Chapter 2 - The Room Caroline Hid Behind the Library WallAndrew did not allow Lucinda upstairs.
He called the head of household security and ordered two guards to remain in the kitchen.
Lucinda exploded.
“You’re having security watch me?”
“Until I know what’s happening.”
“This is insane.”
“Maybe.”
Andrew looked at Alex.
“But I should have listened to my son months ago.”
Lucinda’s face softened instantly.
“Andrew, grief is making you irrational.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“Grief made me blind.”
Elizabeth carried Alex’s rabbit while Andrew held his hand.
For the first time in months, Alex allowed his father to lead him somewhere without resisting.
They walked toward the library.
It had been Caroline’s favorite room.
Two walls were covered with books.
A third held family photographs.
The fourth contained a massive walnut bookcase that stretched from floor to ceiling.
Alex stopped before it.
Andrew frowned.
“What are you showing me?”
The boy pointed to a carved wooden rose near the center shelf.
Andrew touched it.
Nothing happened.
Alex reached up.
His fingers were too short.
Andrew lifted him.
Alex pressed the rose and then pushed the spine of an old poetry collection beside it.
A faint click came from behind the shelves.
Andrew stared.
The entire bookcase moved half an inch.
Elizabeth whispered, “Oh my God.”
Andrew pulled.
A narrow hidden door opened.
Behind it was a small room.
Caroline’s room.
Not a bedroom.
An office.
Andrew stepped inside in shock.
There was a desk.
A laptop.
Locked file drawers.
Several handwritten notebooks.
A wall covered with business documents.
And dozens of photographs.
Lucinda appeared in many of them.
So did a man Andrew recognized immediately.
Marcus Vale.
The former chief financial officer of Vaughn Holdings.
Andrew had fired Marcus three months before Caroline died after discovering unexplained accounting discrepancies.
Caroline had been the person who first raised concerns.
Andrew stared at the pictures.
Some showed Marcus and Lucinda entering hotels.
Others showed them exchanging envelopes.
One showed Lucinda kissing him beside his car.
Elizabeth closed the hidden door behind them.
“Mrs. Vaughn knew.”
Andrew’s stomach twisted.
“Knew what?”
Elizabeth pointed at the desk.
A handwritten note sat beneath a paperweight.
Andrew recognized Caroline’s writing.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, ANDREW MUST SEE THIS.
His hands began shaking.
Alex moved closer to Elizabeth.
Andrew unlocked the desk drawer using the brass key.
Inside were three things.
A flash drive.
An envelope addressed to Andrew.
And a second green ribbon.
This one had been torn.
Andrew picked it up.
The fabric matched the piece Lucinda had cut from Alex’s rabbit.
Exactly.
He opened Caroline’s envelope.
Andrew,
If you are reading this, then I did not get the chance to tell you myself.
Lucinda is not who you think she is.
She and Marcus have been stealing from the company for more than two years.
I discovered shell invoices and false consulting accounts.
When Marcus realized I knew, he threatened me.
Lucinda is helping him.
I believe she has been inside our home searching for evidence.
I have not confronted her yet because Alex was in the house the last time she came here angry.
I am frightened.
Not for myself.
For our son.
Andrew had to stop reading.
His vision blurred.
Elizabeth gently placed a hand on the desk.
“There’s more.”
Andrew forced himself onward.
If something happens before I can speak to you, trust Alex.
He sees more than adults realize.
And please remember this:
Fear can silence a child.
Love gives him the courage to speak again.
Caroline.
Andrew sat down hard.
Alex watched him.
Andrew pressed both hands over his face.
For six months, everyone had told him Caroline’s death was an accident.
The railing had been loose.
The marble floor had been slippery.
There were no signs of forced entry.
Lucinda had been the person who stayed beside Andrew during the investigation.
She arranged the funeral.
She comforted Alex.
She eventually moved into the house.
And three months later, Andrew had allowed their grief to blur into something he now hated himself for.
He had agreed to marry her.
Elizabeth looked toward the hidden door.
“We need to call the police.”
Andrew nodded.
Then the lights went out.
The hidden room became black.
Alex screamed.
Not a word.
A raw cry.
Andrew grabbed him.
“Alex!”
A loud bang came from the library.
Elizabeth held the rabbit tightly.
“Someone’s outside.”
Andrew reached for his phone.
No service.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The mansion had signal boosters.
Unless someone had disabled them.
Another sound.
Wood scraping.
The bookcase moved.
Someone was trying to open the hidden room.
Andrew pushed the desk against the entrance.
“Stay behind me.”
The door opened two inches and stopped against the desk.
A voice came through.
“Andrew.”
Lucinda.
His entire body tightened.
“Get away from the door.”
“Security left.”
“What?”
“I told them you wanted them outside.”
Andrew swore under his breath.
Lucinda continued.
“You don’t understand what Caroline was doing.”
“I understand enough.”
“No, you don’t.”
The pressure against the door increased.
“She was destroying everything.”
Andrew looked at the documents.
“You mean your theft?”
Silence.
Then Lucinda spoke differently.
Gone was the gentle voice.
Gone was the grieving friend.
“Give me the flash drive.”
Andrew looked at Elizabeth.
She quietly slipped it into the rabbit through the loose seam.
Andrew answered, “I don’t have it.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Leave this house.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why?”
A pause.
“Because Marcus is coming.”
Andrew’s blood went cold.
Outside, tires suddenly screamed across the driveway.
A car door slammed.
Elizabeth whispered, “She told him.”
Andrew moved the desk away from the door.
“What are you doing?” Elizabeth asked.
“Getting my son out.”
They stepped into the library.
Lucinda stood near the door.
She was no longer holding scissors.
She held Caroline’s old fireplace poker.
Andrew positioned himself between her and Alex.
“Move.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“You already made yours.”
Lucinda’s eyes filled with tears.
For a moment, she looked almost sincere.
“I loved Caroline.”
Andrew stared at her.
“You loved her so much you killed her?”
Her face collapsed.
“I didn’t mean for her to die.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
Nobody moved.
Andrew whispered, “What did you just say?”
Lucinda realized what she had admitted.
Then the front door downstairs opened.
A man’s voice echoed through the mansion.
“Lucinda?”
Marcus Vale had arrived.
May you like
And Alex began shaking all over again.
Because he recognized that voice too.
Related Stories
