and used its USB slot to bring the phone back to 9%.
Another little mercy from her mother.
Another small payoff.
Another step forward.
At the back of the room stood a gray safe.
Not large.
Not fancy.
Its dial had been removed, replaced with a key cylinder.
Lily tried the brass key.
It did not fit.
She searched the desk drawers.
Nothing.
Then she remembered the lunchbox.
Inside, beneath the cardboard lining, was a flat silver key taped to the bottom.
Her mother had always hidden things twice.
Lily
