Chapter 3 - SOMEONE WAS STILL CLOSE
The hospital went into lockdown.
Security searched every stairwell, roof access point, parking level, and service corridor.
Whoever had written the message was gone.
Arthur stood beside the window while a police officer photographed the words.
“How did someone get out there?”
The detective answered.
“Maintenance ledge.”
“We’re on the sixth floor.”
“Yes.”
Arthur turned.
“So somebody climbed six floors to threaten my son?”
“Or they came down from the roof.”
Maya sat beside Lucas.
He had stopped crying, but he kept watching the door.
Arthur noticed.
“Lucas.”
His son looked at him.
“Do you know who wrote that?”
“No.”
“Did Peter ever threaten you?”
Lucas stared at his blanket.
“Sweetheart,” Maya said gently, “you’re not in trouble.”
Lucas whispered, “He said Daddy would be mad if I told.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
“Told what?”
Lucas didn’t answer.
Maya didn’t push.
She changed her voice.
“You like pancakes?”
Lucas looked confused.
Arthur did too.
“What?”
Maya shrugged.
“Hospital pancakes are terrible. I’m just warning you.”
A tiny smile appeared on Lucas’s face.
Arthur understood what she was doing.
Giving him a normal thing to hold onto.
Lucas whispered, “I like chocolate chips.”
“Good choice.”
Maya waited.
Then Lucas said softly, “Uncle Peter came to my room before Isabella locked me up.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“What did he say?”
“He wanted to know where Mom’s box was.”
Arthur frowned.
“What box?”
Lucas looked at him.
“The blue one.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
Maya noticed.
“You know it?”
Arthur nodded slowly.
Lucas’s mother, Claire, had died three years earlier after a long illness.
Before she died, she made a private trust for Lucas.
She also kept personal records.
Letters.
Family documents.
Things Arthur had never touched.
“The blue box belonged to your mom.”
Lucas nodded.
“She told me not to let anybody take it.”
Arthur’s breath caught.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Before she went to the hospital the last time.”
Arthur looked away.
Even after three years, hearing Claire mentioned like that still hurt.
“Do you know where the box is?”
Lucas hesitated.
Then nodded.
Arthur leaned closer.
“Where?”
Lucas whispered, “Mom’s old room.”
Arthur frowned.
“Your mother’s room has been locked since she died.”
Lucas nodded again.
“I know.”
“How did you get in?”
Lucas looked almost guilty.
“She showed me the key.”
Maya smiled faintly.
“Smart kid.”
Arthur didn’t smile.
“Did you tell Peter?”
“No.”
“What did he do when you wouldn’t?”
Lucas’s eyes filled.
“He got mad.”
Arthur’s hands curled.
Maya immediately noticed.
“Arthur.”
He forced himself to relax.
Lucas continued.
“Then Isabella came.”
“What happened?”
“She said we were playing hide-and-seek.”
His voice shook.
“But she pushed me into the little room.”
“The vent?”
“At first it was a closet.”
Arthur frowned.
“What closet?”
“Behind the wine room.”
Arthur turned to the detective.
“Search the cellar.”
The detective nodded and stepped outside.
Lucas grabbed Maya again.
“She moved me later.”
“To the vent?”
He nodded.
“Because people were searching the house.”
Arthur looked sick.
His search teams had been close.
Very close.
Maybe feet away.
Maya squeezed Lucas’s hand.
“You did good telling us.”
Lucas looked at Arthur.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Mom said the box was for you if something bad happened.”
Arthur froze.
“When?”
“Before she got sick.”
The room went silent.
Arthur whispered, “Claire knew something?”
Lucas shrugged helplessly.
“She said grown-ups lie when money gets big.”
Maya felt a chill.
Arthur stood.
“We’re going home.”
The detective returned.
“Mr. Montgomery, I wouldn’t advise—”
“My son just told me his dead mother left evidence in that house.”
Arthur looked directly at him.
“And Peter Sloan was willing to lock an eight-year-old child behind a wall to find it.”
Two hours later, police opened Claire Montgomery’s bedroom for the first time in three years.
The blue box was gone.
But on the dusty carpet beneath the bed was a fresh footprint.
May you like
And it wasn’t Peter Sloan’s size.
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