Nine Tenants, Eight Keys
mystery◐ MatureMr. Halloran suddenly snatches the ledger back. 'There were only ever eight,' he says, too fast. 'I miscounted the keys one year, that's all.' But his thumb is stained with the same blue ink that smudged the ninth name. He did it. The question is why.
Edda grabs the landlord's wrist and shows him the ink. 'You smudged her name this morning, while the house was still burning. Why?' Halloran crumples. 'Because if anyone found out she was never really gone, they'd dig her up. And I couldn't let them.'
What happens next?
1 ways forwardEdda has the cellar dug up that afternoon. Under the dirt floor they find Dahlia, wrapped in a quilt, a brass key clutched in her bones, the ninth key. Halloran weeps. 'She was my daughter. The fall was an accident. I just wanted her to stay home.' Case closed, and broken.