“At my father’s graveside, the gravedigger gripped my arm and whispered, “Sir, your father paid me to bury an empty coffin.”

Some sentences are so impossible that your mind rejects them before fear can even begin.

Then he pressed something cold into my palm.

A small brass key.

The number 17 was stamped on it.

“Don’t go home,” he repeated. “No matter who calls. No matter what they tell you. Go to Unit 17. Route 9 Storage. Your father left instructions.”

“My father died three days ago.”

That was when my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out automatically.

The message was from my mother.

Come home alone.