Chapter 3 - Someone Was Already Upstairs
The mansion fell into darkness.
Someone screamed.
Glass shattered.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Stay with me.”
Emergency lights blinked on ten seconds later, filling the foyer with a dim red glow.
Vanessa was gone.
Daniel cursed.
“Where is she?”
The front doors were still locked.
The estate manager checked the side entrance.
“Still secured.”
I looked toward the staircase.
“She knows.”
Daniel faced me.
“Knows what?”
“The key.”
“What key?”
“I have it.”
Margaret stood abruptly.
“Emily, where?”
“In my staff locker.”
Daniel didn’t wait.
“Come on.”
We ran.
Up the rear staircase.
Through the second-floor corridor.
Past the linen closet.
The staff lockers were at the end of the hall.
Mine was open.
The metal door hung crooked.
My coat lay on the floor.
My backpack had been ripped apart.
“No.”
I dropped to my knees.
My mother’s old bracelet box was empty.
Daniel scanned the hallway.
“Vanessa.”
A door slammed somewhere above us.
Third floor.
We ran again.
I could hear footsteps.
Fast.
Then a crash.
Daniel reached the upstairs gallery first.
Vanessa stood near the library balcony.
She was holding the brass key.
“Give it back,” I said.
She stared at me.
“You really had it.”
“It belonged to my mother.”
“You have no idea what it belongs to.”
“Then tell me.”
Daniel approached slowly.
“Vanessa, put it down.”
She laughed.
“You still think I’m the villain because of a stupid necklace?”
“You assaulted an innocent woman and tried to frame her for felony theft.”
“I was trying to stop something worse.”
“What?”
She looked at Margaret, who had arrived behind us, breathless.
“Ask her.”
Margaret leaned against the wall.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Vanessa held up the key.
“Charles didn’t steal alone.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
Margaret said nothing.
My stomach tightened.
“Who helped him?”
Vanessa stepped backward toward the library.
“Someone Laura trusted.”
“Who?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Your father.”
I froze.
“My father is dead.”
“Is he?”
That sentence hit harder than the slap.
I had never known my father.
My mother told me he died before I was born.
No photograph.
No grave.
No name.
Nothing.
Daniel looked at Vanessa with disbelief.
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
She backed into the library.
“Or maybe Emily has spent twenty-nine years believing exactly what Margaret wanted her to believe.”
She slammed the door.
Daniel charged forward.
Locked.
“Vanessa!”
I heard metal scrape inside.
The brass key.
Margaret whispered, “Oh no.”
I turned.
“What?”
“There’s a private cabinet behind the west bookshelf.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You knew?”
“It was your father’s.”
He rammed his shoulder into the door.
Once.
Twice.
The lock splintered on the third hit.
We rushed inside.
Vanessa stood beside an open wall panel.
The brass key remained in the lock.
Inside the compartment was nothing but dust.
Vanessa stared at the empty space.
“No.”
She reached inside.
“No, no, no.”
Daniel seized the key.
“What were you expecting?”
“A ledger.”
Margaret went pale.
“You knew about the ledger?”
Vanessa spun around.
“My father spent his entire life looking for it.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Who is your father?” I asked.
Vanessa looked at me.
“Robert Caldwell.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But it meant something to Margaret.
She whispered, “That bastard.”
Vanessa laughed.
“There it is.”
Daniel said, “Who is Robert Caldwell?”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“Charles Whitmore’s attorney.”
Vanessa nodded.
“And partner.”
My chest tightened.
“In stealing the foundation money?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Your mother caught both of them.”
“Then where does my father fit in?”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“He was the accountant who helped Laura prove it.”
My heartbeat stopped.
“What was his name?”
Vanessa answered without hesitation.
“Michael Bennett.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
I stared at her.
“Is that true?”
She nodded.
I felt like the floor had vanished.
My father had a name.
Michael Bennett.
“And he died?”
Margaret didn’t answer.
“Margaret.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
The room became impossibly quiet.
“He didn’t die before I was born?”
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa gave a cruel laugh.
“Oh, she knows more than that.”
Margaret snapped, “Enough!”
But Vanessa was watching me.
“Michael Bennett didn’t disappear voluntarily.”
I stepped toward her.
“What happened?”
“He was accused of stealing the same money he was trying to expose.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“Who accused him?”
Vanessa pointed at Margaret.
“She did.”
I turned slowly.
Margaret whispered my name.
“Emily—”
I backed away from her.
“You destroyed my father?”
“No.”
“You accused him?”
“I was trying to save Laura.”
“By destroying him?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand!”
Margaret started crying.
“Because Charles told me he would kill your mother if I didn’t.”
Silence.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice came through the speaker.
“Tell Emily Carter to stop looking.”
Daniel’s eyes locked on mine.
“Who is this?”
The man ignored him.
Then he said the words that made my knees buckle.
“Her father survived once.”
May you like
A pause.
“He won’t survive twice.”
