The Box

...I think you’d better sit down, Joe” the inspector said, as she laid down her gun.

“You’ve been gone a long time, a lot has happened in this town since you left. A lot has happened concerning your family”, she motioned for Joe to sit down at the kitchen table.

“I don’t understand, I don’t have any family, just my Mum, and she’s gone. That’s why I came back.”

“What do you know about your father, Bill?”

Joe stared at her incredulously. What did anyone know about Bill? He didn’t even know what Bill looked like, except a hazy black and white wedding photograph that his mother showed him once. She took the photograph out of her box. The metal locked box that he would see her looking in occasionally, late at night, when she thought he was asleep. The box with the big brass key.

He must’ve have only ever seen that box opened once, maybe twice. He didn’t even know where she hid it.

“There’s a reason that dwarf wants that ring, Joe. And there’s a reason that I want to make sure he doesn’t keep it...”

Joe put his head in his hands. What was going on?

“But that’s my mother’s ring. It’s been in our family for years. What would anyone want with it? Other than me, who would care what happened to it?”

The inspector reached into her pocket and handed Joe a slip of paper.

"There’s a lot you need to find out, Joe. It’s not my place to tell you your family history. There are things you should know. I suggest you look at this....."