The atmosphere in the living room was tense. The box was in the center of the table, as if it were asking for its secret to be revealed. Felicia sat across from her, her arms folded, her gaze still, almost indifferent.
Dorella took a deep breath and opened the box carefully. Inside were three objects:
A small diary, neatly bound, with Leo's seal.
An old photograph, showing him smiling next to a girl whose face you can't see much, but you can tell it's Dorella's sister Ellie from how much they resemble each other.
And a key, small and rusty, that seemed to fit into some old cabinet or drawer.
Lily was the first to speak: "The diary... could have all the answers. Why didn't you show it to us sooner?"
Felicia replied in a calm voice: "Someone has to know how to read these things properly. I don't want anyone to draw the wrong conclusions."
Gabriel bent over the diary. The first few pages were full of Leo's personal thoughts, descriptions of everyday moments and little memories with his family and friends. But as he read, he felt a strange unease.
Why is Leo writing about someone Ellie? And what does she have to do with all this? he thought.
Dorella took the photo in her hands. It raised more questions than answers.
Peter smiled faintly, uttering an implied phrase, which no one understood at first: "They say secrets always come to the surface in the strangest of ways… like a box, a photo, or a diary."
Gabriel looked at Peter. It's not just philosophy… he knows something. Something in Peter's tone made him suspect that he might have understood more about "E." and Leo than he was letting on.
Felicia watched silently, but the movement of her hands, rubbing the key as if weighing its value, made everyone feel uneasy. Her presence was both innocent and suspicious.
Dorella decided to take matters into her own hands: "The diary and the photo are clues, but we don't know what the link is yet. The key might lead us somewhere. We need to search the house, see what it opens."
"And the others? If we have to leave the living room, what are we going to do with the rest of them?"
"We'll lock them in here," she replied with a serious tone.
Gabriel felt his mind spinning. Suspicions about Felicia had flared up again, but now there was also the possibility that the letter or the diary could hide something different. Something that could exonerate or incriminate all the suspects together.
Lily sighed: "What I don't understand is why all this is coming now, two months after Leo's death. Someone wants to confuse us… or guide us."
Dorella looked at Felicia and said in a steady voice: "If you want to tell us something, now is the time. Otherwise, we will have to consider you part of what is trying to remain hidden."
Felicia smiled: "Sometimes, the truth is most dangerous when it appears unexpectedly. But maybe, at some point, everything will be understood."
And so, the group was left with more questions than answers. The diary, the photograph, and the key did not solve the puzzle; on the contrary, they opened new avenues for suspicions, doubts, and thoughts that would follow them until the moment they spoke with Elli.