Chapter 8 - Samuel’s Hidden Recording
Darkness filled the mansion.
Someone shouted in the garden.
A glass shattered.
Thomas immediately pulled all three children close.
“Nolan.”
“Backup lights will activate.”
Five seconds later, red emergency lights glowed along the hallway.
Robert was no longer beside the desk.
Detective Ellis turned toward the open door.
“Where did he go?”
One officer ran into the hallway.
Helen remained near the cabinet.
She looked almost relieved.
Thomas saw it.
“You expected the power to fail.”
“I expected nothing.”
Nolan checked his tablet.
“The main breaker was manually shut off from the service room.”
Cole stood outside the office.
His face was pale.
Everyone looked at him.
He raised both hands.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Madison appeared behind him.
“He knows where the service room is.”
Cole glared at her.
“So do you.”
Samuel tugged Thomas’s sleeve.
“Dad.”
Thomas crouched.
“What is it?”
Samuel held out his wrist.
A small children’s smartwatch blinked beneath the emergency light.
“I recorded them.”
Thomas looked at him.
“When?”
“In the pantry.”
Samuel swallowed.
“I thought nobody would believe us.”
Thomas pressed his forehead briefly against his son’s.
“I believe you.”
Samuel removed the watch.
“The battery is almost dead.”
Nolan connected it to his tablet.
An audio file appeared.
It was twenty-eight minutes long.
They played the final section.
Helen’s voice came through first.
“Keep them hungry.”
“When Thomas arrives, the children will complain.”
“He will want to leave quickly.”
Robert answered.
“Then we announce the guarantee before he can argue.”
Helen spoke again.
“If he refuses, tell the guests their investments will collapse because of him.”
A chair scraped in the recording.
Robert lowered his voice.
“And Rebecca?”
“She saw too much.”
“Make her work until she understands silence.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Rebecca began crying without making a sound.
Madison covered her mouth.
Even Denise looked sick.
The recording continued.
Cole’s voice appeared.
“What do I get?”
Helen answered.
“The car you wanted.”
Cole looked toward the floor.
Madison stepped away from him.
“You sold them for a car?”
“I didn’t know about the money.”
“You knew they were hungry.”
Cole’s voice cracked.
“Grandma said it was a lesson.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You poured sauce on the table while Jacob cleaned it.”
Cole had no answer.
Then another voice came through the recording.
It was Robert.
“If Thomas still refuses, use Emily’s letters.”
Thomas opened his eyes.
Helen reached for the tablet.
Detective Ellis blocked her.
“What letters?” Thomas asked.
Helen said nothing.
The recording continued.
Robert spoke again.
“He will do anything to keep the children from learning why their mother really died.”
Thomas’s face lost all color.
Rebecca looked up.
“What did Grandpa mean?”
No one answered.
The officer returned from the hallway.
“Robert is not in the service room.”
Nolan checked the exterior sensors.
May you like
“The greenhouse door just opened.”
Thomas ran.
