Chapter 6 - The Bathroom at Two in the Morning
The storm arrived the following night.
Rain struck the mansion windows while wind bent the trees along the driveway. Shortly after midnight, the electricity flickered twice.
Michael and Sarah argued in their bedroom.
Evelyn stood outside the door, listening.
“We can’t keep doing this,” Sarah said.
“We’re almost finished.”
“He needs a doctor.”
“He needs to tell me where the case is.”
“And if he refuses?”
Michael lowered his voice.
“Then he stays where he is.”
Sarah began crying.
“Emma knows someone is there.”
“Emma knows what I tell her.”
“She’s terrified.”
“She’ll recover.”
Evelyn returned to her room before they discovered her.
At one forty-five, Sarah crossed the upstairs hallway carrying a tray.
At one fifty, Michael left the mansion through the garage.
Evelyn later learned that he had gone to meet a private buyer interested in purchasing Arthur’s company shares before probate ended.
At two in the morning, porcelain shattered upstairs.
Evelyn ran toward the sound.
She followed the glow of a camping lantern to the guest bathroom and threw open the cracked door.
Emma sat on the closed toilet lid wearing a winter coat. An algebra notebook rested on her knees. A broken mug lay on the tile.
The bathroom window did not close properly, and cold air moved through the room.
“Emma, why are you studying in here at two in the morning?”
The girl wiped her tears.
“I can’t turn on the bedroom light.”
“Why not?”
“If she wakes up, Dad said you’ll find out and throw us out.”
“She?”
A cough echoed through the air vent.
Emma froze.
Evelyn knelt in front of her.
“I will never throw you out. Do you understand me?”
Emma nodded.
“Your father has been lying to both of us.”
Footsteps moved through the hallway.
Evelyn opened the bathroom door slightly.
Sarah carried another covered tray toward the study. She removed a stolen brass key from her pocket and unlocked the door.
Evelyn recognized the key.
It had belonged to Arthur.
Sarah slipped inside.
Evelyn reached beneath her robe and removed the original master key.
“They brought someone into my husband’s room,” she said.
Emma grabbed her hand.
“Grandma, please don’t go.”
A heavy crash sounded from inside the study.
Evelyn crossed the hallway.
Sarah opened the door and nearly collided with her.
The tray fell.
“Everyone leaves my house tonight,” Evelyn said.
Then she looked past Sarah.
The elderly man beside Arthur’s desk raised his face.
Evelyn saw her husband’s eyes.
“Arthur?”
The stranger lifted the wedding ring.
“He asked me to give you this,” he said, “before your son found the letter.”
Michael appeared behind her.
His gaze locked on the envelope.
Emma cried out as he reached for it.
Evelyn seized it first.
Sarah moved between Michael and the child.
May you like
The truth that had been hidden for eight months waited inside Evelyn’s hands.
She tore open the envelope.
