The echo of Marcus’s words lingered in the underground passage.
Within the last few days.
No one spoke.
The discovery settled over them like another layer of stone pressing down from above.
Someone had reached Rosemary Harrison’s diary before they had.
Someone had known exactly which pages mattered.
Someone had been waiting.
Marcus folded the recovered letter with extraordinary care before returning it to the hidden compartment inside the silver locket.
“This goes nowhere except with Elena.”
He placed the locket back into her palm.
“Whatever they’re looking for, this is all we have left.”
Elena closed her fingers around the cool silver.
It suddenly felt heavier than metal.
It carried the last words her mother had ever written to her.
She slipped it around her neck without a w
