CHAPTER 6 – THE FORGOTTEN NURSERY
CHAPTER 6 – THE FORGOTTEN NURSERY
Ashford Manor looked abandoned when they returned.
The staff had been evacuated.
Two security guards lay unconscious near the main staircase.
No one had seen the intruders leave.
Daniel led Emily to the third floor.
At the end of the corridor stood a white door with a tarnished silver lock.
Margaret arrived behind them carrying the old nursery key.
"I have not opened this room since the girls disappeared."
The door resisted at first.
Then it swung inward.
Dust covered everything except the center of the floor.
Two small beds stood beneath the windows.
A portrait hung above the fireplace.
Someone had cut one little girl's face from the canvas.
Emily stepped into the room and heard a melody inside her mind.
She began humming without realizing it.
Margaret froze.
"That lullaby was written for the twins."
Emily stopped.
"Sarah used to sing it to me."
Daniel searched the fireplace.
One brick moved beneath his hand.
Behind it lay a hidden compartment.
Inside were the wooden music box, a silver baby bracelet, a gold key, and an old cassette tape.
Thomas found a recorder in the nursery cabinet.
Daniel pressed Play.
A man's exhausted voice filled the room.
"If you are hearing this, they found the girls."
Margaret covered her mouth.
"Richard Caldwell."
The recording continued.
"William cannot know which child Sarah took."
"Not yet."
A gunshot sounded on the tape.
Someone shouted Richard's name.
Then the recording ended.
Emily opened the music box with the gold key.
Inside the lid was a second compartment.
It contained a sealed envelope.
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Across the front, William Ashford had written:
Open only after Daniel learns the truth.
