Chapter 4 - The Red Room:
They returned to the Vance estate after midnight.
Police officers surrounded the property.
The fire department had cleared the west wing, but smoke still clung to the corridors.
Detective Hale ordered two officers to remain with Chloe and Nora.
Neither girl agreed.
Nora led them toward the east wing.
Evelyn had kept that section of the mansion locked throughout her marriage to Richard.
She claimed the rooms contained dangerous wiring and water damage.
Richard had accepted the explanation because entering Laura’s old rooms had been too painful.
Now he understood that grief had made him easy to control.
The corridor ended at a red wooden door.
Its paint had faded to the color of dried roses.
Richard tried the handle.
Locked.
Mia inserted the silver key marked with the number seventeen.
It did not fit.
Nora took out the smaller music-box key.
She stepped beneath the ceiling light.
Seventeen carved stars surrounded the doorframe.
The final star contained a tiny keyhole.
Nora inserted the key.
A mechanism moved inside the wall.
The red door opened.
Dust covered the nursery.
A white crib stood near the window.
A rocking chair faced the fireplace.
Gold stars remained painted across the dark blue ceiling.
Richard entered slowly.
“This room was empty when Laura disappeared.”
“It isn’t empty now,” Mia said.
A child’s music box rested on the mantel.
Its silver lid was open.
Nora turned the small key in its base.
A familiar melody filled the room.
She covered her mouth.
“That’s the song I heard.”
Richard lifted the music box.
Something rattled inside it.
The silver key from the vase fit a narrow lock beneath the base.
Mia opened it.
A section of the wooden floor clicked.
Richard pulled back the rug.
A hidden compartment had been cut between the floorboards.
Inside lay three cassette tapes, a leather ledger, and a sealed envelope addressed to Nora.
The first tape was labeled:
IF RICHARD FINDS THIS.
Richard placed it in an old cassette player from the bookshelf.
Static filled the room.
Then Laura’s voice emerged.
“Richard, if you are hearing this, I failed to stop them.”
Nora began crying silently.
Richard gripped the edge of the desk.
Laura continued.
“The foundation accounts are being used to move money through false children’s charities.”
“Evelyn knows.”
“Jonathan created the companies.”
“Rosa discovered the transfers.”
“She copied the original records because we believed someone inside the company was altering the books.”
Mia stared at the cassette player.
Her mother had not been a thief.
She had been collecting evidence.
Laura’s voice weakened.
“Do not trust Elias Crane.”
“He works for Jonathan.”
“If anything happens to me, protect Rosa and her daughters.”
“They have no idea what she found.”
Richard stopped the tape.
He could not continue.
Mia reached past him and pressed play.
She had waited six years to hear the truth about her mother.
She would not allow his grief to silence it.
“I am hiding the first key inside the crystal vase.”
“The second will remain with Nora.”
“Together, they open the foundation archive beneath the old headquarters.”
“The archive contains the original transaction records.”
“Without them, Jonathan will claim the money was stolen by Rosa.”
Mia felt anger spread through her like heat.
That was exactly what had happened.
Laura continued.
“If Evelyn discovers the keys, she will give them to Jonathan.”
“If Jonathan opens the archive, he will destroy every record.”
“And Richard will die before he can testify.”
The tape ended.
No one spoke.
Detective Hale opened the leather ledger.
Most pages appeared blank.
Only a series of numbers had been written across the center.
“Account codes?” Chloe asked.
“Coordinates,” Nora said.
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the first numbers.
“Mom taught me how to read latitude and longitude during sailing trips.”
Hale entered the coordinates into his phone.
A location appeared north of Boston.
Rosebridge Clinic.
The second tape was labeled:
ROSA.
Mia inserted it.
Laura’s voice returned.
“Rosa, take the girls and disappear.”
“Do not contact Richard.”
“Jonathan controls his phones, his lawyers, and at least one member of the police department.”
“I will remain behind long enough to make them believe you left with the records.”
“You once saved Nora’s life.”
“Now let me save Mia and Chloe.”
The recording ended with a sound near the door.
Laura whispered someone’s name.
“Evelyn.”
Then the tape cut to silence.
Mia’s knees weakened.
Chloe took her hand.
Their mother had tried to escape with them.
Something had stopped her.
Richard opened the envelope addressed to Nora.
Inside was a photograph of Laura standing beside Rosa.
Both women held the same newspaper.
The date was two weeks after Laura’s funeral.
On the back, Laura had written:
NORA, I AM NOT DEAD.
Nora pressed the photograph against her chest.
“Why didn’t she come home?”
“Because someone kept her from coming home,” Richard said.
A floorboard creaked in the corridor.
Hale drew his weapon.
“Police.”
“Show yourself.”
No one answered.
Mia smelled gasoline.
The scent came from beneath the nursery door.
“Fire!”
Flames rushed across the corridor outside.
The red door slammed shut.
Hale pulled the handle.
It had locked from the other side.
Smoke poured through the gap beneath it.
Richard grabbed a blanket and pressed it against the floor.
“We need another exit.”
Nora pointed toward the stars above the crib.
“When I was little, Mom told me the moon was a door.”
Mia climbed onto the crib.
A silver moon had been painted among the stars.
She pressed it.
A hidden panel opened behind the wardrobe.
Cold air entered from a narrow stairwell.
Everyone moved toward it.
Then Chloe screamed.
A burning beam crashed through the ceiling.
It struck the floor between her and the others.
Flames separated the room.
Richard tried to reach her.
The carpet ignited.
“Chloe!”
Mia saw her sister trapped against the window.
Behind Chloe, the glass reflected a dark figure standing outside on the balcony.
May you like
The figure raised a metal bar.
Then the nursery window shattered inward.
