Chapter 13 - THE DOOR WITH THE BLUE RIBBON
“Listen to me, Noah,” Ethan said, holding the phone close. “Where are you?”
“In your room. The officer went to check a noise.”
“Lock the door.”
“It is locked.”
A man’s voice sounded faintly behind Noah. “Buddy, open up. I just need the key.”
Noah did not answer him. Ethan heard little footsteps crossing the room.
“I’m in the closet,” Noah whispered.
“You’re doing great. Stay there. Keep talking to me.”
Elena sat beside Ethan in the back of the police car. She could hear every breath Noah took.
Julian spoke through the bedroom door. “Noah, Grandma’s in trouble.”
“She’s with us,” Ethan said loudly. “Noah, don’t believe him.”
Silence.
Then Julian’s voice sharpened. “You always make a scene before you know what’s going on, Ethan.”
The officer at the estate came back on the line. “Mr. Vale, I’m outside the suite. We’re securing the hall.”
A thud sounded through Noah’s phone. The boy gasped.
The police car turned through the estate gates. Ethan was out before it stopped.
Upstairs, two officers held Julian against the hallway wall. A brass key on a blue ribbon lay at his feet. Noah stood safely behind the bedroom door, which an officer opened from inside.
He ran straight to Ethan.
“I kept it away from him,” Noah said into his father’s shoulder. “But then he said he’d take you.”
“You did everything right.”
Julian twisted toward them. “That key doesn’t open a box of money, Ethan. It opens the cabinet where Dad kept his recordings.”
Ethan looked at him. “Then why were you so desperate to get it?”
“Because Mom’s told you only the part that makes me look guilty.”
Vivian came up the stairs with Elena. She stopped when she saw the key on the carpet.
“No,” she said softly.
Ethan saw fear in her face that was different from what he had seen in the cellar. She was looking at Julian, but she was afraid of what the key could reveal.
May you like
He picked it up.
“Open the cabinet,” he told her.
