Chapter 7 - A ROOM FULL OF GHOSTS
Richard returned to the mansion with Detective Ortiz. Emily stayed at the hotel with the boys and Priya.
The house looked the same from outside: white stone, trimmed hedges, a fountain spilling water into a shallow pool. Richard had once thought its stillness meant his children were safe.
Inside Grace’s room, drawers stood open. A framed photograph lay facedown on the dresser.
Ortiz pointed to the lock. There were no signs of damage.
“Who has a key?”
“I do. The house manager has one for emergencies.” Richard paused. “Victoria borrowed my keys last week when hers were locked in her car.”
Ortiz photographed the cabinet and collected the fingerprints she could. Richard moved toward Grace’s desk, then stopped.
A blue scarf hung over the chair. He remembered her wearing it at a dinner where she had made everyone laugh so hard that dessert went cold. He had not allowed himself to recall that night in years.
He opened the desk drawer. Beneath a stack of old notebooks was a folded page with Grace’s handwriting on it.
It was a grocery list.
He sat down.
Ortiz quietly stepped into the hall.
Richard read the ordinary items: peaches, coffee, batteries, birthday candles. At the bottom Grace had written, “Ask Richard to stop working through dinner.”
His eyes burned.
He had spent five years claiming work was what kept the family secure. Emily had spent those same years at the table with his sons.
When Ortiz returned, he handed her the grocery list. “It’s unrelated. I’d like to keep it.”
“Of course.”
Downstairs, the house manager, Mrs. Alvarez, showed them the door from the playroom to a small service hall. Victoria had wedged a heavy bench against it. The boys had reached the window by stacking two toy chests. Outside, the drop to the garden was less than four feet, but the stone edging explained their scrapes.
Richard stared at the chests.
Liam had led his brothers out because he thought their father would not help them.
His phone rang. It was Victoria.
Ortiz glanced at the screen. “You can answer. Let her speak.”
Richard put the call on speaker.
“I heard you went back to the house,” Victoria said.
“I’m looking for Grace’s letter.”
Silence.
Then Victoria said, “If you keep digging, you’re going to learn something you can’t take back.”
“Where is it?”
“You should be asking what Grace was trying to tell you.”
The call ended.
A minute later, a message arrived from an unknown number.
May you like
It contained a photograph of Grace’s sealed envelope and one sentence:
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
