Husband With Benefits-Chapter 570: A Clue

"Look, Gabe! This is when I lost my first tooth," Arabelle said, pointing to a picture of herself grinning with a gap-toothed smile. "And this is my first birthday! Look at all the balloons!"

Gabe smiled warmly, as he squished her cheeks between his palms. "You were so tiny, Arabelle. Like a little balloon yourself. And I see that you have your gaze on the prize.. So, did you eat all of the cake that you are eyeing?"

Arabelle pouted like a little duck and rolled her eyes," I don’t remember. But I was a growing kid and Mum said that children who are growing should not worry about eating well."

"I agree with your mum so don’t get all pouty on me, Missy." Gabe rolled his eyes, even as he glanced at Autumn, who was sifting through another box in the corner of the room.

Her movements were tense, her face a mask of concentration and frustration. Papers, trinkets, and old letters are spread out around her in a chaotic mess. Gabe’s eyes flicked over the mess before going back to her, noticing the deepening furrow in her brow. He could see the frustration mounting in her every movement.

Feeling frustrated would not be good for her. It would only increase her worry and chances of missing someting important. Deciding to intervene, he gently nudged Arabelle and whispered to her conspirationally, "Miss Arabelle, why don’t we look at another album? Maybe we can find some funny pictures of your sister when she was little."

Arabelle giggled, the sound light and joyful, breaking through the room, even causing Autumn to glance at her with a fond smile, "Okay, Gabe! Let’s me show you Autumn’s baby pictures!" She clapped her hands together, her eyes bright with mischief. "There is one where she is..."

Before Arabelle could grab the album and show it to him, Autumn had rushed to snatch the album away as she threatened," Arabelle! Just you wait. How can you expose your sister like that..."

"Aww! Autumn! How can you say that. It is such a cute picture."

"Uh huh. Why don’t I take you for a picture like that..."

Gabe smiled as he looked at Autumn’s distracted face and joined in on the fun," Come on, Autumn. Who doesn’t have a few embarrassing pictures from childhood. Let us see..."

Autumn glared at him and clutched the album to her chest, backing away," I am not going to show any pictures. Get out of this room, the two of you! Stop distracting me..."

"But we are helping you." Gabe pointed out innocently while Arabelle giggled. The only help they were doing was creating background chatter as they talked and looked at things.

Autumn scoffed at Gabe’s claim that he was helping her and turned to walk back to the opened box, murmuring," Its a wonder I haven’t put on noise blocking device thanks to your ’help’. Now go."

Gabe and Arabelle exchanged mischievous winks and then began to move, pretending to comply with Autumn’s command. However, the moment her back was turned...Arabelle snatched the album from her, letting out a triumphant giggle and making a mad dash to the other side of the room.

"Arabelle!" Autumn squealed, spinning around and reaching for her sister, but Arabelle was already out of reach, running around the small coffee table in the center of the room.

Gabe chuckled, watching the scene unfold with amusement. Autumn’s eyes narrowed playfully as she circled the coffee table, her movements mirrored by Arabelle, who kept the album just out of her grasp.

"Get back here, you little rascal!"

"Not until I’ve shown Gabe, the real you!"

"Gabe, look at this!" Arabelle turned the album towards Gabe as she ran, opening it to the page with Autumn’s picture in it. freёweɓnovel.com

The picture showed a tiny chubby baby sitting in a high chair, her face, hair, and clothes smeared with spaghetti and its sauce. The long pasta dangled from her ears like earrings, and head and she had a wide, toothless grin on her face, clearly delighted with her culinary masterpiece. Her chubby hands were cupped in front of her, as she seemed to be trying to eat the spaghetti.

Gabe’s eyes lit up with amusement as he glanced at the picture. "Oh, now this is priceless! Spaghetti everywhere but the mouth!"

Autumn rolled her eyes and grabbed the album. "This is the most embarrassing picture I’ve ever had taken. I was a baby, of course, you can’t expect me to have table etiquettes..."

However, Gabe burst out laughing as he looked at her duck-like pout and answered," You two sisters even pout the same way... Cute."

With that little compliment, Gabe and Arabelle walked out of the room, leaving a slightly stunned Autumn behind. He thought she was ’cute’? Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly hid the photo album in the box before going back to the task at hand.

As she looked at the box in front of her, she felt a pang in her chest. She’d been putting off doing this because having these things scattered around always made her feel as if her mother was still around. That she would come back soon. But now, it was time. Carefully, she picked up her mother’s favourite bracelet from the dresser drawer and placed it back into the box.

Her fingers trembled slightly as her hand left the delicate silver chain, adorned with tiny, intricately designed charms. It had always been a treasured keepsake to her though it was not pricey. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions. This task was necessary, she reminded herself, even if it was painful.

As she did this, her hand brushed against the photo album, causing it to fall. Autumn frowned and moved to pick it up, when she realized that a piece of paper had slipped out of from there.

It was an invoice. She frowned. Why would her mother have kept an invoice in the photo album. With a frown, she looked at it carefully but the name gave her no hints...

As she stood there, staring at the invoice with numerous questions running through her mind, Gabe returned to the room. "What is it?"

"I found this in the photo album. It’s an invoice, but I have no idea what it’s for."

Gabe took the invoice from her hand and looked at it carefully. It detailed orders of some commissioned order, but the company’s names gave no hints. With a frown, he took out his phone and made a call," Find out about L and K Company."

As he disconnected the call, he continued to peruse the invoice and pointed out, "This is interesting."

"What? You know who it belongs to?"

"No.But the date. The invoice is for something commissioned. But the date is a few days before her divorce was finalized with Gregory Savoy..."

Just then, he received a message and his eyes lit up.. He turned to Autumn and spoke happily," L & K stands for Locks and Key Company. Locks & Keys is a company that specializes in custom-made lockers. Apparently, they create unique items to serve as keys for the lockers."

Autumn’s eyes widened in surprise. "Lockers? What kind of lockers?"

Gabe shrugged. "I’m not sure, but it sounds like they make lockers for storing valuables or important documents. Maybe your mom had something commissioned from them before the divorce. Did she have any valuables?"

"Not really..."

Gabe nodded. "This means that there are chances that she would have hidden whatever it was within this locker to keep it safe from Gregory Savoy. And she hid the invoice inside your album...We should call Locks & Keys and see if they can give us more information about the locker. Maybe they can tell us where it’s located or what was stored inside."

Autumn nodded in agreement, her heart pounding with anticipation and hope. If her mother had substantial proof that made Gregory give in, in the past then it could work this time too. "Let’s do it."

Gabe dialed the number for Locks & Keys and put the call on speaker, and after a few rings, someone answered on the other end. "Locks & Keys, how can I help you?"

"Hi, this is Gabe Frost. We found an invoice for a custom-made locker and we’re trying to track down more information about it. Can you help us?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line before the voice replied cautiously, "I’m sorry, but I can’t give out any information over the phone. If you want more details, you’ll have to come to our headquarters in person."

Desperate, Autumn spoke up," It was commissioned by my mother. It is urgent. Please can you tell us..."

"I’m sorry ma’am. It is against our policy. If you can bring with you the receipt, maybe we could help you... but other than that, I apologize but it is against policy and I cannot help you."