Chapter 2 - THE GIRL UNDER THE TABLE
The ambulance arrived seven minutes later.
Leo rode with Lily. Beatrice climbed in after them because Lily refused to let go of her sleeve. At the hospital, a doctor took Lily into an exam room and sent Beatrice to have her hand and cheek checked.
Leo stood between the two rooms, feeling useless.
He had built a life around knowing who was dangerous. He had men at every gate and cameras along every wall. Yet his daughter had been locked in his own cellar.
Two years earlier, after the explosion that killed Lily’s mother, Elena, Lily had stopped speaking. Doctors had visited the mansion. Leo had brought in specialists. None of them could persuade her to say a word.
Then, during a thunderstorm, Beatrice found Lily hiding beneath the kitchen table. She sat on the floor beside her and slid a shortbread cookie under the tablecloth.
“My grandma said thunder was heaven moving furniture,” Beatrice told her. “I think they need to be more careful up there.”
Lily took the cookie. After a while, she asked, “What if they drop something?”
Beatrice was the first person Lily had spoken to in weeks.
Now Leo watched a nurse bandage Beatrice’s fingers and realized how much of Lily’s life this woman had held together while he was away.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked when the nurse left.
“I did. Three times.”
Leo checked his phone. There were no missed calls.
“Victoria took my phone,” Beatrice said. “She told me you’d instructed her to handle Lily.”
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
The doctor emerged. Lily was stable, though she would need monitoring. Leo thanked her, then called Mateo at the house.
“Find Beatrice’s phone,” he said. “And preserve every camera recording.”
There was a pause.
“Leo,” Mateo said, “the cameras inside the kitchen and cellar hall went offline at four fourteen.”
“An accident?”
“I don’t think so. I found a work order telling the technician to disable them.”
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“Who signed it?”
Mateo drew a breath. “You did.”
