Morning broke heavy and gray over Maplewood Drive. The family gathered again in the living room, weary and hollow-eyed from a sleepless night. The air felt colder than usual, as though Daniela's death had drained the warmth from the house itself.
Detective Chris Harlow arrived earlier than expected, his sharp gaze sweeping across the room. In his hand was the same evidence bag from two nights ago—the silver locket glinting faintly inside.
"We opened it," Chris said, wasting no time.
The family leaned forward, collective breath held. Jack's pulse hammered.
Chris unzipped the bag, pulled out the locket, and flipped it open with a gloved hand. Inside was a tiny folded piece of paper, yellowed slightly with age.
He unfolded it carefully, eyes scanning the words before reading aloud.
"If you are reading this, it means I couldn't tell you myself. Trust no one. The one you least expect is the one who will destroy us all."
Gasps filled the room. Esther buried her face in her hands, while John muttered a curse under his breath.
Jake shook his head. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? 'The one you least expect'? That could be anyone!"
Chris folded the note back. "Exactly. Which means Daniela suspected someone close to her. Someone she thought could fool us all."
Jack clenched his fists, hiding the fact that he already knew Daniela had left similar warnings in her journal. But she had gone further there—naming Jimmy, Jake, Amma, and Anny as part of the lies she uncovered.
Chris placed the locket on the table. "Until we know who she meant, everyone remains under suspicion."
---
Later, while the detective spoke quietly with his team in the kitchen, the family erupted into whispers.
Anny's voice trembled. "What if Daniela meant Jake? He's always losing money, always in trouble."
Jake snapped, "Shut your mouth. You think I'd kill my own cousin over money?"
"You've done worse for less," Jimmy muttered under his breath.
Jake surged forward, grabbing Jimmy by the collar, but John barked, "Enough!" His booming voice silenced them. "Daniela's note doesn't give us the right to tear each other apart."
Amma crossed her arms. "But she wasn't wrong. Someone here did this. And that note proves she knew it was coming."
Jack studied Amma closely. She sounded defensive, but not panicked like yesterday. Still, her fingerprints on the cloth weighed heavily in his mind.
---
That evening, Jack slipped upstairs to be alone with the journal again. He placed Daniela's warnings side by side in his thoughts: the missing page that mentioned the locket, the torn words "Especially—" and now the note inside the locket itself. Daniela had known someone would betray them, someone no one would suspect.
He traced the edge of the journal with his thumb. The one you least expect.
The phrase gnawed at him. Could it really be Amma? She was already under suspicion. Jake too. That hardly counted as "least expected."
A soft knock startled him. It was Esther. Her face was pale, lined deeper than usual with grief.
"Jack," she whispered, stepping into the room. "You've been close to Daniela. Did she… say anything before she died? Anything about me?"
Jack blinked. "About you?"
Esther hesitated, then sank into the chair by the desk. "She'd been distant lately. Cold, even. I thought maybe she was angry at me. I can't stop wondering if I drove her away somehow."
Jack's chest ached. He wanted to tell her Daniela had trusted him, that she had left warnings, but he couldn't. Not yet. "No, Esther. She loved you. She didn't blame you."
Tears welled in her eyes. She reached out, taking Jack's hand. "Promise me, Jack. Find who did this. No matter what it takes."
"I promise," he said softly.
But as Esther left, something unsettled him. She had asked about Daniela's anger—not fear. Was it possible Daniela's warnings weren't just about the cousins, but about her own mother?
---
Downstairs, Chris reentered with a grim expression. "We traced the unknown number that texted Daniela before she died. The one that said, 'Meet me tonight.'"
Jack's stomach dropped. Everyone leaned forward again.
Chris flipped open his notebook. "The number belongs to a prepaid phone. Bought two weeks ago in cash. Registered under a fake name. But surveillance footage shows who bought it."
He paused, letting the silence thicken.
"It was Jake."
The room exploded. Anny gasped, Amma clutched her head, Esther cried out, and John slammed his fist against the wall.
Jake stood frozen, face pale. "That's impossible! I never bought that phone!"
Chris's eyes were cold. "The footage is clear. It's you. And that phone was used to lure Daniela out on the night of her death."
Jake's voice cracked. "I didn't kill her! I swear I didn't!"
Chris stepped closer. "Then explain why the phone is linked to you."
"I can't," Jake stammered, shaking his head. "I don't know—someone's framing me!"
Jack felt his stomach twist. Could Jake really be the killer? Daniela had written his name in her journal. And now the evidence pointed straight at him.
But then Jack remembered the locket's note: "The one you least expect." Jake had been suspicious from the start. He wasn't the least expected at all.
---
That night, Jack slipped outside to clear his head. The garden where Daniela's key had been buried felt eerie under the moonlight. He paced, turning Daniela's journal over in his hands.
Suddenly, a voice broke the silence.
"You shouldn't be out here alone."
Jack spun. It was Jimmy, stepping out from the shadows. His face was unreadable, but his tone was calm, almost too calm.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked cautiously.
Jimmy stepped closer, hands in his pockets. "Everyone's losing their minds. Accusing each other. But you and I both know the truth isn't that simple."
Jack tensed. "What do you know, Jimmy?"
Jimmy smirked faintly. "Daniela trusted you. But she told me things too. Things she never wrote in her little journal."
Jack's heart thudded. "What things?"
Jimmy leaned closer, his voice a whisper. "She told me the real danger wasn't Jake. Or Amma. Or Anny. The person she feared most was someone none of us would dare suspect."
Jack's throat went dry. "Who?"
Jimmy's eyes glinted under the moonlight. "Her own mother."
Jack froze, the words slamming into him. Esther. Sweet, grieving Esther. Could it be true?
Before Jack could respond, the back door creaked open. Chris stepped outside, catching sight of them.
"What's going on here?" the detective demanded.
Jimmy straightened, his smirk fading. "Just talking."
Chris's eyes narrowed. "At this hour? In the garden where evidence was found?"
Jack swallowed hard, Daniela's journal burning like a weight in his hands. He couldn't shake Jimmy's words.
Her own mother.
If Daniela's fear was of Esther, then nothing in this family was as it seemed.
And for the first time, Jack wondered if the locket's warning wasn't about the cousins at all—
but about the woman crying hardest at the center of it.