Chapter 5 - THE SAFE BENEATH THE FLOOR
Jessica refused to believe Robert knew who Colleen was.
“At the hotel, he looked at her like she was nobody.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Robert is a good actor.”
“So are psychopaths,” Maya muttered.
Colleen paced the basement.
“My mother died when I was nineteen.”
“Did she ever mention Daniel?”
“No.”
“Robert?”
“No.”
“The Langfords?”
“Never.”
Ethan opened his laptop.
“I started investigating Robert six months ago after three former employees contacted me.”
“What did they say?”
“They accused him of blackmail, illegal surveillance, shell-company fraud.”
Jessica gave a bitter smile.
“That sounds like Robert.”
“But all three backed out.”
“Why?”
“One vanished.”
“One suddenly moved overseas.”
“The third died in a car accident.”
Silence settled over the room.
Colleen stopped pacing.
“What do you need from Jessica?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Proof.”
Jessica folded her arms.
“There might be some.”
“Where?”
“Our house.”
Colleen immediately said, “No.”
Jessica ignored her.
“Robert has a private study.”
“You’ve searched it?”
“He keeps a safe beneath the floor.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you know it exists?”
“Because six years ago, I walked in while he was closing it.”
“And?”
“He slapped me so hard I needed stitches.”
Colleen’s face hardened.
Jessica continued.
“Afterward, he told everyone I fell.”
“Of course he did,” Maya said.
Jessica looked at Colleen.
“The safe could contain whatever he’s protecting.”
“And walking into his house could get you killed.”
Jessica stared back.
“Staying afraid is what kept me there for fourteen years.”
That ended the argument.
By midnight, they had a plan.
Robert’s estate in Westchester employed rotating night security.
Jessica knew the alarm codes.
Ethan had a contact who could disable two exterior cameras for ninety seconds.
Colleen hated every part of it.
Still, she went.
At 2:11 a.m., Jessica entered her old home through the greenhouse.
Colleen followed.
They reached Robert’s study.
Jessica moved the Persian rug.
Underneath was a polished brass plate.
A digital safe.
“Combination?”
Jessica entered six numbers.
Wrong.
She tried Robert’s birthday.
Wrong.
Their wedding date.
Wrong.
Colleen looked around.
A framed photograph sat on Robert’s desk.
Robert and Daniel as boys.
Between them stood their father.
On the frame was an engraved date.
Jessica tried it.
The lock clicked.
They lifted the safe door.
Inside were folders.
Cash.
Two passports.
A handgun.
And an old photograph.
Colleen picked it up.
Her mother was holding a newborn.
A man stood beside her.
Daniel Langford.
On the back, someone had written:
Our daughter, Colleen.
Jessica stared at her.
“Oh my God.”
Then a lamp switched on behind them.
May you like
Robert sat calmly in the leather chair near the window.
“You really should have stayed in Queens.”
