Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY CAR
Grant’s flight landed at nine twenty.
His driver waited outside the private terminal.
Grant never reached the car.
At nine thirty-seven, the driver received a message from Grant’s phone stating that another vehicle had collected him. At ten fifteen, Grant failed to answer three calls from Emma.
By ten thirty, the police had been notified.
Renata insisted Grant often changed plans without informing staff.
Eleanor knew he did not.
“He always calls Lily when he lands,” she said.
They gathered in the mansion’s security room, where a bank of screens showed every public corridor, entrance, and garden path.
Lily sat beside Emma wearing Grant’s old college sweatshirt over her nightdress. Daniel remained near the door. Renata stood apart from him, sending messages from her phone.
The airport footage showed Grant leaving the terminal.
A black sedan approached.
Grant paused before entering.
Someone inside held up an object.
The camera angle did not reveal what it was.
Grant got into the car voluntarily.
The license plate belonged to a vehicle reported stolen that afternoon.
“The message said to bring Lily to the boathouse,” Emma said. “Who knew Grant was returning tonight?”
“All senior staff,” Eleanor answered.
“And the hospital,” Daniel added.
Renata looked up.
“What are you implying?”
“That your clinic may not be private.”
“I arranged legitimate testing.”
“Without Grant’s knowledge.”
“To determine whether an option existed.”
“For you or for someone else?” Emma asked.
Renata crossed the room.
“You arrived three weeks ago and now speak as though you understand this family.”
“I understand that Lily is terrified of you.”
“She is terrified of everything.”
“Not of Emma,” Daniel said.
Renata glared at him.
“And we all know how successful Claire’s chosen protectors have been.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Eleanor struck the floor with her cane.
“Stop.”
Lily stood suddenly.
She pointed to the airport screen.
Emma rewound the video.
Grant approached the sedan.
The person inside raised an object.
Emma enlarged the image.
It was blurred, but the shape appeared rectangular and red.
Lily’s raincoat.
The one from the locked drawer.
Someone had taken it after Emma found the recorder.
Grant must have believed Lily was inside the car or in danger nearby.
“They used her coat to make him get in,” Emma said.
Lily’s face crumpled.
Emma knelt.
“This is not your fault.”
Lily pressed both hands over her ears.
Renata moved closer.
“Sweetheart, we need you to be brave. Did your mother ever take you to the old boathouse?”
Lily froze.
Emma turned.
“How did you know Claire used it?”
Renata’s eyes shifted.
“I assumed.”
“No. You asked a specific question.”
Eleanor watched her.
“Answer Emma.”
Renata exhaled.
“There are photographs of Claire there.”
“What photographs?”
“Security images from before the accident.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You said the boathouse camera had been disabled.”
“It was.”
“Then what images?”
Renata looked trapped.
A security monitor flashed.
Movement at the north gate.
A figure stood outside in the rain.
Mrs. Cole.
Her uniform was torn. Blood covered one side of her face.
Emma ran to the entrance with Daniel behind her.
The gates opened remotely.
Mrs. Cole staggered through and collapsed.
She woke in the kitchen twenty minutes later.
A private physician treated the cut on her scalp while police searched the estate.
“What happened in the archive?” Emma asked.
Mrs. Cole looked toward Daniel.
“He attacked me.”
Daniel remained still.
“That’s a lie.”
“I saw you.”
“You saw someone wearing my coat.”
“You grabbed the tapes.”
“I was in the greenhouse.”
“With us,” Emma confirmed.
Mrs. Cole closed her eyes.
“Then he came back.”
Eleanor leaned closer.
“Who?”
Mrs. Cole’s voice trembled.
“Daniel.”
The physician exchanged a glance with the police officer.
Daniel’s expression became grim.
“You think there are two of me?”
Mrs. Cole stared at his face.
“You don’t remember.”
“Remember what?”
“The treatment.”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
She turned pale.
“What treatment?” Emma asked.
No one answered.
Mrs. Cole began crying.
It was the first emotion Emma had seen her display.
“After the mountain attack, he was not the same. There were blackouts. Missing hours. Violent episodes.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I had seizures caused by medication.”
“You broke a nurse’s jaw.”
“She restrained me during a seizure.”
“You threatened Claire.”
Daniel moved toward her.
“I never threatened Claire.”
Mrs. Cole recoiled.
Lily stepped between them.
She looked at Daniel and shook her head.
Emma touched her shoulder.
“You don’t think he hurt Mrs. Cole?”
Lily shook her head again.
Then she pointed toward the hallway mirror.
The woman in the mirror.
Emma walked to it.
In the reflection, she saw the kitchen, the officers, Eleanor, Renata, Daniel, and Lily.
Something was wrong.
Daniel’s image stood beside the doorway.
Behind him, partially concealed by the frame, another man’s face appeared.
Emma spun around.
No one stood there.
She checked the mirror again.
The second face was gone.
A police officer entered carrying a plastic evidence bag.
“We found this near the north wall.”
Inside was Grant’s phone.
The screen was cracked, but one unsent voice message remained recoverable.
The officer played it.
Grant’s breathless voice filled the kitchen.
“Emma, the woman from Claire’s photograph is alive. She told me Lily isn’t my—”
The recording ended.
Lily stared at the phone.
Grant had not finished the sentence.
Lily wasn’t his what?
His donor?
His responsibility?
His daughter?
Renata lowered her eyes.
Emma saw it.
“You know what he was going to say.”
Renata whispered, “No.”
Lily walked toward her.
For the first time since Emma arrived, the child reached out voluntarily and touched Renata’s hand.
Renata looked down, startled.
Lily turned the woman’s palm upward.
Written across Renata’s skin in fading blue ink were four numbers.
11-04.
May you like
Emma recognized the date from Claire’s recorder.
The night of the boating accident.
