Three years after losing my husband Daniel, I found a strange block of ice on my porch before sunrise. Nearly two feet long, it contained something dark inside. With my neighbor Callahan’s help, I chipped away at it and discovered an old black watch.
I immediately recognized it. It had belonged to Daniel, yet the hospital had told me it disappeared after his death. Why would someone freeze his watch in ice and leave it at my house?
Instead of calling the police, I investigated. Security footage showed a delivery truck leaving the package. It belonged to Harlan Ice and Cold Storage, where I learned someone had recently rented a freezer using Daniel’s name.
That discovery led me to Daniel’s old notebook. One name appeared repeatedly: Owen. A hospice nurse remembered him as Daniel’s old friend and revealed that Daniel had given Owen the watch, saying it was “already spoken for.”
I eventually found Owen. He admitted he had kept the watch for three years. Daniel had secretly instructed him to return it if someone important ever came back into his life.
