Chapter 3 - Eleanor House
Daniel insisted on sending two security officers to Thomas Carter’s care facility.
Emily expected him to report the threat to the police immediately, but he first contacted a private investigator named Marcus Reed.
Marcus arrived at the cottage before noon.
He was a former detective in his fifties with tired eyes and a habit of listening without interrupting. After examining the stone, message, window, photograph, and key, he asked Emily the same question three different ways.
“Who knew you were investigating Eleanor House?”
“No one.”
“Did you speak about it on the mansion’s network?”
“I used my own phone.”
“Did you tell Daniel?”
“Only after he arrived.”
Marcus turned to Daniel.
“Then someone was watching the cottage.”
Daniel ordered a review of every security camera on the estate.
The camera closest to Emily’s home had gone offline at 8:11 that morning.
Someone with administrative access had disabled it.
Only four people possessed that access.
Daniel.
The security manager.
Celeste.
And Vanessa.
“We confront them now,” Emily said.
Marcus shook his head. “They’ll deny it and destroy whatever remains.”
“They threatened my father.”
“Which means they are afraid. Fear makes people careless, but only if they believe they still have time.”
Daniel placed the key on the table.
“What does it open?”
Marcus examined the teeth.
“Something old. Probably custom-made.”
Emily looked at the newspaper article.
“Eleanor House.”
The abandoned estate was located two hours north, beyond a forest road that no longer appeared on most modern maps. Daniel still owned the property through an Ashbourne trust, but he had never visited it as an adult.
They left before sunset.
Marcus drove separately while Daniel and Emily followed in an SUV.
For the first hour, neither spoke much.
Emily watched the city disappear behind them.
Finally, Daniel said, “You should know something about my grandmother.”
“What?”
“Eleanor was brilliant, controlling, and convinced that everyone around her was capable of betrayal.”
“That sounds like most people at the mansion.”
Daniel smiled without humor.
“She kept records of everything. Conversations, payments, medical reports. My father believed she had a private archive no one ever found.”
“Why would Celeste recognize the key?”
“She was Eleanor’s assistant before she married into the family.”
Emily turned toward him.
“Celeste worked for your grandmother?”
“For eleven years. After Margaret died, Celeste became more influential. She handled family accounts and eventually married my uncle Adrian.”
“Vanessa’s father.”
Daniel nodded.
“Adrian disappeared when Vanessa was eight. Celeste said he abandoned them.”
“And you believe her?”
“I used to.”
They reached Eleanor House shortly before dark.
The estate was larger than Emily expected. Ivy covered the stone walls, and several windows had been boarded shut. The fountain from the photograph remained in front, though its basin was filled with leaves.
Emily stood where the unknown woman had once stood.
The similarity between the photograph and the present scene made her uneasy.
Marcus forced open the main door after confirming the lock had already been damaged years ago.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and wet wood.
They searched the ground floor with flashlights.
The silver key fit nothing.
Not the study.
Not the cabinets.
Not the doors beneath the main staircase.
In the former library, Emily discovered a faded portrait of Eleanor Ashbourne standing with two young women.
Daniel identified the taller woman as Margaret.
The other was Celeste.
Emily moved closer.
Margaret had dark hair, a narrow face, and the same deep-set eyes Emily saw in the mirror every morning.
A brass plate beneath the portrait read:
Eleanor Ashbourne with Margaret Ashbourne and Celeste Vale, 1997.
Emily felt Daniel watching her.
“You resemble her,” he said quietly.
Before Emily could answer, Marcus called from the corridor.
He had found fresh footprints in the dust.
Someone had entered the house recently.
The footprints led upstairs to a nursery with pale yellow walls. In the corner stood a wooden cradle. On its side was carved the same thorned circle as the key.
Emily inserted the key into a hidden opening beneath the cradle.
A click sounded.
The base slid aside, revealing a narrow compartment.
Inside was a cassette tape, a hospital bracelet, and a sealed envelope.
The bracelet bore the name:
BABY MARGARET ASHBOURNE.
Emily reached for it.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Marcus turned.
A masked figure struck him with a wooden pole and shoved Daniel into the wall.
Emily grabbed the envelope and ran toward the window as the attacker reached for the cassette.
Daniel recovered and tackled the figure.
During the struggle, the mask slipped.
Emily saw the attacker’s face.
It was Graham Holt, Ashbourne Mansion’s security manager.
Graham pulled free and escaped through a side staircase, taking the cassette with him.
Marcus was bruised but conscious.
Daniel helped him stand while Emily opened the envelope.
It contained a handwritten note.
May you like
If the child survived, Celeste would call her Emily.
At the bottom was Eleanor Ashbourne’s signature.
