Ethan Was Blamed for Shattering the Planter — Then His Father Checked the Doorbell Camera
Chapter 6 — The Second Label
Daniel carefully peeled back the top shipping label.
A second label appeared underneath.
It had been partially torn.
But one thing remained readable.
A return address.
Margaret stared at it.
“I know that place.”
Laura looked at her.
“What is it?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Your mother’s old storage unit.”
Laura felt a chill.
Helen had died six years earlier.
As far as Laura knew, everything from the storage unit had been cleared shortly afterward.
“That unit doesn’t exist anymore.”
Margaret shook her head.
“The building does.”
Daniel called the delivery company.
After being transferred twice, he finally reached a supervisor.
The package had not entered their normal shipping network.
There was no warehouse scan.
No distribution center record.
No payment record.
Someone had simply placed a printed label on the box and left it among several legitimate packages while the driver was unloading his truck.
The driver assumed it belonged to the route.
“So somebody wanted this box delivered here,” Laura said.
Daniel nodded.
“And they knew exactly when the delivery truck would arrive.”
Margaret looked frightened.
Laura noticed.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
Margaret looked toward Ethan.
Then toward the shattered planter.
“Seventeen years ago, your mother accused me of stealing something from her.”
Laura frowned.
“Stealing what?”
Margaret answered quietly.
“A box.”
“What was inside?”
Margaret looked directly at her.
“Letters your father wrote before you were born.”
