The Fall of the Caldwell Dynasty and the Restored Legacy of Whitaker House
I stared at the keypad, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
My phone suddenly lit up in my pocket, the screen casting a bright blue glow against the closet wall.
I slid the phone out of my pocket.
Dina’s name flashed across the screen.
I pressed the receiver to my ear, my knuckles white against the plastic.
“Dina?” I whispered, my voice sounding thin in the empty closet.
“Emma, thank goodness you answered,” Dina said, her voice low and frantic.
“I’m at the cottage,” I said. “I found the safe under the floorboards.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.
“Is it there?” she asked. “The digital keypad?”
“Yes,” I said, touching the cold metal casing. “But I don’t have the combination.”
“I have it,” Dina said quickly. “Or at least, I think I have the key to it.”
I leaned my head against the doorframe, closing my eyes. “How?”
“After you left, I went back into the basement archives,” Dina said.
“I knew your father kept a duplicate log of all the security installations from the early nineties.”