Three Days Before the Casket Was Delivered, My Son Asked Me to Sign a Document
Then something inside the casket coughed, a small, wet sound that came up through the padding.
I pulled back the silk.
A square of blue velvet lining ripped loose in my hand.
I closed my fingers around it without thinking.
Tucked flat inside the seam was a small brass key with jagged teeth.
It was cold.
Its shoulder was cut square, the same cut as the deadbolt key on Chloe’s bedroom door.
The deadbolt key had been missing from the mantel since Sunday.
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