And now Brandon is gone. Emily sat in a stupor in the empty house for quite a long time. It got dark outside the window, but she didn’t turn on the light, just sat.
And then, finally, she cried. She cried, screamed, howled and lamented, clutching her head in her hands. She let her grief come out.
“Why? Why? Why?” Everything really happened strangely, stupidly, absurdly, and no one is to blame. And that’s especially scary. An apparently healthy and strong forty-year-old man turned out to have a heart defect.
He died instantly. He was just walking down the street and fell. The person had plans, cares, ideas, and all of that was gone in an instant.
Emily had to live on. The new school year began. Joey went to fifth grade.
Emily went to work, did homework with her son, cooked food. In short, she tried to fill her life with ordinary everyday affairs. For a long time she couldn’t touch Brandon’s things.
They remained lying as he left them when he left the house on that fateful day. But after a few weeks, she still decided to tidy up. She neatly folded everything in the closet, then looked through their joint photos with her husband, reread the cards with tender words that Brandon gave her for all holidays.
But she didn’t dare to open the safe for a long time, which her husband always kept locked and forbade even to approach it. When the safe appeared in their house, Emily didn’t remember. Twelve years ago, when she and Brandon started living in this house, there was no safe, she remembers that.
A large painting depicting a forest landscape hung on the wall. And a few years before Brandon’s death, she was wiping dust from the frame and accidentally discovered that under the painting in the wall there was a built-in metal safe. She was very surprised when her husband managed to install the safe so that she knew nothing.
Probably then, when she was visiting her parents with Joey. But Emily was even more surprised by her husband’s reaction. Usually calm Brandon clearly got angry that the secret safe was discovered.
He refused to explain anything. He shouted at his wife, saying it’s none of your business, don’t even dare to approach it. In short, that evening the spouses quarreled.
But after a few days they made up. Brandon was as affectionate and attentive as before. And Emily soon stopped thinking about this safe.
After all, every person can have their own quirks. And yet Emily decided. She took down the painting, leaned it against the wall.
She carefully examined the metal door. Strong, code lock. Not immediately, but Emily found contacts of specialists in opening safes on the internet.
The next day a middle-aged man came with a suitcase full of various tools. The master fiddled for almost an hour. Finally, Emily heard.
“Accept the work, ma’am!” After seeing the master off, Emily began to study the contents of the safe and almost screamed from what she found there. In the folder Emily found documents. From them it followed that Brandon was not just a trucker.
He is the owner of a transportation company with a dozen trucks. So, the company address is in the neighboring town. Tomorrow Emily decided to go there.
Now the next document. This is a will. It states that the heirs of Brandon Harper are in equal shares Joseph Brandon Harper and Ava Brandon Harper.
Not understanding anything, Emily reread the document again. What Ava Brandon Harper? And what’s next? Insurance, some accounts. She’ll have to figure that out later too.
At the bottom under the documents Emily found several funny children’s drawings, which were signed in uneven printed letters “To Dad from Ava”. Emily refused to understand this. What kind of stupid mystification is this? This can’t be.
She knew her husband for many years. She trusted him completely. No, he couldn’t have secrets from her.
In the corner of the safe Emily found a mobile phone. She turned it in her hands. The phone, of course, was discharged.
But the charger is standard. The woman connected the phone and started waiting for the battery to charge. When the phone finally charged, Emily tried to turn it on.