Chapter 8 - the woman beyond the doorway
Mark handed Ava to Daniel.
“Take her outside.”
Ava clung to him.
“No.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“You said we leave together.”
Mark looked into her frightened face.
She was right.
Every promise mattered now.
He took her hand instead.
Daniel stayed close as they moved toward the foyer.
Robert attempted to follow.
Two police officers entered through the open front door.
Rachel was with them, carrying a leather case.
“Mr. Hale,” one officer said to Robert, “we need everyone to remain inside while we determine what happened.”
Robert straightened his jacket.
“This is a private family dispute.”
Rachel looked at the wine on Ava’s dress and the mark on her wrist.
“It stopped being private when a child was deliberately targeted as part of a coercion scheme.”
Jessica moved toward the stairs.
The second officer blocked her path.
“Please remain in the room.”
“I need to change.”
“You can wait.”
Mark searched the hallway.
The woman was gone.
A side door stood slightly open.
He could see a narrow service corridor beyond it.
“Did someone leave through there?” he asked a member of the household staff.
The woman looked at Robert before answering.
“I didn’t see anyone.”
Robert spoke from behind him.
“You are chasing ghosts again.”
Mark turned.
“Who was she?”
“There was no woman.”
“She spoke to you.”
“I heard nothing.”
Daniel raised his phone.
“The microphone may have captured her.”
Robert’s attention returned to the device.
Rachel stepped between them.
“That phone is evidence now.”
Daniel handed it to her.
Mark watched Robert carefully.
The mention of the woman frightened him more than the police, the recordings, or the forged document.
That meant she mattered.
Ava tugged Mark’s hand.
“I saw her.”
Mark crouched beside her.
“What did she look like?”
“I only saw her coat.”
“What color?”
Ava looked toward the open side door.
“Blue.”
The same color as the coat worn by the woman at her school.
Mark stood quickly.
He walked into the service corridor with Ava beside him and Daniel following.
The corridor led toward the kitchen, laundry room, and staff entrance.
The back door was open.
Outside, tire tracks crossed the damp garden path.
A black car had recently left through the service gate.
Daniel stared at the tracks.
“She was watching the house.”
“Or working inside it,” Mark said.
A housekeeper approached them.
She was elderly and had worked for Margaret before Robert renovated the estate.
Her name was Mrs. Alvarez.
She looked frightened.
“Mr. Mark, you should not stay here.”
“Who left through the back door?”
Mrs. Alvarez glanced toward the corridor.
“A woman came yesterday.”
“Name?”
“She did not give one.”
“Why was she allowed inside?”
“Mr. Robert told the security team she was a consultant.”
“What did she look like?”
Mrs. Alvarez lowered her voice.
“Brown hair. Blue coat.”
Ava squeezed Mark’s fingers.
“What did she do here?”
“She spent several hours in the old east wing.”
Daniel frowned.
“The east wing was closed after Margaret died.”
“Not all of it,” Mrs. Alvarez said. “Mr. Robert still uses the private archive.”
Mark remembered the silver key marked 214.
“Did Jessica go with her?”
“Yes.”
“Did they carry anything?”
Mrs. Alvarez hesitated.
“A small metal case.”
Robert’s voice came from the corridor.
“That is enough.”
Mrs. Alvarez flinched.
Robert walked toward them with one of the officers behind him.
“You are questioning my staff without permission.”
“She is not your property either,” Mark said.
The officer asked Mrs. Alvarez whether she would be willing to provide a statement.
She looked at Robert.
For decades, he had controlled her salary, her housing, and the immigration sponsorship of several relatives.
Fear won.
“I did not see anything,” she whispered.
Robert smiled.
Mark understood the message.
Evidence could disappear.
Witnesses could forget.
Documents could be rewritten.
But there was one place Robert had not yet been able to reach.
Daniel’s hidden box inside Room 214.
Mark turned to Rachel.
“We need a court order for the company archive.”
Rachel shook her head.
“That could take time.”
“Robert will destroy everything.”
“Then we need another legal reason to enter immediately.”
Daniel looked toward Jessica, who stood at the end of the corridor.
Her handbag was still hanging from her shoulder.
Inside it was the key.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Room 214 contains company documents. As a current shareholder representative, Mark can request access during normal business hours.”
Robert heard him.
“You will not enter my building.”
Mark faced his father.
“It was my mother’s building before it was yours.”
Robert’s calm finally disappeared.
“If you go into that room, you will destroy what remains of this family.”
Mark looked down at Ava.
Robert had planned to frighten her, discredit him, and steal her inheritance.
May you like
Whatever remained of the family had already been destroyed.
“I’m counting on it,” Mark said.
