Chapter 4 - The Locked Room
Nora received emergency leave and flew to Virginia that evening.
She wore civilian clothes when Evelyn met her at the Richmond airport, but Nora carried herself with the same alert discipline she wore in uniform.
They drove through the night toward Blackridge.
Rain followed them into the mountains.
At two in the morning, they turned onto the unpaved road leading to the cabin.
A county patrol vehicle blocked the entrance.
Deputy Jonah Pike stepped into the rain and approached Evelyn’s car.
Pike had been a year ahead of Nora in school.
He had broad shoulders, tired eyes and the expression of a man who had spent too long apologizing for other people.
He shined his flashlight through the window.
“Nora.”
“Jonah.”
“You can’t go up there.”
“Why?”
“Property dispute.”
“It’s my property.”
“That is what your attorney says.”
Evelyn lowered her window.
“And the deed supports it.”
Pike glanced toward the dark road behind them.
“Mason reported a burglary.”
“At the cabin?” Nora asked.
“He says documents and personal property were stolen.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Who discovered it?”
“Mason.”
Nora looked at Evelyn.
“Convenient.”
Pike lowered his voice.
“I’m not saying I believe him.”
“Then move your vehicle.”
“I can’t.”
Nora studied his face.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Rain drummed against the roof.
Pike looked back toward his patrol car.
“The north room was opened.”
Nora felt a chill unrelated to the weather.
The north room had been locked for as long as she could remember.
Her father kept the key on a chain beneath his shirt.
After his death, the key disappeared.
“What was inside?” Nora asked.
“We don’t know. The room was empty when we arrived.”
“Who opened it?”
“Mason says the door was already broken when he came to inspect the property.”
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
Nora opened the passenger door.
Pike stepped back.
“I told you I can’t let you through.”
“Then arrest me.”
“Nora.”
“Someone broke into my father’s locked room, removed whatever was inside and filed a false burglary report. You can arrest me, or you can stop protecting the man who did it.”
Pike’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not protecting Mason.”
“Then who are you protecting?”
His silence answered too much.
Evelyn stepped out with an umbrella.
“Deputy, if there is an active crime scene on property owned by my client, she has a right to know which agency is investigating.”
Pike looked toward the mountain.
“The sheriff told us not to request state assistance.”
“Sheriff Cresswell?” Nora asked.
Pike’s expression changed.
The sheriff was Raymond Cresswell, cousin to the family that owned Blackridge Timber.
Nora walked around the roadblock.
Pike caught her arm.
She looked down at his hand.
He released her.
“Five minutes,” he whispered. “If anyone asks, you went around me through the woods.”
They continued on foot.
The cabin appeared through the rain fifteen minutes later.
The front door hung open.
Mud covered the porch.
Inside, furniture had been overturned and drawers emptied onto the floor.
Nora walked through the rooms slowly, noticing what was missing rather than what had been disturbed.
Her father’s old camera was gone.
The metal lockbox from beneath his desk was gone.
Three framed photographs had been removed from the walls.
At the end of the hallway, the north-room door had been split near the hinges.
Nora stepped inside.
The room was smaller than she expected.
A workbench ran along one wall. Empty shelves lined another. Dust covered everything except a rectangular space on the floor where something heavy had recently stood.
Evelyn examined the broken lock.
“This was opened with the key first.”
“How can you tell?”
“The bolt is undamaged. Someone unlocked it, removed the contents and then broke the door to make it look forced.”
Nora crouched near the empty space.
Something glinted beneath the workbench.
She reached under and pulled out a brass military button.
It was old and darkened with age.
An eagle was stamped on the front.
On the back were two tiny letters.
E.H.
Nora stared at them.
“My grandfather’s name was Everett Hayes.”
Evelyn took the button.
“Was he in the Army?”
“He disappeared during the Korean War. My father said he was buried overseas.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Nora turned.
May you like
A figure stood in the hallway.
Before she could see the face, the lights went out.
