Chapter 8 - Unlocking Hidden Clues Inside The Empty Suburban House
The suburban ranch house registered to the alias "Eleanor’s Estate caretaker" was dark and dead silent.
Miller picked the front door lock in under twenty seconds using a slim tension wrench and a flat pick.
They swept through the empty rooms with flashlights drawn, stepping over dust covers draped across abandoned furniture.
In the master bedroom, Nora noticed a loose floorboard near the walk-in closet where the carpet had been recently pulled back.
She dropped to her knees, prying the wooden plank up with her bare fingers despite the splintering pain.
Inside the cavity lay a heavy steel lockbox bearing the initials E.V. and a four-digit mechanical combination lock.
“Try your daughter’s birthday,” Miller suggested, watching the hallway entrance with his service weapon drawn.
Nora’s shaking fingers dialed the numbers into the brass dial, holding her breath as she tripped the latch.
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The lid popped open with a metallic snap, revealing a stack of polaroids, medical journals, and a small pink blanket.
On top of the pile was a birth certificate listing Nora Bennett as the biological mother, stamped with a forged word: DECEASED.
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