Chapter 6 - A Grandmother’s Escape
Arthur ran upstairs.
Leo and Toby were asleep in the temporary guest room beside his own suite.
Both beds were empty.
The windows were locked.
The connecting bathroom door stood open.
On the floor lay Toby’s stuffed rabbit.
Arthur shouted their names.
No answer came.
Clara reached the room seconds later.
She saw the empty beds and turned white.
“No.”
Arthur checked beneath the beds, inside the closets, and behind the curtains, though he knew the search was irrational.
His sons were gone.
Detective Ruiz ordered every gate closed.
Estate security checked the gardens and outbuildings.
No one had seen Eleanor return to the main house.
Mrs. Finch remembered hearing Toby’s voice shortly before dawn.
“I thought he was speaking to Leo,” she said.
“What did he say?” Clara asked.
Mrs. Finch pressed a hand to her mouth.
“He said, ‘Grandmother promised Mommy would be waiting.’”
Arthur’s face hardened.
“She used Evelyn to lure them.”
Clara searched the bathroom.
A narrow service door behind the linen cabinet connected to the old servants’ passage.
The passage had not been used in decades, but Eleanor knew every corridor in the mansion.
“She came through here,” Clara said.
Detective Ruiz examined the dust.
Two sets of small footprints led toward the rear staircase.
A larger set followed.
The tracks ended at a delivery entrance outside the camera network.
Ruiz issued an alert for Eleanor’s vehicle.
Arthur called every family property.
The townhouse in Manhattan.
The summer home in Maine.
The private apartment near the foundation office.
No one answered.
Clara stood beside the library window, staring into the rain.
“Where did Evelyn go when she was frightened?”
Arthur looked at her.
“What?”
“Eleanor wants you to understand something.”
Clara held up the handwritten note.
“She did not simply take the boys.”
“She said she was correcting Evelyn’s mistake.”
“What place would Eleanor connect with Evelyn’s mistake?”
Arthur’s mind moved through years of memories.
Then he remembered an argument from the summer before Evelyn died.
She had wanted to sell the mountain lodge in Black Hollow.
Eleanor had refused.
“Black Hollow,” he said.
“The family lodge.”
Ruiz was already calling for units.
“How far?”
“Three hours north.”
“Any private airstrip nearby?”
Arthur nodded.
“Twenty miles away.”
Ruiz turned to an officer.
“Notify state police and aviation authorities.”
Arthur reached for his keys.
“You are not driving alone,” Ruiz said.
“I’m going.”
“So am I,” Clara said.
Arthur turned sharply.
“No.”
“They trust me.”
“That is exactly why you are staying here.”
“Eleanor may use them against you.”
“And she may use you against all of us.”
Clara stepped closer.
“Leo will try to protect Toby.”
“He will act brave even when he is terrified.”
“Toby will stop speaking when he becomes overwhelmed.”
“You will need someone who knows how to reach them.”
Arthur wanted to argue.
He could not.
They left with Detective Ruiz and two unmarked police vehicles.
During the drive, Arthur received a call from an unknown number.
Eleanor’s voice came through the speakers.
“You brought the police.”
“You took my children.”
“I took my grandsons away from danger.”
“You locked them inside a burning nursery.”
“I did not start that fire.”
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“Let me speak to them.”
There was a pause.
Then Leo’s voice came through.
“Dad?”
Arthur gripped the phone.
“I’m coming for you.”
“Grandmother says Mom is alive.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“She is lying.”
A sharp breath came from Clara beside him.
Leo lowered his voice.
“She has videos.”
“What videos?”
“She showed us Mom talking.”
Eleanor took back the phone.
“They needed hope.”
“You are using a dead woman to manipulate children.”
“I am reminding them who their real mother was.”
Clara leaned toward the phone.
“Eleanor, listen to me.”
Silence followed.
Clara continued.
“Leo is frightened.”
“Toby needs his rabbit.”
“Let Arthur speak to them again.”
“You sound remarkably confident for a servant.”
“I am confident because I love them.”
Eleanor’s breathing changed.
“And that is precisely the problem.”
The call ended.
Detective Ruiz traced the signal.
“It came from the lodge area.”
Arthur pressed harder on the accelerator.
When they arrived at the access road, they found the main gate chained.
A black SUV sat abandoned nearby.
Its engine was still warm.
State police approached through the forest.
Ruiz instructed Arthur and Clara to remain behind the perimeter.
Arthur ignored her.
The lodge stood on a ridge above a frozen lake.
Smoke rose from the chimney.
No lights appeared in the windows.
Then a child stepped onto the upper balcony.
Leo.
He raised one hand.
Clara moved forward.
A man emerged behind him and pulled him back inside.
Arthur recognized the man immediately.
Victor Hale.
The family attorney from Evelyn’s video.
Detective Ruiz drew her weapon.
Arthur stared at the empty balcony.
“My mother is not alone.”
A rifle shot cracked through the trees.
The bullet struck the hood of the police vehicle.
Everyone dropped.
From inside the lodge, Eleanor’s voice echoed through an outdoor speaker.
May you like
“Arthur, send the police away.”
“Or this family will lose far more than its reputation.”
