Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN ROOM 17
Margaret told them the story in the hidden chamber.
Three years earlier, on the night of Grace’s disappearance, Margaret received a call from an unknown number.
Grace was alive.
She had escaped the car before it sank, but she was badly injured and believed someone was following her. She refused to go to a hospital, convinced that the police had been compromised.
Margaret found her in Room 17 of the abandoned Bellweather Hotel.
“She was bleeding,” Margaret said. “Her left shoulder was dislocated. There was glass in her face and hands. She had walked nearly a mile through the woods.”
Lucas could barely speak.
“And you left her there?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“She gave me a drive containing evidence. She said the crash was not an attempt to kill her. It was an attempt to capture her.”
“Capture her for what?”
“To learn where she had hidden the records.”
Margaret’s voice lowered.
“She said someone inside our family had betrayed her.”
Adrian stiffened.
“Who?”
“She would not tell me.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“She did not trust me enough.”
Lucas stared at the floor.
Grace had been alive while he stood with police officers on the riverbank. She had been alive while rescue teams searched the water. She had been alive while Lucas called hospitals, morgues, and every person she knew.
“She asked me to bring Lily,” Margaret continued.
Lucas looked up sharply.
“Why?”
“She wanted to say goodbye.”
“You took my daughter to a burned hotel in the middle of the night?”
“I did not.”
“Then what happened?”
“When I returned with medical supplies, Grace was gone. The room had been cleaned. The blood was removed. The drive she gave me had been replaced with an empty copy.”
“Who knew where she was?”
“No one.”
“Someone did.”
Margaret nodded.
“That is why I began helping with the hidden cameras. Grace had prepared them long before the crash. I believed she might contact us through one.”
“Did she?”
“Once.”
Margaret removed the sapphire brooch and pressed its center. A tiny compartment opened. Inside was a strip of paper.
The date was two years after the accident.
The message contained only seven words.
Lily must never enter the east tower.
Lucas read it twice.
Vale House had an east tower, but it had been sealed since Edmund’s death. The upper rooms were considered unsafe because of water damage and unstable floors.
“Why would Grace send this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you search the tower?”
“I tried. The entrance had been welded shut from inside.”
Adrian took the strip.
“Someone was living there.”
“Or hiding something there.”
Lucas remembered the security footage of Vanessa placing Lily in the wardrobe.
Your mother should have stayed dead the first time.
“What if Grace survived longer than one night?” he asked.
Margaret did not answer.
“What if she is still alive?”
Lily moved closer.
“She is.”
Everyone looked at her.
Lily reached into the pocket of her blue dress and removed a tiny silver charm shaped like a moon.
“Mommy gave this to me.”
Lucas recognized it.
Grace had worn the charm on a bracelet since childhood. It disappeared with her on the night of the crash.
“When?” Lucas asked.
Lily looked confused.
“The night she sang to me.”
“Which night?”
“When Vanessa was sleeping in Daddy’s room.”
Lucas’s mind raced.
Vanessa had begun staying at Vale House six months earlier.
“Did someone come into your bedroom?”
Lily nodded.
“She wore a dark coat and had a hurt face.”
“A scar?”
Lily traced a line from her left temple to her jaw.
“She said I must pretend it was a dream. She told me the bird would wake up when the white queen closed the door.”
The white queen.
Vanessa in her wedding dress.
Grace had known the wardrobe would be used.
She had predicted the confrontation.
Or arranged it.
A security officer called from above.
“Mr. Vale, the police have arrived.”
Lucas closed his hand around the moon charm.
“Adrian, stay with Lily.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No. Keep her safe.”
Margaret said, “Lucas, Vanessa expects you to follow her.”
“Good.”
“That means the Bellweather Hotel may be another trap.”
“Then I’ll walk into it with my eyes open.”
He climbed the stairs.
At the top, Lily ran after him and caught his hand.
“Daddy.”
He knelt.
She pressed the charm into his palm.
“Mommy said the man with the red umbrella is lying.”
Lucas frowned.
“What man?”
Lily looked toward the bridal room window.
Outside, rain had begun to fall over the wedding garden.
Hundreds of guests hurried beneath awnings and tents.
Near the main gate stood a man in a gray suit.
He held a bright red umbrella.
Lucas recognized him immediately.
May you like
Detective Samuel Reed.
The same officer who had led the investigation into Grace’s death.
