Evelyn emerged from the alley, quite shaken from her confrontation with Nathan. As she bent to retrieve the box she'd dropped, something else caught her eye—a small, unmarked package sitting by her apartment door.
She hadn't ordered anything, and the lack of return address made her suspicious. But something compelled her to pick it up.
She took it back inside her empty apartment, and carefully opened the mysterious package. Inside, she found a faded photograph of her mother, an intricate necklace with a blood-red ruby pendant, and a handwritten note.
Her hands trembled as she unfolded the letter:
*Do you ever wonder who your mother really was? Or why she died so suddenly? The people around you are not who they seem. Your mother's death wasn't natural. This necklace was hers—keep it saf
