Chapter 2
The device was not explosive.
A specialist confirmed that before midnight.
No explosive material.
No detonator.
No dangerous components.
It was an electronic timer attached to a hardened black case approximately the size of a paperback book.
Opening it without the correct mechanism risked damaging whatever was inside.
That was all.
Daniel returned to Elena’s hospital room with the report.
“You frightened everybody with a locked box.”
Elena looked embarrassed.
“It looked like a bomb.”
“It absolutely did.”
“What is it?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where did it come from?”
Elena told him.
Three days earlier, while trying to find old insurance records, she had asked Diane to retrieve a document box from the hall closet.
Diane claimed she could not find it.
That afternoon, Elena dragged herself from the wheelchair and searched personally.
The box was gone.
Behind where it used to sit, Elena found a loose panel.
Inside was the black case.
She recognized Matthew’s handwriting on a small paper label attached underneath.
Only two initials:
E.M.
Elena Morgan.
Diane walked into the room before Elena could inspect it further.
The moment she saw the case, she became agitated.
She asked where Elena found it.
Then told her it was “old junk.”
Elena put it into her handbag.
Diane spent the next two days asking about it.
Casually at first.
Then repeatedly.
Elena never opened it.
She was more concerned with pain medication, physical therapy, and two toddlers.
Then came the confrontation by the front door.
Daniel listened.
“Did Matthew ever mention hiding something in the house?”
“No.”
“Did Diane have access to the house after Matthew died?”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“She practically lived here.”
That mattered.
After Matthew’s death, Elena was emotionally shattered and caring for newborn twins.
Diane handled meals.
Mail.
Bills.
Insurance correspondence.
Bank paperwork.
Eventually, Elena signed a limited power of attorney allowing her mother to manage certain household transactions.
It was supposed to last six months.
Daniel immediately asked:
“When did you revoke it?”
Elena stopped.
“I thought it expired.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Bring me every document your mother ever asked you to sign.”
Elena felt cold.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because I want to know exactly what authority Diane has been using while you thought she had none.”
