Chapter 3 - BEHIND THE DRESSES
Westwood Hall was sealed before midnight.
No guest was permitted to leave until every identity had been confirmed. The police commissioner arrived personally, followed by detectives who tried not to stare at the bullet hole in the ballroom ceiling. News vans gathered beyond the gates. Within an hour, social media was filled with blurry photographs of Emma beneath the chandelier and rumors that Adrian Westwood’s engagement party had ended in an assassination attempt.
Madison Vale was missing.
Her car remained in the garage. Her driver claimed he had received no message. Her room contained no passport, no jewelry case, and no personal laptop. Every photograph of her and Adrian had been removed from the frames.
It was as though she had prepared to disappear.
Adrian brought Emma, Rachel, Margaret, and Owen into the west library. The room had no exterior windows and could be secured from within. Emma sat on a leather sofa while a physician examined a small cut on her cheek caused by falling crystal.
Rachel held what remained of Mr. Snow.
The thief had torn the rabbit’s body but left the second ear intact.
“Open it,” Adrian said.
Rachel carefully cut the seam.
Inside was a folded strip of paper sealed in wax.
It contained six numbers and one sentence.
THE HOUSE LISTENS THROUGH THE WALLS.
Owen read the numbers twice. “Could be a code.”
“Or a date,” Margaret said.
Adrian studied the handwriting. “Daniel wrote this?”
Rachel nodded. “Yes.”
“Why would he hide evidence in a child’s toy instead of bringing it directly to me?”
“Maybe he tried.”
Owen’s jaw tightened. “I never received anything.”
Rachel looked at him. “You were the last person who saw him alive.”
Silence settled over the library.
Owen had served the Westwood family for twelve years. He had protected Adrian during kidnappings threats, labor riots, and a hotel bombing in Marseille. He had once taken a knife meant for Margaret.
Adrian trusted him more than most relatives.
But trust, Adrian knew, was not proof.
“Tell me about that night,” he said.
Owen remained standing. “Daniel reported an irregular signal in the estate’s internal network. He believed someone had installed unauthorized equipment in the older walls. I told him to document it and shut the system down. At eleven thirty, he left the security office. At midnight, a camera captured him driving toward the south gate. His vehicle was found at the bus station the next morning.”
“Did you check the hidden passage behind Madison’s closet?”
“I didn’t know it existed.”
Margaret looked toward the bookshelves. “That passage predates the renovation. It connects the east bedrooms to the old nursery wing.”
Adrian turned to her. “You knew?”
“I knew there were servant corridors. Your grandfather sealed most of them after a fire.”
“Most?”
Margaret’s face revealed nothing. “The plans were incomplete.”
Emma slid off the sofa.
“The little door has a red room,” she said.
Rachel caught her hand. “You went inside?”
“No. I looked.”
“What did you see?” Adrian asked gently.
“Lights. Lots of pictures. The blue lady talked to a man in the wall.”
“Did you see the man?”
Emma shook her head. “Only his shoes. Shiny shoes. He said the old lady was next.”
Margaret’s hand moved to the back of a chair.
“The old lady?”
Emma pointed at her.
Rachel closed her eyes.
Adrian felt a cold pressure behind his ribs.
The physician finished cleaning Emma’s cut and left under guard. Adrian inserted Daniel’s memory card into an isolated laptop. The screen remained blank for several seconds.
Then a password request appeared.
Six digits.
He entered the numbers from the paper.
The drive opened.
There were forty-seven folders. Each was labeled with a date. The earliest began two years before Adrian met Madison.
The latest was the night Daniel disappeared.
Adrian opened the final file.
A video appeared.
Daniel Cross sat in the estate’s security office, his face pale under fluorescent lights. He looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, I failed to get out.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“The hidden network is not just recording the house. It’s changing records, copying signatures, intercepting calls. Someone has access to the foundation accounts and the medical files of every Westwood family member.”
He glanced toward the office door.
“I found a room behind the east dressing suite. There are photographs, surveillance logs, and something labeled Project Heir.”
Adrian paused the video.
Margaret turned away.
“What is Project Heir?” Rachel asked.
No one answered.
Adrian resumed the recording.
Daniel leaned closer to the camera.
“Madison Vale is involved, but she isn’t in charge. She meets someone every Thursday at 2:10 a.m. I never saw his face. I heard his voice. He knows the family. He knows where the old records are kept.”
A sound came from behind Daniel.
He looked over his shoulder.
The security office door opened.
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“You?”
The video ended.
A new folder appeared on the screen.
It had been hidden until the final file played.
Its title contained only one word.
ADRIAN.
Inside was a photograph taken through the library’s one-way security mirror.
May you like
It showed Adrian standing exactly where he stood now.
The timestamp was from ten minutes in the future.
