Chapter 6 - THE MUSIC BOX
The music box had belonged to Clara since childhood.
Her father carved it himself.
Blue mountains on the lid.
A silver moon.
Inside, a tiny wooden bird spun when the mechanism worked.
After Thomas “died,” Ruth threw it into the fireplace.
Clara screamed and pulled it out with a poker.
Most of the box burned.
The brass key survived.
Why would the key matter?
Elias knew.
Thomas used old survey boxes.
Locked brass compartments hidden inside field equipment.
The music-box key was not unique.
It matched a survey chest Thomas kept at an abandoned fire lookout above Black Ridge.
Clara’s heart raced.
They traveled at dawn.
No main trails.
No roads.
The lookout had collapsed years earlier.
Beneath rotting boards, Elias found a rusted metal chest.
The key fit.
Inside:
maps,
inspection notes,
payroll ledgers,
photographs,
letters.
And one sealed envelope.
CLARA.
Her hands shook.
She opened it.
The handwriting belonged to her father.
Clara,
If you ever see this, I failed to come home. Do not trust anyone who tells you I left because I stopped loving you.
She stopped reading.
Tears came instantly.
Elias turned away to give her privacy.
The letter continued.
Thomas believed Hollow Ridge was stealing safety funds and bribing inspectors.
He also feared Ruth had become involved.
Not because she began evil.
Because she was afraid.
Then because money made fear easier to live with.
Thomas wrote:
Your mother knows where I am going. If she tells them, I may not make it.
Clara’s hands went numb.
May you like
Her mother had not merely lied after Thomas disappeared.
She may have helped them find him.
