Page 75 of The Little Shop of Curiosities, The Music Box Part 2

“Here we go.” Riley sets three mugs on the table and then leaves the room, coming back a moment later with something wrapped in a faded, musty-smelling cloth.

She places it between us and takes a seat, then picks up her mug and sips her tea.

“Is this the book you found?” Sam points to the object. When she nods, he asks, “May I?”

She nods again, and he unwraps the material, revealing a thick leatherbound journal with a symbol branded in the centre of the front cover. It’s an ankh, the symbol of eternal life, only the top hook is depicted as a serpent looping over and then coiling around the body of the symbol.

Sam presses his hand to the cover. “This journal belonged to the man without the mask, the one standing in the doorway of the other room. His name was Simon,” Sam says, then opens the journal. There on the first page in an elegant, curly script, are the initials S.M.

“Simon Maycliffe,” I murmur.

“How did you know that?” Riley asks Sam, her brows furrowed.

“I’m able to get images and impressions from some objects I touch,” he explains as he begins to turn the dry crackling pages. “Mr Hadley said you found this when you began your renovation?”

“I didn’t just find it,” she admits quietly. “I knew exactly where it was.” She glances between me and Sam as we wait patiently for her to continue. “Strange dreams, started the night I moved in. But…”

“But?”

“After a while, I started seeing them while I was awake. Then I started seeing those echoes, if that’s what you want to call them.”

I lean forward in interest. “Tell me about these dreams.”

“They’re chaotic, there’s no order to them. Sometimes I see an old man, sometimes a woman carrying a small boy out of the house. I’ve also seen the man in the doorway, Simon. He’s in the room that was originally a study. There’s a man in there with him, but I can never see his face, it’s like he’s always standing in shadow. They’re trying to find the boy, the one the woman took away.”

“Tobias?” I blink in surprise.

“How did you know his name?” Riley says sharply.

“Because I have dreams too.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” She reaches out and grasps my arm. “Tobias?”

I shake my head. “Not beyond that night. I know the woman took him to her brother because she knew he’d be safe, but nothing after that. Why?”

“Because the man in the study and the man in shadows, they wanted the boy. Badly. They were furious he had been taken from the house and tore London apart trying to find him, but it wasn’t out of concern for a missing child. They wanted him for a very specific reason.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” she says, and I can see the worry etched into her face even though these events transpired over a century and a half ago. “All I can say is that he was somehow important to them.”

“How much do you know about the Maycliffes?” Sam asks.

Riley shrugs. “Not much at all. My father died when I was really young, and the house came down to me through his side. From what Mr Hadley told me, the previous owner of the house was a second or third cousin of my father. Honestly, this house was supposed to be a dream come true for me, but it’s turning into a nightmare.”

“I can imagine.”

“The property dropped into my lap right when I needed a fresh start. I’ve always wanted to renovate my own house, so I packed up and moved to London.”

“A fresh start?”

“I broke up with my boyfriend,” she murmured as she toyed with the handle of her mug. “He…he didn’t cope well with my transition. He wanted a boyfriend not a girlfriend.” She looks up at us. “He’s not a bad guy. He just—” She blows out a frustrated breath. “He didn’t want things to change, and I couldn’t keep pretending to be someone I’m not.”

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

“What about your family? Are they local?” Sam sips his tea, his expression filled with understanding.

She shakes her head. “My mum and stepdad are great, they were so good about everything, but they moved to Spain a couple of years ago. They’re currently living their best life in a little apartment complex in Torremolinos. I haven’t had a chance to make new friends in London yet, so I don’t have anywhere else to go right now.”