Chapter 8 - the office beneath the office
The police arrived before dawn.
Victoria was questioned but not arrested. Her attorneys argued that the recordings had been obtained illegally and that the altered documents had not been found. Without the second packet, the most serious accusation remained an uncompleted plan.
Julian wanted her removed from Ashford House.
Victoria refused to leave.
“This remains my registered residence until our engagement is formally dissolved.”
“It is dissolved now.”
“You may announce that to the newspapers.”
“I will announce it to the world.”
Victoria’s eyes shifted toward the staircase where Mary Jane stood with Daniel.
“You will destroy your family name to defend a child whose mother was blackmailing your father.”
Julian crossed the entrance hall.
“Say one more word about Eleanor in front of her.”
Victoria studied him, then walked toward the west guest suite under police supervision.
The wedding guests departed shortly after sunrise.
By noon, photographs of the interrupted gala had spread across every major news outlet. Commentators speculated about a family dispute, a fraudulent trust, and a mysterious child hidden beneath the ballroom.
Julian ignored the headlines.
He returned to his father’s study with Mary Jane and Daniel.
The panel behind the tapestry had been restored to look like a solid wall. Using Mary Jane’s brass key, they opened it and entered the servants’ passage.
At the bottom of the narrow stairs, Daniel noticed a newer section of stone.
He pressed against it.
The wall moved.
Behind it was a second office.
Thomas Ashford had built a hidden archive beneath his study.
Metal cabinets lined the walls. Most had been emptied. Burned paper filled the fireplace. A desk held an old computer whose hard drives had been removed.
On the wall was a large photograph of Ashford House taken twenty-five years earlier.
Thomas stood at the center.
Beside him was Eleanor Reed, then a young archivist.
On Thomas’s other side stood Victoria’s father, Conrad Vale, and several members of the Ashford board.
One man’s face had been cut from the photograph.
Mary Jane touched the empty space.
“Why did someone remove him?”
Daniel examined the torn edges.
“This was done recently.”
Julian opened the desk drawers.
Inside the bottom drawer, he found a stack of guardianship records involving children whose families had owned valuable property. Each case followed the same pattern.
An elderly owner died unexpectedly.
A vulnerable child inherited legal interests.
A Vale-connected guardian took control.
The property was transferred to private investment companies.
Within a few years, the child disappeared from all official records.
Julian felt sick.
“How many?”
Daniel counted the files.
“Eleven.”
Mary Jane stood near the hidden fireplace.
“My mother said I was number twelve.”
Julian turned sharply.
“When?”
“Before the accident. She was packing our things. She said someone had made a list and I was number twelve.”
Daniel found a blue folder marked Reed.
It contained photographs of Eleanor leaving banks, government offices, and Ashford House. Someone had been following her for months.
The final photograph showed Eleanor placing a metal box inside a church wall.
On the back, she had written three words.
Where angels listen.
“The blue chapel,” Mary Jane whispered.
Julian studied the image.
The church windows were dark blue. Near the altar stood a stone angel with one broken hand.
“Do you remember where it is?”
Mary Jane closed her eyes.
“We drove for a long time. There were mountains. My mother told me to count red bridges.”
Daniel scanned the photograph.
“There is a name carved into the altar.”
He enlarged the image using his phone.
Saint Orison’s Chapel.
Julian recognized it.
The chapel stood on abandoned Ashford land nearly two hundred miles north of the city. His grandfather had closed it after a fire.
They prepared to leave immediately.
Before exiting the hidden office, Mary Jane noticed a loose floorboard beneath the desk.
She lifted it with the brass key.
Inside was a recent photograph.
It showed Mrs. Dallow sitting beside a window in an unfamiliar room. A newspaper dated three days earlier lay on her lap.
She was alive.
May you like
A message was written across the bottom.
Bring the girl to the chapel, or the housekeeper becomes number thirteen.
