Chapter 10 - THE EMPTY ROOM
They entered the mansion with police this time.
Richard protested loudly.
Victoria cried.
Melanie had disappeared.
The second-floor room was empty.
Bed stripped.
Oxygen machine gone.
No Charles.
Richard stood in the hallway with a lawyer beside him.
"My father is an adult. He left voluntarily."
Sadie laughed.
"He can barely walk."
"Then perhaps somebody helped him."
"Who?"
Richard looked at Wyatt.
"Ask your fiancé."
Wyatt stepped forward.
The officer between them raised a hand.
"Enough."
Sadie entered the room.
Something felt wrong.
Not merely empty.
Prepared.
The carpet near the bed was damp.
Bleach.
Someone had cleaned recently.
Daniel crouched near the window.
He touched the sill.
"Vehicle below."
Sadie joined him.
Tire tracks crossed the soft ground beneath the side entrance.
Wyatt said, "Security cameras?"
Richard smiled.
"Unfortunately malfunctioning."
Daniel's jaw flexed.
"No, they didn't."
Everyone looked at him.
Richard's face changed.
Daniel walked toward a wall panel.
He removed a decorative wooden strip.
Behind it sat a tiny camera.
"You never found Charles's system."
Richard stared.
For the first time, genuine panic appeared.
Police recovered the footage.
At 3:18 p.m., two men in medical uniforms had wheeled Charles out through the east service door.
Victoria watched from the hallway.
Richard stood behind her.
Sadie turned on her mother.
"You watched them take him."
Victoria trembled.
"I didn't know where."
"But you knew they were taking him."
Richard said, "Don't answer."
Sadie moved toward Victoria.
"Mom."
Victoria looked at Richard.
Then at Sadie.
Something inside her broke.
"Mercy Ridge."
Richard shouted, "Victoria!"
"Mercy Ridge Rehabilitation Center."
Daniel cursed.
Wyatt grabbed his keys.
"Where is it?"
"Forty minutes north."
Daniel said, "It's not a rehabilitation center."
Sadie froze.
"What is it?"
"A private psychiatric facility."
The plan became obvious.
They had not simply moved Charles.
They were going to declare him incompetent too.
Wyatt drove.
Sadie sat in the passenger seat calling Harrison Cole repeatedly.
No answer.
Then a text arrived.
DO NOT GO TO MERCY RIDGE.
She showed Wyatt.
He did not slow down.
Another text.
THEY WANT YOU THERE.
Daniel, following in his van, called through the car speakers.
"Turn around."
Wyatt frowned.
"Why?"
"I just accessed the estate audio node."
"And?"
Daniel's voice became tight.
"Richard knew Victoria would tell you."
Sadie stared at the road ahead.
"He wanted her to."
A black SUV appeared in the rearview mirror.
Then another.
Wyatt accelerated.
Sadie's phone buzzed again.
Unknown sender.
A video attachment.
She opened it.
Charles sat in a wheelchair.
Someone off camera held a gun against his neck.
A man's voice said:
"Come to Mercy Ridge, Sadie."
The camera moved.
Melanie stood beside Charles.
Crying.
Her hands were tied.
The voice continued.
May you like
"Bring Wyatt Hayes too."
Then the screen went black.
