Chapter 4 - Someone Was Watching Them Upstairs
Andrew moved first.
He shut off the linen-room light and pulled Victoria and Lily away from the doorway.
“Stay down.”
Victoria crouched beside the cedar chest, heart pounding.
“Where was the picture taken from?”
Andrew enlarged the image.
The angle was high and slightly diagonal.
Across the hall.
He looked toward the ceiling.
“The old nursery.”
The room had been empty since Lily moved into the south bedroom two years earlier.
Andrew stepped into the hallway.
Victoria grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
“If somebody is up there—”
“Call security.”
“I don’t know who I can trust yet.”
That answer chilled her.
Andrew used his regular phone and called Marcus Reed, the head of mansion security.
“Marcus, lock the exterior doors. Quietly. Nobody leaves until I speak to you.”
Victoria stared.
“You’re locking guests inside?”
“I’m keeping whoever did this from walking out.”
Andrew ended the call.
Lily tugged Victoria’s dress.
“Aunt Carrie said Daddy locks people up when he’s mad.”
Victoria went still.
Andrew heard it too.
“What did you say?”
Lily blinked.
“Aunt Carrie.”
Caroline.
Victoria knelt.
“When did Aunt Caroline say that?”
“Today.”
Andrew and Victoria exchanged a look.
“What else did she tell you?” Victoria asked.
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
“She said not to tell.”
“You can tell Mommy.”
“She said Daddy was making you sick.”
Victoria felt as though the floor had shifted.
Andrew whispered, “Jesus.”
“She said if Daddy found out I knew, he’d send me away.”
Victoria’s thoughts raced backward.
Caroline bringing her tea every evening.
Caroline telling her she looked exhausted.
Caroline suggesting Andrew was becoming distant.
Caroline casually mentioning that wealthy men often hid money before divorces.
Tiny comments.
Always sympathetic.
Never direct enough to sound malicious.
Victoria had accepted them because they came from family.
Andrew looked toward the old nursery.
“Stay here.”
This time Victoria didn’t stop him.
He crossed the hallway and pushed open the nursery door.
Empty.
Moonlight spilled across the hardwood floor.
A tripod stood beside the window.
No camera remained on it.
Andrew checked the closet.
Nothing.
Then Victoria noticed movement.
Not inside the room.
In the reflection of the nursery mirror.
A shadow crossed the far end of the hall.
“Andrew!”
He spun and ran.
Victoria lifted Lily and followed only far enough to see him reach the corner.
Nobody was there.
But a service door was swinging shut.
Andrew yanked it open.
A narrow staircase descended toward the kitchen wing.
Whoever had been watching them knew the mansion’s hidden routes.
Victoria knew only three people who regularly used those stairs.
Housekeeping.
Security.
And Caroline.
Andrew returned, breathing hard.
“They’re gone.”
Victoria’s phone buzzed.
Caroline.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Her sister sounded confused.
“Downstairs. What happened? People are saying Andrew locked the doors.”
Victoria studied Andrew.
“Stay where you are.”
“Victoria, you’re scaring me.”
“Just stay there.”
A pause.
Then Caroline’s voice softened.
“Is Lily with you?”
Victoria felt Andrew watching her.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank God.”
Something about the relief sounded genuine.
Too genuine, perhaps.
Caroline continued.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for her.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
“Because I saw Andrew take her upstairs.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“No, you didn’t.”
“What?”
“Andrew says Lily came out of the west hall alone.”
Silence.
Then Caroline whispered, “He’s lying to you.”
Victoria’s pulse quickened.
“Why would he lie?”
“Because I saw what he did.”
Andrew moved closer, trying to hear.
Victoria put the call on speaker.
Caroline’s voice filled the hallway.
“Victoria, please listen to me. I saw Andrew grab Lily near his study. She was crying. He dragged her toward the linen room.”
Andrew shook his head.
“That never happened.”
Caroline gasped.
“He’s with you?”
“Yes.”
“Get away from him.”
Andrew leaned toward the phone.
“Caroline, where are you exactly?”
“Stay away from me.”
“Where are you?”
The call disconnected.
Victoria immediately tried again.
No answer.
Andrew looked grim.
“She knew about the linen room.”
Victoria’s mouth went dry.
Caroline had mentioned it without Victoria ever saying where they were.
But before either of them could process that, Marcus called.
Andrew answered.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“One guest is missing.”
Andrew looked at Victoria.
“Who?”
Marcus answered.
“Dr. Elena Morris.”
Victoria tightened her grip on Lily.
May you like
Then Marcus added something worse.
“We found blood in the downstairs powder room.”
