THE HEIRESS THEY BURRIED
Inside, everything sat undisturbed beneath thirty years of dust, bookshelves lined with academic texts, a wide wooden desk, papers still scattered across its surface as though Jonathan had simply stepped out for a moment and never returned.
Lesson plans, written in his careful hand.
Family photographs, framed and arranged along one shelf, faces none of them recognized smiling out from behind decades of dust.
Letters, dozens of them, tucked into drawers and pinned to a corkboard above the desk.
Elara stepped closer, reading a few in the soft glow of her flashlight.
"Thank you for fixing my bicycle."
"Happy Birthday, Dr. Mercer."
"Please don't work tonight."
She kept reading, working through t