Chapter 6 - THE MAN IN THE CHAIR
Jessica screamed.
Colleen stepped in front of her.
Robert smiled.
“Still playing hero?”
Colleen looked toward the door.
Two security men stood there.
No escape.
Jessica whispered, “How did you know?”
Robert poured himself a drink.
“My wife disappears with a hotel maid and you think I wouldn’t investigate her?”
His gaze settled on Colleen.
“Evelyn’s daughter.”
Colleen’s hands curled into fists.
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew many employees.”
“She wasn’t just an employee.”
Robert’s smile faded.
Colleen held up the photograph.
“Daniel was my father.”
Jessica stared at Robert.
“Is that true?”
Robert drank slowly.
“My brother was sentimental.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
The word hit Colleen harder than she expected.
She had imagined her father a thousand ways growing up.
Never as a Langford.
“Where is he?”
Robert laughed softly.
“Still chasing ghosts?”
“Where is Daniel?”
“He’s dead.”
“Then who was at the hotel wearing his ring?”
For the first time, Robert’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Colleen saw it.
Fear.
“You saw someone?”
“Security footage did.”
Robert stood.
“You have the footage?”
Colleen smiled.
“Maybe.”
He crossed the room fast.
One guard grabbed Colleen.
Jessica lunged at him.
“Don’t touch her!”
Robert slapped Jessica.
The sound cracked through the study.
Colleen exploded.
She drove her elbow backward into the guard’s stomach.
He doubled over.
She grabbed a brass sculpture and hurled it toward the second man.
He ducked.
Jessica slammed the safe door onto his hand.
He howled.
“RUN!”
They bolted toward the hallway.
Robert shouted behind them.
“STOP THEM!”
They reached the staircase.
An alarm began screaming.
Security flooded the lower floor.
Jessica grabbed Colleen’s sleeve.
“Attic.”
“What?”
“Trust me.”
They raced upward.
Third floor.
Then attic stairs.
Jessica locked the narrow door behind them.
Footsteps pounded below.
Colleen looked around.
Dusty trunks.
Old furniture.
Family portraits.
“No way out.”
Jessica pointed toward a dormer window.
“There.”
They crossed the attic.
Then Colleen stopped.
A framed photograph leaned behind an old wardrobe.
Daniel.
Older.
Alive.
The photograph was dated 2018.
Seventeen years after Robert claimed he had died.
Jessica stared.
“Colleen…”
The attic door shook under a heavy impact.
Colleen flipped the photograph over.
Written on the back was an address.
And two words.
May you like
Find Evelyn.
The door began to splinter.
