Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE TAKES HER
“LILY!”
Julian ran.
The ambulance medic was unconscious on the ground.
A needle mark showed on his neck.
Hayes shouted into her radio.
“Full lockdown! Child missing!”
Julian spotted a tiny green ribbon near the service entrance.
From Lily’s dress.
He ran inside.
“Julian, wait!”
He didn’t.
He followed another ribbon.
Then another.
Lily was leaving a trail.
Smart girl.
The trail led to the old servants’ staircase.
Julian climbed.
At the top was Eleanor’s private suite.
He opened the door.
Empty.
Then he heard a muffled sound.
Behind the closet.
Julian ripped open the doors.
A hidden elevator.
He pressed the button.
Nothing.
Hayes arrived.
“Private lift.”
“Where does it go?”
She checked the floor plan.
“There’s no lift on the plans.”
Julian thought.
“My grandfather built a bunker during the Cold War.”
Hayes stared.
“Under the house?”
Julian nodded.
They found the manual override.
The elevator descended.
Fifty feet.
Then stopped.
The doors opened.
Concrete corridor.
Julian and Hayes moved forward with weapons raised.
At the end was a steel room.
Inside sat Lily.
Her hands were tied.
A man stood behind her.
Robert Sloane.
Seventy.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Perfect posture.
He held a gun.
“Julian.”
Julian aimed at him.
“Step away from her.”
Sloane smiled.
“You look like your father.”
“Don’t.”
“He said the same thing the night he died.”
Julian’s grip tightened.
“You killed him?”
“I helped your mother understand necessity.”
Lily looked terrified.
Julian kept his voice steady.
“Let her go.”
Sloane shook his head.
“Lily is the final legal obstacle.”
Hayes raised her weapon.
“Robert.”
Sloane laughed.
“Nora. Still pretending you’re clean?”
Julian glanced at her.
Hayes’s face went pale.
“What does he mean?”
Sloane’s smile widened.
“She never told you?”
“Shut up,” Hayes said.
“Tell him.”
“Robert.”
“Tell him who signed the warrant that allowed Eleanor to seize Caroline’s vehicle after the crash.”
Julian slowly looked at Hayes.
She whispered, “Julian…”
May you like
Sloane laughed.
“Nora Hayes destroyed the first piece of evidence that could’ve proven your wife was murdered.”
