Chapter 2 - Lily Saw the Locked Room
Daniel ignored the ballroom whispers.
He crouched beside Lily again.
“What did you see?”
Lily pointed toward the east corridor.
“The room with the gold door.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
There was no gold door.
At least, not one guests were supposed to see.
The east corridor led to old family offices and a private archive that
had been locked since Daniel’s father, Charles Whitmore, died.
Vanessa had controlled the mansion since then.
Lily said she had been looking for a bathroom when she saw Vanessa leave
the archive.
The door did not close completely.
Inside, Lily noticed a blue light reflecting from a table.
She entered.
The ring was lying beside an old photograph.
Then Vanessa returned.
“She got mad,” Lily whispered.
“What did she say?”
“She said I wasn’t supposed to see the lady.”
Daniel stopped.
“What lady?”
Lily pointed toward the ring.
“The lady wearing this.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Daniel, this is not the place.”
He looked at her.
“My daughter found my missing sister’s ring in a locked room you
control. This is exactly the place.”
Guests fell silent.
Daniel’s sister, Claire Whitmore, had disappeared eighteen years earlier
at twenty-four.
Police found her car near a coastal highway.
No body.
No confirmed sighting.
The blue sapphire ring had been a gift from their grandmother.
Claire wore it constantly.
Vanessa had been Claire’s closest friend.
And for eighteen years, she claimed she knew nothing.
Daniel called mansion security.
“Lock the archive. Nobody touches anything.”
Vanessa whispered:
“You’re making a mistake.”
Daniel held up the ring.
“No. Someone made one eighteen years ago.”
Then Lily tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“The lady in the picture had a baby.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What baby?”
Lily swallowed.
“There was another picture.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
May you like
Daniel understood immediately.
The ring was not the only thing she had been hiding.
