Chapter 5 - saint orison)
They flew to Colorado the next morning.
Claire insisted Lily remain with her sister in New York.
Ethan objected only once.
Neither of them wanted their daughter anywhere near Saint Orison until they understood what was happening.
Marcus accompanied them.
The ruins sat beyond a private mountain road, surrounded by pine forest and cliffs.
From a distance Saint Orison looked like the skeleton of a cathedral.
Stone walls remained.
Parts of the roof did not.
A bell tower leaned slightly toward the valley.
The cliff behind the eastern wall dropped almost vertically.
Claire stepped from the vehicle and immediately understood why her mother had looked afraid in the old photograph.
The place was beautiful.
And dangerous.
A caretaker met them at the gate.
His name was Thomas Vale.
He was seventy-three.
When Claire introduced herself, his face changed.
"Eleanor's girl."
Claire stopped.
"You knew my mother."
"Knew her well enough."
Thomas looked at Ethan.
"Didn't think another Ashford would come here asking questions."
Ethan accepted the insult.
"Neither did I."
Thomas led them through the ruins.
He showed Claire the restored chapel.
The courtyard where the wedding ceremony would take place.
The terrace.
Then Claire showed him the silver key.
Thomas stopped walking.
"Where did you get that?"
"My mother."
He looked around before answering.
"You shouldn't have brought it."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because everyone who touched those keys eventually regretted it."
"Keys?"
"There were three."
Claire looked at Ethan.
Thomas pointed toward the oval pendant around Claire's neck.
"That shape belonged to the Vale family crest. My great-grandfather designed the hidden locks when Saint Orison was still private property."
"Are you related to Vanessa Rowe?"
Thomas frowned.
"Vanessa?"
"You know her?"
"I know of her."
He walked toward a weathered stone arch.
"Her mother was a Vale."
Claire's pulse quickened.
"So Vanessa has family connections here."
"More than connections."
Thomas looked toward the cliff.
"She spent summers here as a child."
Claire suddenly understood how Vanessa knew the property.
"Did Daniel?"
"Every summer."
Thomas looked older when he said the name.
"Daniel was a good boy. Too curious for his own safety."
"What happened to him?"
Thomas took a long breath.
"He found the chamber."
"The lower chamber?"
Thomas stared at Claire.
"So Eleanor wrote it down."
"Where is it?"
Instead of answering, Thomas led them through a narrow passage behind the old chapel.
Vines covered part of the wall.
He moved them aside.
There was a metal plate set into the stone.
Three keyholes.
Claire looked at her silver key.
"Three keys."
Thomas nodded.
"One belonged to the Vale family."
"One to my mother?"
"Not originally."
"Who had the third?"
Thomas looked at Ethan.
"The Ashfords."
Ethan's face darkened.
"My father."
"His father before him."
Claire inserted her key into the first lock.
It turned.
One click echoed inside the wall.
Nothing else happened.
"All three keys must turn together," Thomas said.
"Where is Vanessa's?"
"I don't know."
"Where is Richard's?"
Thomas gave Ethan a meaningful look.
"I think you do."
Ethan frowned.
"I don't."
Thomas reached into his jacket.
He pulled out an old photograph.
Richard Ashford stood beside the same doorway, much younger.
Around his neck hung a silver pendant.
Ethan looked at it.
"I've seen that."
"Where?"
"My father's study."
Claire's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Vanessa's voice came immediately.
"You're standing at the door, aren't you?"
Claire turned, scanning the ruins.
"Where are you?"
"Closer than Ethan thinks."
"What do you want?"
"The truth."
"You nearly trapped me in a storage unit."
Vanessa laughed softly.
"That wasn't me."
Claire froze.
"What?"
"I sent the photograph. I met you in the lobby. But I didn't follow you to Queens."
Claire looked toward Marcus.
He was standing twenty feet away.
Watching the road.
"Then who did?"
Vanessa lowered her voice.
"The same person who killed Daniel."
Claire's throat tightened.
"Who?"
"You aren't ready for the name."
"Try me."
Vanessa paused.
Then said, "Ask Marcus why he was six minutes away."
The call ended.
Claire slowly lowered the phone.
Marcus noticed her staring.
"Problem?"
Claire looked at Ethan.
Then back at Marcus.
"Not yet."
That night, someone entered Thomas Vale's house.
By morning, Thomas was gone.
May you like
And on the kitchen table, written in fresh red paint, were six words.
The wedding must happen at Saint Orison.
