Then he added, “Bring the key your husband left you.”
“What key?”
The line went dead.
I returned home, locked the door, and searched through Thomas’s belongings. I checked drawers, old coats, toolboxes, and every envelope in his desk.
At last, inside the lining of his favorite jacket, I found a small brass key.
Attached to it was a paper tag bearing the same warehouse address Adrian had given me.
My heart pounded.
I called my daughter, but when she answered, I could not bring myself to explain everything. I only asked her one question.
“Did your father ever tell you he was in trouble?”
She was silent.
Then she said, “Mom, there’s something you should know.”

After Thomas died, a stranger had contacted her and asked whether he had left behind documents or keys. She had dismissed it as a scam and never told me because she did not want to frighten me.