Prologue
She sat cross legged on the bed as she continued working on the manuscript that was due in a month, a frown marring her features as she looked up to see the file on her desk, nearly four inches thick.
Her watch beeped, reminding her that she really needed to get to bed.
Tomorrow she would finally step inside the Briar House archives. A full week to confirm—or dismantle—her manuscript's argument.
She closed her eyes as she remembered what her grandmother said when the idea first came to her.
“Families have a remarkable talent for deciding what deserves to be remembered."
Opening them, she slipped off the bed and began to finish getting ready. Making sure that everything was packed and put by the door, saving for last her file and laptop.
As she closed the laptop, her eyes fell on its wallpaper.
A pencil sketch of a little girl, smiling at someone just outside the frame.
It had started a question she had never quite managed to put back down.








