As soon as she arrived at her bedroom, Nancy examined the clock. Her gentle fingers felt its etchings in its fine detail. Her index bumped its backing where something felt loose. She flipped it and noticed it had a small door. After it was unlatched, it revealed the key for winding it next to a hole.
Alongside it, however, was a curled up paper that was wrapped around something heavy. When it was unrolled, a skeleton key was revealed. Under it, the paper had a drawing of the red Japanese dolls, and under the sketches was a short story.
'Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess blessed with a handsome prince and a healthy child. However, that happiness was not meant to last. Their home was destroyed. By some terrible fate, they became paupers with very little food. If that wasn't enough, their son grew up only to die at the hands of his own child. Through denial and use of medication, she claimed innocence. She did whatever was necessary and took it into her hands to figure out the treasure's location. By some strange fate, she resumed her grandparents' throne but had yet to obtain their wealth. Desperate for money and power, she painted some wishing dolls and scattered them across her domain.'
Nancy reread the odd tale.
Odd how medication was used in the story. I could be mistaken, but it also mentions a treasure here…interesting…I should find out how many red dolls are here and how many aren't. There could be something helpful.
She looked at the clock's face when she closed its door and noticed how the hands were pointed at eleven o'clock. It was the same time the note in the shed said.
Is Lynn somehow connected with what was in that shed in the swamp?
After going outside, she entered Kate's backyard shed and borrowed a shovel. Every time she discovered a fresh dirt patch, she dug it.
Hours later, she unburied the same amount of red dolls in the story's drawing.
She never removed any of them but used the map of Kate's place to keep track of where she had found each doll. There a total of ten of them, including the first one she discovered in Kate and Nick's backyard.
Under the last one she unburied, she found a puzzle, which was tricky figuring out, but it opened it.
Inside was a piece of a photo.
I should look at each of those dolls again. Something tells that Lynn didn't have good luck in mind when she planted them. I wonder what is in this photo. So far it looks like floorboards.
After retrieving every last red doll, she pieced together the picture.
That looks like Kate's living room in the 60's. It sure looks different…except for that fireplace.
She tucked it into her bag and checked the time. It was ten pm.
With the sun behind the hills, only the stars and full moon were her guides that night. Retracing her footsteps, she searched for the swamp. Along the way, she bumped into none other than Nick, who resembled a deer in headlights with his metal detector.