Chapter 8 - The Empty Bedroom
I broke three traffic laws getting home.
Marcus met me at the front door.
“Where is he?”
“We’re tracking the car.”
“You let her take my son?”
“She didn’t.”
I stopped.
“What?”
Marcus held up Leo’s backpack.
“She left alone.”
My pulse pounded.
“Then where is Leo?”
“He disappeared fifteen minutes later.”
I ran upstairs.
Leo’s bedroom was empty.
His shoes were gone.
His phone sat on the desk.
That scared me.
Leo never went anywhere without it.
On his pillow was a folded note.
Dad, Aunt Clara told me the truth. I know where she went. Don’t be mad. I need to know why Mom died.
My knees nearly gave out.
“He followed her.”
Marcus nodded.
“The side camera caught him leaving through the garden gate.”
“Find him.”
“We are.”
Rachel arrived moments later.
I showed her the note.
“She told him about Nora?”
“Apparently.”
Marcus walked in holding a tablet.
“We found Clara’s car.”
“Where?”
“St. Gabriel Cemetery.”
Nora’s cemetery.
I stared at him.
“She went to my wife’s grave?”
We reached the cemetery twenty minutes later.
Clara’s car was parked near the back.
Empty.
We spread out.
I found Leo first.
He was sitting in the grass beside Nora’s grave.
Clara sat beside him.
Neither moved when I approached.
“Leo!”
He turned.
“Dad.”
I grabbed him and pulled him against me.
Anger came second.
I looked at Clara.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“She followed me.”
“I’m not talking about today.”
Clara lowered her eyes.
“I came for something Nora hid.”
She reached beneath a stone flower holder beside the grave.
There was a rusted metal tube inside.
Marcus stared.
“How long has that been there?”
“Six years.”
Clara unscrewed the cap.
Inside was a key.
Leo wiped his eyes.
“Aunt Clara said Mom knew people might search her things.”
I looked at Clara.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I promised Nora.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“And that promise helped destroy my son’s childhood.”
Clara flinched.
Leo looked between us.
“Dad, stop.”
That silenced me.
My son reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a second photograph.
I recognized the banquet.
This picture showed Clara kneeling beside him.
Her face was bruised.
“What happened to you?”
Clara looked away.
“The night of the banquet, Samuel hit me.”
Leo whispered, “Because she tried to take me home.”
Clara’s voice broke.
“He said if I interfered again, he would make sure nobody ever saw Leo again.”
My anger shifted.
“You should have come to me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The final ten minutes.”
My skin prickled.
“The footage they deleted?”
She nodded.
“I took Leo toward the front entrance. I was going to tell you everything the moment you arrived.”
“What stopped you?”
“Someone stopped me before you got through the doors.”
“Who?”
She looked at Leo.
Then at me.
“Your brother.”
I stared at her.
“My brother has been dead for eight years.”
Clara’s eyes filled with tears.
“No, Adam.”
May you like
She held up the cemetery key.
“Daniel Mercer is alive.”
