Chapter 3 - The Key to a Missing Room
Emma did not empty her pockets.
Instead, she looked past Renata toward the open salon doors.
The photographer and his assistants were watching.
So was Lily.
Renata understood the risk of creating a public scene.
Her expression softened instantly.
“We’ll discuss this later,” she said.
Elias was escorted toward the front entrance.
As he passed Lily, he stopped.
“Your mother was braver than all of us,” he said gently.
Renata’s voice sharpened.
“Remove him.”
The officers pushed him forward.
Lily watched until the doors closed.
The engagement photographs continued.
Renata arranged Grant’s daughter beside her like a decorative object. She placed one jeweled hand on Lily’s shoulder and smiled for the camera.
“Closer,” the photographer said.
Renata pulled Lily against her.
Lily’s face remained blank.
The photographer lowered his camera.
“Perhaps she could smile?”
“She will,” Renata said.
Her fingers pressed into Lily’s shoulder.
Emma saw the child wince.
“She’s tired,” Emma said. “We should stop.”
Renata maintained her smile.
“No one asked you.”
The photographer took another picture.
A message sounded from Renata’s phone.
She checked it and went pale.
Grant’s plane had landed early.
He would arrive in less than an hour.
Renata ended the session immediately.
“Emma, take Lily upstairs and prepare her. I want her bathed, dressed, and presentable.”
Lily gripped Emma’s hand.
As they climbed the grand staircase, Emma felt Renata watching them.
Inside Lily’s room, Emma locked the door.
She took the brass key from her pocket.
Lily stared at it.
“Do you know what this opens?”
The child pointed toward the garden.
“The greenhouse?”
Lily nodded.
Emma crouched.
“Did your mother take you there?”
Lily placed one finger over her lips.
Then she reached beneath her bed and pulled out a tiny silver music box.
Emma recognized the engraved initials on the lid.
C.C.
Celeste Callahan.
Lily turned the small key on the side.
A soft melody played.
It was a simple lullaby.
Emma had heard Lily humming the same melody in her sleep.
The music box stopped after several seconds.
Lily opened the bottom compartment and removed a folded strip of paper.
Emma unfolded it.
There were six numbers written in blue ink.
04 17 09 26 11 03
“What are these?”
Lily pointed toward the key.
A code.
Emma’s thoughts raced.
A missing room.
A brass key.
A numerical code.
She looked out the window.
The west greenhouse stood beyond the hedge maze, its glass roof blurred by rain.
“We need to go now.”
Lily shook her head violently.
“You don’t want to come?”
The child pointed at Emma, then at the greenhouse, then back at herself.
Emma understood.
“You want me to go alone.”
Lily nodded.
A knock sounded.
“Emma?” Renata called through the door. “Why is this locked?”
Emma slipped the paper and key into her sleeve.
“Lily is changing.”
“Open it.”
“One moment.”
Emma placed the notebook and music box inside a canvas laundry bag.
She whispered, “Hide this.”
Lily slid the bag behind the dollhouse.
Emma opened the door.
Renata entered and looked around.
“Grant is twenty minutes away.”
“I’m preparing her.”
Renata moved toward Lily and touched the burned patch near her hairline.
Lily flinched.
“What did you do to your hair?”
The girl stared at the floor.
Renata looked at Emma.
“Did you allow her to play with heated tools?”
“No.”
“Then perhaps she did it herself.”
Emma examined the patch.
It was small but unmistakably scorched.
“When did this happen?”
Renata’s gaze remained steady.
“I have no idea.”
Lily looked directly at Renata.
For one second, fear gave way to something else.
Anger.
Renata noticed.
She smiled slowly.
“I’ll correct it before Grant arrives.”
Emma moved closer.
“I’ll handle her hair.”
“That was not a request.”
Renata took Lily by the hand.
The child resisted.
“Renata,” Emma said, “let go.”
Renata leaned near Emma’s ear.
“You should have handed me the key.”
Emma’s blood ran cold.
Renata knew.
Before Emma could react, Renata pulled Lily into the hallway.
“Meet us in the marble bathroom in ten minutes,” she said. “And come without whatever Mr. Boone gave you.”
The door closed.
Emma stood motionless.
Then she ran to the window.
Outside, near the edge of the hedge maze, Elias Boone stood beyond the property fence in the rain.
May you like
He raised one hand and pointed toward the west greenhouse.
Smoke was beginning to rise from its roof.
