Chapter 4 - THE LOCKED ROOM
Dominic looked genuinely shocked.
“I never got a key.”
Grace shook her head.
“I saw her put something in your coat.”
“When?”
“The night of the Christmas dinner.”
Dominic stepped backward.
“That doesn’t mean it was a key.”
Vincent held out his hand.
“Your keys.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Vincent.”
“Now.”
Dominic removed a heavy key ring from his pocket.
None matched Sofia’s room.
Then Emily pointed.
“What’s that?”
Attached to the ring was a small brass Saint Christopher medallion.
Dominic touched it.
“It belonged to my mother.”
Emily frowned.
“It opens.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
She took it, twisted the edge, and the medallion separated into two pieces.
Inside was a tiny flat key.
Dominic’s face changed.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
Vincent took it.
“Then come prove it.”
They went upstairs together.
Vincent had kept Sofia’s room untouched.
Not because he expected her to walk back through the door.
At least that was what he told himself.
Her books remained on the shelves.
A half-empty perfume bottle sat on the vanity.
A pair of reading glasses rested beside the bed.
Vincent had stopped entering after the first year.
He couldn’t breathe in there.
The key fit a small lock beneath the window seat.
Inside they found an old battery pack.
A flash drive.
And a photograph.
Vincent picked it up.
Sofia stood beside a black SUV.
Behind her was Isabella.
And beside Isabella stood Bellamy.
The date printed in the corner was two weeks before Sofia disappeared.
Dominic swore.
Vincent turned the photograph over.
Sofia had written one sentence:
THEY THINK I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE CABIN.
Vincent looked at Grace.
“What cabin?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic took the photo.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
“There’s an old hunting property north of Kingston. Your father bought it through a shell company.”
Vincent frowned.
“I sold that property ten years ago.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at Bellamy.
“Charles told us it was sold.”
Bellamy finally snapped.
“For God’s sake, Dominic.”
Vincent looked between them.
“So it still exists.”
Bellamy said nothing.
Vincent gave the phone to his security chief.
“Get this powered up.”
Then he turned to Dominic.
“You’re coming with me.”
Isabella laughed.
“You’re going to run into the woods because of a three-year-old photograph?”
Vincent looked at her.
“No.”
He took the torn trust documents from the ballroom table.
“I’m going because someone spent three years trying to make me sign away my family while convincing me my wife hated me.”
He stepped closer.
“And right now, Isabella, you’re standing at the center of both.”
For the first time, her elegant mask disappeared.
“You have no idea what Sofia did.”
Vincent stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Isabella’s mouth closed.
Too late.
Vincent moved closer.
“What did Sofia do?”
Bellamy suddenly shouted, “Don’t answer him.”
Vincent looked at Charles.
Then a guard called from the stairs.
“Mr. Moretti!”
He was holding the phone.
The screen had turned back on.
But a new notification had appeared.
Not a voicemail.
A scheduled message.
It had been waiting three years to send.
Vincent opened it.
One sentence appeared.
May you like
IF YOU FIND THE CABIN, DON’T GO INSIDE.
THE FLOOR IS RIGGED.
