"Maybe my mom's outside," Jeremy said as he did one last scan in the foyer. He led the group through the crowd of party guests to a side door to the backyard.

The sun was still shining, and guests were mingling around the giant rear garden. A slideshow presentation featuring pictures of the deceased projected onto a giant white screen, but no one was paying attention to it. Everyone seemed mostly fixated on their mindless chit-chat and the fancy hors d'oeuvres and champagne that servers were carrying around on trays.

"There she is!" Jeremy said, pointing toward a cabana where an older blonde lady wearing massive white pearls was chatting with an elderly man. The man looked almost identical to the guy featured in the Monopoly board game.

"Sweetheart!" Jeremy's mom said as the group made it over to her. "I didn't know you were coming!" She embraced her son tightly before turning to the man she was speaking with. "Was lovely catching up with you, Charles."

Taking the hint, the man named Charles nodded and strutted away to another group of people nearby.

"Hi, Mom. Yeah, it was a last-minute thing," Jeremy replied. "And these are some friends of mine: Lana, Chloe, and you know Jack of course."

"Hi, dears. Welcome to my party! I hope you enjoy yourself today!" said Jeremy's mom, clearly forgetting that she was hosting a memorial and not a party. "Please call me Susan."

"Thanks, Susan. You have a lovely home," said Lana as she and Chloe smiled back at the woman.

"Mom, we can't stay and talk. I have a super important question for you. Remember that box I gave you for the auction? Do you know who bought it?"

"Honey, you know I can't disclose that information."

"Mom, please, it's really important."

"Jeremy, sweetie, no. Not only does that go against the code of conduct, I don't think I even know who did actually buy it. It may have been an anonymous bidder."

"Well, is there any way we could find out? Please? I accidentally gave you something that belonged to Lana."

Susan looked at Lana. "Oh, dear. Sorry about that. I wish I could help. I, unfortunately, do not know who the buyer was."

Lana took a deep breath in. Jeremy's mom seemed nice but didn't seem to care all that much.

"Mrs. Steiner, do you know if there's anyone we could ask to find out that information? It would really mean a lot to me personally if you could share it with us," said Jack.

Susan looked at Jack and then back at the rest of the group. "Oh, you kids." She paused for a moment and seemed to be persuaded by her son's charming friend's words. She continued in almost a whisper while she clutched her pearls. "Well, let's pretend I didn't say anything, but there may be some invoices on my computer. I don't know for sure if you'll be able to find out a name, but that's the only thing I can think of."

Jeremy hugged his mom, and the group all smiled and released a collective sigh. It wasn't much, but it was the best lead they had.

"Thanks so much, Mrs. Steiner. We'll try not to bother you again tonight," said Jack.

"Oh, you kids are no bother at all. Have fun at the party—I mean, um, the memorial. Very, very sad, what happened to Stewart," she added.

"Stefan," Jeremy said.

Susan didn't catch Jeremy's correction as she was waving to some passing attendees. She turned back to the group. "Now you kids go along and have fun."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and then turned to his friends. "Follow me!"

The group made their way into the house and then up the stairs to a long hallway lined with photos of Jeremy and his family. One photo had Jeremy, his sister, his mom, and what was likely his dad, all in jeans and jean tops next to each other. Chloe couldn't resist pointing it out, and the group laughed at Jeremy's expense.

"That year's theme was denim," Jeremy said, with a tinge of pink sweeping his cheeks. "Thank God we convinced her to take down the photo from last year's glitter theme."

"Oh man I have to find that picture," Chloe teased as the gang made their way into the study at the end of the hallway.

They got to Susan's computer, which was open to a browser with a Google search: Fun and expensive party ideas for death in family. Jeremy closed out of the browser, opened the Finder window on her desktop, and typed in Auction but was met with No Results.

"Shoot, do you think she would've called the file something else?" said Chloe as she, Lana, and Jack all peered over Jeremy's shoulder.

"Try Bid or Bidding," said Lana.

Jeremy tried it but still, the search returned no results.

"How about you open her documents and we just skim the folder titles and see what comes up?" said Jack.

As they started skimming the documents folder, Jack pointed to a file called Fundraisers and said, "Try that one."

Sure enough, as soon as Jeremy opened up the documents folder, a file called Aucsion was listed as the third one down.

"There it is! I should've known. My mom is the worst speller in the world," said Jeremy as he opened up the folder.

While there looked to be about a hundred pdf files, Lana was getting excited at the thought of finding out who the buyer was. It felt like they were on a treasure hunt. She fidgeted with the key necklace, which still dangled around her neck.

If only there was a treasure inside that box.

Jeremy started to click into every document. In each one, there was a line item on the bill, listing the name of the item. On the top right were the names of people, who were likely the buyers. They went down the list and would see names of random people and items like Vintage Crystal Cat Miniatures and Garden Genie Fixture. Then they came across the item: Red Vintage Ornamented Box.

Chloe squealed. "That's it!"

Lana looked at the name in the right-hand corner of the invoice and it read, JMP Limited Co. "Quick, look up what JMP Limited is," she said.

After Jeremy typed it in the Google search bar, they were met with over sixteen million results. Jeremy scrolled down the list and they read through search results for tons of different companies—from software to investment banking, to manufacturing. All called JMP Limited Co.

"Shit guys, I don't think we'll be able to find it," said Jeremy as he kept scrolling down. Chloe put one arm around Lana, seeming to know the feeling that would soon overtake her.

"Try JMP Red Vintage Box," said Jack eagerly.

The same kinds of results popped up after Jeremy typed it in. Millions that they would need to sift through.

"Damn," said Jack. He looked up at Lana who had crossed her arms and was biting on her lip. He continued, "Lana, I'm so sorry. We'll find another way. I will get you that box."

Lana looked up and responded, "No, Jack, it's done. You saw it yourself—sixteen million plus results. We couldn't possibly find it."

"But if we go back to Jeremy's mom, we could—"

"Jack, please. It's done. I knew it was useless to try to hope for it, but I've accepted I won't get it back. It's fine, really. I don't even care anymore at this point."

Lana just wanted to put the whole thing out of her head. She just wanted a fresh start and to pretend like none of it ever happened. She needed a distraction and something to get her mind off of things.

Why do I even care so much about that thing anyway? It's not like Grandma told me what was inside of it, only just that the key was a beautiful piece of jewelry that I should treasure. Looks like it is just that after all.

She looked up at the group and everyone was staring at her with concern plastered across their faces. "Guys, I'm okay, really. I just want to forget about this whole thing, okay?" She knew her friends didn't buy it, and she was honestly trying to believe herself too. "Jeremy, what do you have to do for fun around here? With a house this big, there's got to be something?"

Jeremy's face lit up like he just received the question he'd been waiting for all night. "Dude, absolutely, yes! Let me take you to the rec room."

Lana felt her phone vibrate and grabbed it to see what the message was.

Unknown: Hey Lana, this is Grayson. It is very nice to e-meet you! (E-meet is like electronic meet haha). My grandmother Sheila (who knows your mom) gave me your number. I hope that's okay. Anywho, I've heard great things about you and I was wondering and sort of hoping you would be available sometime this week for dinner to meet in person? (Can be casual or whatever you're up for) (Totally cool if not, just wanted to throw it out there).

Lana slipped her phone back into her pocket and looked up toward the group. "Let's get a drink first."

***

Thanks for reading! Would love any comments & votes if you're liking the story so far ♥️