift table.
There were dozens of wrapped presents stacked beneath a large white sign. Some had names written in gold ink. Others were covered in ribbons.
One box caught Lily's attention.
It was small and wrapped in dark red paper.
There was no name on it.
Lily reached toward it.
“Don't.”
She spun around.
Daniel stood behind her.
His expression was serious.
Lily withdrew her hand.
“Why?”
“Because it's not yours.”
“Who does it belong to?”
Daniel looked at the box.
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you telling me not to touch it?”
Daniel hesitated.
That was enough of an answer.
Lily stared at him.
“Do you know my dad?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“What makes you ask that?”
“Everybody knows something except me.”
Daniel glanced toward Claire.
“Lily, your mother is trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He lowered his voice.
“From something that happened a long time ago.”
“What happened?”
Daniel looked as if he might answer.
Then Sophie called from across the room.
“Daniel!”
He straightened.
“I have to go.”
Lily stepped closer.
“Does it have something to do with the red key?”
Daniel stopped.
His eyes went directly to her.
For several seconds neither of them spoke.
Then Daniel whispered, “Where did you hear that?”
Lily's heart jumped.
“You know what it is.”
Daniel looked toward the guests.
“Lily, listen carefully. If you found something, give it to your mother.”
“But the note said—”
“What note?”
Lily stopped herself.
Daniel saw the answer on her face.
“You found a note.”
She said nothing.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Where?”
“In Button.”
He stared at the bear.
“Who put it there?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel crouched.
“Did you see anyone near you?”
“A man.”
“What man?”
“The one Mom told to leave.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Gray suit?”
Lily nodded.
Daniel stood abruptly.
“Stay here.”
He walked away.
Lily watched him speak to Sophie.
Sophie immediately looked toward Claire.
Claire's eyes found Lily.
Lily knew she had to move.
She slipped between two tables and entered the narrow hallway beside the kitchen.
The noise of the reception faded.
Here, everything sounded different.
Dishes clattered behind the kitchen doors. A refrigerator hummed. Somewhere deeper inside the building, a faucet dripped at regular intervals.
Lily opened Button's back seam again.
She searched carefully.
There was no second note.
But there was something else.
A tiny brass thread had been sewn into the lining.
It was shaped like a loop.
Lily touched it.
A memory came back.
Her father sitting on the edge of her bed.
Button in his hands.
“Every bear has a secret pocket,” he had told her.
Lily had laughed.
“Mine doesn't.”
“Not yet.”
“What will I put inside?”
“Something important.”
“Like money?”
“No.”
“A treasure?”
“Something that tells you where to look next.”
At the time, Lily had thought it was a game.
Now she wasn't sure.
She ran her fingers along the lining.
There.
A tiny pocket.
Her heart raced.
She pulled it open.
Inside was a narrow strip of blue fabric.
Nothing else.
Lily stared at it.
Blue fabric.
Why blue?
She turned it over.
There was a faint mark stitched into one corner.
A number.
17.
Lily whispered, “Seventeen.”
A sound came from behind her.
She turned.
The gray-suited man stood at the end of the hallway.
He looked exhausted.
“Lily.”
She backed away.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I know.”
“My mother told you to leave.”
“She did.”
“Then why are you still here?”
He looked at Button.
“Because I need to know what you found.”
Lily held the bear tighter.
“You put the note inside him.”
“No.”
“You know about the key.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
The man looked down.
“I don't know.”
Lily frowned.
“Then why are you scared?”
He leaned against the wall.
“Because your father knew where it was.”
Lily's chest tightened.
“You know my father.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
The man's eyes filled with something Lily couldn't understand.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Lily stared at him.
“What happened to him?”
The man did not answer immediately.
Then he said, “Your father disappeared because he found something he wasn't supposed to find.”
Lily's fingers went cold.
“What?”
“A record.”
“What record?”
The man looked toward the kitchen.
“Not here.”
He reached into his jacket.
Lily stepped back.
He pulled out a small envelope.
“I can't give you this in front of your mother.”
Lily did not take it.
“Why?”
“Because she doesn't know the whole truth.”
Before he could say anything else, Claire's voice came from the hallway.
“Lily!”
The man's face changed.
“Hide this.”
He pushed the envelope toward her.
Lily grabbed it.
Then the man walked quickly through the kitchen door.
Claire appeared.
She looked at Lily.
Then at the envelope in her hand.
Her face went pale.
“Where did you get that?”
Lily closed her fingers around it.
“I found it.”
“Give it to me.”
“Why?”
“Because it isn't safe.”
“You know what's inside.”
Claire stopped.
Lily had never spoken to her mother that way before.
Not with anger.
With certainty.
Claire reached for the envelope.
Lily stepped back.
“You know about Dad.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“Lily…”
“You know where he is.”
“No.”
“Then why are you afraid of this?”
Claire looked at Button.
Then at the blue strip of fabric.
Her expression collapsed.
“You found the lining.”
Lily stared at her.
“You knew.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I knew there was a possibility.”
“What possibility?”
“That your father left something for you.”
“Where is the red key?”
Claire looked at her daughter for a long moment.
Then she whispered, “There isn't supposed to be a red key anymore.”
Lily's heart sank.
“What does that mean?”
Claire reached for her.
But before she could touch Lily, a crash came from the reception room.
Everyone screamed.
A chair had overturned.
Someone shouted that the gift table had been opened.
Claire turned.
Lily looked at the envelope.
Then at the hallway.
The gray-suited man was gone.
So was the red package.
Lily suddenly understood.
The key had been found.
And whoever had found it had taken it.
Click Here to continue read next: PART3: The Missing Package Forced Lily to Choose Between Obeying Her Mother and Following the Clues Her Father Had Left Behind
The Wedding Was Supposed to Be a Happy Day Until Lily Heard a Name Nobody Wanted Spoken Again
Part 2 of 16
