Chapter 15 - someone rang the front door at midnight)
By midnight, the police presence at Ashcroft Manor had been reduced but not removed.
Miles Hargrove was in federal custody.
Dr. Mercer had agreed to cooperate.
Briggs had confessed to destroying evidence and admitted accepting money from Miles.
Evelyn remained in surgery under armed guard.
The ballroom had been cleared.
The guests had gone home with a story none of them would ever tell the same way twice.
Ethan was alive.
The poisoning had been stopped before permanent damage occurred.
His doctors believed he would recover fully.
Jonathan had already suspended every Ashcroft executive named in the Halcyon files.
The board had been notified that an independent investigation would begin immediately.
Vivienne publicly relinquished control of the family trust until the investigation ended.
For one night, at least, the immediate danger appeared to be over.
Maya should have felt relief.
Instead she stood alone in the ballroom staring at the place where the night had begun.
The silver tray remained on a table.
Police had taken the glass.
But Maya could still see it.
Vivienne's hand.
The amber bottle.
The slap.
Ethan collapsing.
Fourteen years of questions exploding into fifteen hours of answers.
Behind her, footsteps crossed the marble.
Vivienne.
She had changed into a simple dark dress.
Without the satin and pearls, she looked less like a dynasty and more like a tired sixty-year-old woman.
"I owe you more than an apology."
Maya did not turn.
"You already apologized."
"That does not make it sufficient."
"No."
Vivienne stood beside her.
"You saved Ethan."
"I accused you of poisoning him."
"You interrupted something that needed to be interrupted."
Maya looked at her.
"Do you believe my mother is coming here?"
Vivienne's expression tightened.
"I don't know."
"Do you think she's alive?"
"Yes."
Maya had expected relief.
Instead the word hurt.
"Why didn't she come back for me?"
Vivienne looked toward the empty ballroom.
"Sometimes people convince themselves that abandoning someone is protection."
Maya heard the regret in her voice.
"Is that what you did to Jonathan?"
Vivienne nodded.
"And Julian."
"And Evelyn."
Another nod.
"Did it work?"
Vivienne's eyes filled.
"No."
Maya looked away.
"Then I hope my mother has a better explanation."
Ethan entered from the hallway.
He moved slowly but refused help.
Jonathan followed a few steps behind.
"You should be in bed," Maya said.
Ethan smiled.
"I've spent enough time lying down."
Jonathan shook his head.
"Doctors said rest."
"Doctors also poisoned me for six months, so their brand is having a difficult week."
Maya laughed.
Even Vivienne smiled.
For a brief moment, the mansion felt normal.
Then Ethan held out something.
The memory card.
"Federal investigators made a copy."
Maya took it.
"What are you doing with it?"
"There was one encrypted file they couldn't open."
Jonathan frowned.
"I thought they copied everything."
"They did."
Ethan looked at Maya.
"But I figured out the password."
"How?"
"Trust the glass."
Maya stared.
Ethan continued.
"The password was ROSE."
Jonathan looked uneasy.
"What was in the file?"
Ethan held up his laptop.
"A video."
They gathered around the screen.
The recording began.
A white room.
Medical equipment.
A date.
Eleven years ago.
A woman entered.
Catherine Ashcroft.
Jonathan stopped breathing.
She was alive.
Years after her supposed death.
She sat in front of the camera.
"My name is Catherine Ashcroft."
Jonathan touched the screen.
Ethan stared at his mother.
Catherine continued.
"If Jonathan ever sees this, then Anna succeeded."
Maya felt tears rise.
Catherine looked exhausted.
"There are two boys."
Ethan's face tightened.
"Gabriel and Ethan."
Jonathan sat down.
Catherine continued.
"Arthur believes one of them carries a neurological response Halcyon has been trying to reproduce for twenty years."
Maya looked at Ethan.
"He will test both children if he finds them."
Catherine leaned closer to the camera.
"So Anna and I separated them."
Jonathan whispered, "Separated?"
"Ethan went home."
Catherine's voice broke.
"Gabriel stayed with me."
Ethan covered his mouth.
Catherine continued.
"If something happens to me, Anna knows where he is."
The recording flickered.
Then another figure entered the room.
Only a shoulder was visible.
Catherine looked toward the person.
Fear crossed her face.
The video stopped.
Maya stared at the black screen.
"That's it?"
Ethan nodded.
Jonathan looked devastated.
"My son has been alive all this time."
Vivienne whispered, "Maybe."
Jonathan turned toward Maya.
"Your mother knows where Gabriel is."
Maya looked at the clock.
12:03 a.m.
Anna's Halcyon status had changed to en route hours ago.
But no one knew where she was going.
Maya's phone had remained silent.
Jonathan walked toward the window.
"I'll arrange a flight to Geneva tomorrow."
Maya nodded.
She was too tired to argue.
Then the front doorbell rang.
Everyone stopped.
Once.
A pause.
Then again.
Curtis's voice came through Jonathan's phone.
"Stay where you are."
The bell rang a third time.
Jonathan moved toward the foyer.
Ethan followed.
Maya was already walking.
Curtis appeared from the security corridor.
"I said stay back."
"Who is it?" Jonathan asked.
Curtis looked confused.
"Camera isn't showing anyone."
Maya's heart began pounding.
The front entrance stood twenty yards away.
Two police officers approached from the opposite hall.
Curtis checked the side windows.
"No vehicle."
The bell rang again.
Maya walked closer.
"Maya," Jonathan warned.
She ignored him.
Something had been pushed beneath the front door.
A white envelope.
Her name was written across it.
MAYA REED.
She picked it up.
Curtis reached for it.
"Don't open that."
Maya looked at the handwriting.
Her knees weakened.
"I know this writing."
Jonathan stared.
"Your mother's?"
Maya nodded.
She tore open the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Four people stood in front of a small house beside a lake.
Anna Reed.
Older.
Alive.
Beside her stood a young man approximately twenty-one years old.
He looked almost exactly like Ethan.
Gabriel.
Maya's hands shook.
A third person stood partly behind them.
A woman with dark hair streaked with gray.
Jonathan reached for the photograph.
His face collapsed.
"Catherine."
Ethan stared at his mother.
"She's alive."
The photograph had been taken recently.
Very recently.
Maya turned it over.
A message was written on the back.
Maya,
If this has reached you, I was unable to enter the house.
Do not come looking for me.
Do not take Jonathan to Geneva.
Do not trust the federal team.
Arthur is not the person controlling Halcyon anymore.
The new director is already inside Ashcroft Manor.
Maya's blood turned cold.
She slowly lifted her eyes.
Jonathan.
Ethan.
Vivienne.
Curtis.
Two police officers.
Security staff.
Household employees.
Dozens of people remained somewhere inside the enormous mansion.
"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.
Maya did not answer.
A sound came from the upper floor.
A door closing.
Curtis immediately reached for his weapon.
Jonathan looked up.
Everyone became silent.
Maya turned the photograph over again.
There was one final line written beneath the first message.
She had missed it.
If Ethan begins remembering the glass room, run.
Maya looked at Ethan.
His face had gone pale.
"Ethan?"
He did not respond.
"Ethan."
He stared toward the staircase.
His breathing accelerated.
Jonathan grabbed his shoulder.
"Son?"
Ethan whispered, "I remember."
Maya's heart hammered.
"What?"
Ethan took one slow step backward.
"The room."
Vivienne stared.
"What room?"
"The glass room."
Maya approached him.
"What happened there?"
Ethan's eyes filled with terror.
"There weren't two boys."
Jonathan froze.
"What?"
Ethan looked at his father.
Then at Maya.
His voice became almost inaudible.
"There were three."
May you like
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness above them, a man began to laugh.
