Chapter 2 - the room no one was allowed to enter
Detective Mara Chen arrived with two officers and a forensic technician.
Adrian ordered the security team to open only the front entrance. As soon as the officers stepped inside, the doors locked again behind them.
Celeste stood beside the fireplace, calm once more.
She had repaired her expression with astonishing speed.
By the time Detective Chen entered the sitting room, Celeste looked less like a frightened suspect and more like an insulted woman whose evening had been disturbed by an unstable employee.
“This is a domestic misunderstanding,” Celeste said.
Detective Chen studied Nora’s cheek. “Domestic misunderstandings do not usually leave visible marks.”
“I reacted after she frightened my stepson.”
“Your son,” Nora corrected.
Celeste smiled coldly. “You see what I have endured?”
Adrian handed Detective Chen the hospital bracelet and the locket.
“This needs to be examined.”
Chen did not touch either item directly. She motioned for the forensic technician to seal them in evidence bags.
“Mr. Vale,” she said, “I understand that you have influence, but this is not a private investigation. You cannot detain people indefinitely.”
“I locked my own house after hearing an allegation of child abduction.”
“You also locked the alleged victim inside.”
Adrian looked toward Nora. “She is free to leave whenever she chooses.”
Nora shook her head. “I’m staying with Oliver.”
Detective Chen turned to the boy, who remained close to Nora.
“Oliver, would you feel comfortable speaking with me somewhere quiet?”
Celeste answered for him. “He needs to sleep.”
“I asked Oliver.”
The boy hesitated. “Can Nora come?”
“Yes.”
Celeste stepped forward. “Absolutely not.”
Adrian’s voice hardened. “Celeste.”
“She has already manipulated him.”
Oliver suddenly covered his ears.
The movement was so immediate that everyone noticed.
Nora knelt beside him. “It’s all right.”
“She always says that,” Oliver whispered.
Detective Chen crouched to his level. “Who always says what?”
Oliver looked at Celeste.
“That Nora is trying to steal me. She says Nora will disappear if I talk about the dreams.”
Nora’s breath caught. “What dreams?”
“The blue room.”
Adrian frowned. “What blue room?”
Oliver looked toward the western corridor.
“The room with the moon on the ceiling.”
Nora felt the ground shift beneath her.
When Oliver had been a newborn, Samuel had painted a silver moon above the crib in their small apartment. Nora had once told Oliver about it after he woke from a nightmare, never realizing that he remembered anything from infancy.
But the nursery in Adrian’s mansion had also been painted blue.
Lydia had designed it before the birth.
A moon had been added to the ceiling.
Adrian had ordered the room sealed after her death because he could not bear to enter it.
Detective Chen followed Oliver’s gaze. “Where is that room?”
Adrian pointed down the hallway. “The old nursery.”
Celeste moved quickly. “There is nothing inside.”
“Then opening it should not be a problem,” Chen replied.
“The room contains Lydia’s belongings. Adrian promised they would remain untouched.”
Adrian looked at Celeste. “How do you know what is inside?”
She blinked. “You told me.”
“No. I told you the nursery was locked. I never described its contents.”
The room fell silent again.
Celeste looked toward the staircase. “I have lived here for five years. I know this house.”
Mrs. Greer, the elderly head housekeeper, appeared at the edge of the sitting room.
She had worked for the Vale family since Adrian was a child. Her hands were folded in front of her, but they were trembling.
“Sir,” she said, “Mrs. Vale has entered the nursery.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“When?”
Mrs. Greer swallowed. “Several times.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed. “Be careful, Margaret.”
The warning was quiet, but Detective Chen heard it.
“So did I,” Nora said.
Everyone looked at her.
Adrian’s face tightened. “You entered a locked room?”
“I found it open three weeks ago. I heard Oliver crying inside.”
Oliver nodded. “Celeste put me there.”
“That is a lie,” Celeste snapped.
The boy flinched.
Nora pulled him closer.
“He was sitting on the floor beside an empty crib,” she said. “The room smelled like fresh perfume. Celeste’s perfume.”
Adrian turned toward his wife. “Why would you take him there?”
“To help him understand his mother.”
“Lydia was not his mother,” Nora said.
Celeste’s mask finally cracked.
“You do not know that.”
“Neither do you,” Adrian replied. “Unless you already knew the truth.”
Detective Chen asked for the nursery key.
Adrian crossed to a carved cabinet near the fireplace. Inside, a row of labeled keys hung from brass hooks.
The nursery key was missing.
Mrs. Greer lowered her gaze.
Celeste looked almost amused.
Detective Chen ordered an officer to bring tools from the patrol car.
Before he could leave, Oliver tugged Nora’s sleeve.
“I know where the key is.”
Celeste’s head snapped toward him.
Oliver pointed at the purple satin dress she was wearing.
“In her pocket.”
The officer approached Celeste.
She stepped away. “Do not touch me.”
“You can hand it over voluntarily,” Detective Chen said, “or I can search you after placing you under arrest for assault.”
For several seconds, Celeste did not move.
Then she reached into the hidden pocket of her dress and dropped a brass key onto the table.
Adrian stared at it.
The label had been removed, but he recognized the shape.
They walked together through the western corridor.
At the end stood a white door covered in a thin layer of dust. The lock turned with a soft click.
Adrian opened it.
The smell of old wood and lavender drifted into the hallway.
Moonlight entered through narrow windows, illuminating a faded blue nursery. Silver stars covered the ceiling. A white crib stood against the far wall, draped in a yellowing sheet.
Oliver stopped at the threshold.
“That’s the room.”
Nora entered beside him.
At first, nothing appeared unusual.
Then she noticed the floor.
Dust covered nearly every surface except for a narrow path leading to the crib.
Someone had walked there recently.
Detective Chen pulled back the sheet.
The crib was empty.
Adrian looked at the mobile hanging above it. Four silver stars moved slowly in the disturbed air.
“There used to be five,” he said.
Nora glanced at the mobile.
One string had been cut.
Oliver stepped toward the crib and reached beneath the mattress.
Celeste lunged forward.
“Don’t.”
An officer blocked her.
Oliver pulled out a small silver star.
Its sharp edges had been wrapped in blue ribbon.
A key was taped to the back.
Not a room key.
A safe-deposit key.
May you like
Nora recognized the bank emblem stamped into the metal.
Samuel had carried an identical key on the night he died.
