Chapter 5 - The Photograph Under the Door
Damian did not send Mommy outside.
That probably seems obvious.
At five, I didn’t know enough to understand why everybody suddenly started moving.
Doors locked.
Curtains closed.
Men appeared in hallways.
Lily grabbed my hand.
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.”
Mommy came into the room.
Her face looked calm.
That meant she was terrified.
She crouched in front of us.
“Girls, we’re going upstairs for a little while.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Damian has some people at the gate.”
“Bad people?”
Mommy hesitated.
“No one is coming inside.”
That was not an answer.
Lily knew it too.
“Daddy said if plans change, we change plans.”
Mommy nodded.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Damian entered.
He knelt beside Lily.
“You remember the safe room?”
She nodded.
“You and Mia go with Mrs. Vega.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
“You’re coming?”
“In a minute.”
“You promise?”
Damian held out his little finger.
They linked pinkies.
“I promise.”
Watching them made me less afraid.
Not because I trusted Damian yet.
Because Lily did.
Mrs. Vega led us upstairs.
The safe room did not look like a safe room.
It looked like a bedroom with books, toys and a television.
The door was thick.
It locked automatically.
For twenty minutes, nothing happened.
Then Lily whispered, “My daddy always comes.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“When he promises.”
I nodded.
“Okay.”
She squeezed my hand.
Downstairs, Damian walked toward the front entrance.
Mommy caught his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To talk to Voss.”
“No.”
“He came here for you.”
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t.”
Damian looked almost amused.
“You’re giving me security advice now?”
“I’m giving you common-sense advice.”
“He won’t get within fifty feet of this house.”
“Then why talk to him?”
“Because I want to know what he wants.”
“He told you. Me.”
“No.”
Damian looked toward the gate camera.
“He wants me to think he wants you.”
Mommy folded her arms.
“And what does he actually want?”
“To control where I’m looking.”
She stared at him.
“You think this is another distraction.”
“Yes.”
“From what?”
“I’m about to find out.”
Damian did not go outside.
Instead, he had the gate intercom connected to his office.
Caleb’s face appeared on the monitor.
“Damian.”
“Caleb.”
“You look well.”
“You look unemployed.”
Caleb smiled.
“Still charming.”
“What do you want?”
“Anna Bennett.”
“No.”
“You should ask why before answering.”
“I don’t need to.”
“She has something that doesn’t belong to her.”
Damian glanced at Mommy.
“The drive?”
Caleb’s smile faded.
So Damian had guessed correctly.
“You opened it.”
“Maybe.”
“That was a mistake.”
“Evelyn’s?”
Caleb went still.
Mommy stepped closer to the monitor.
“Did you kill her?”
Caleb looked directly at her.
“No.”
“Were you involved?”
His silence answered enough.
Damian leaned toward the microphone.
“Who is Marcus Vale working with?”
That reaction was stronger.
Caleb’s eyes shifted.
Only slightly.
But Damian saw it.
“You’re asking the wrong question,” Caleb said.
“What’s the right one?”
“Who is Marcus Vale working against?”
Damian’s expression didn’t change.
Caleb continued.
“You think this is about stolen hospital inventory?”
“It’s part of it.”
“It’s a fraction.”
“Then educate me.”
Caleb looked at Mommy again.
“Ask Anna what she took from Room 417.”
Mommy frowned.
“I didn’t take anything.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You just didn’t know you did.”
Damian looked at her.
Caleb smiled.
“Check the girl’s things.”
Damian’s entire body went still.
“What girl?”
“You know which girl.”
Lily.
Mommy stepped toward the screen.
“What did you put near that child?”
“I didn’t put anything.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Caleb leaned closer to the camera.
“The night Lily Cross nearly died, someone hid something in her room. Anna Bennett removed it before we could retrieve it.”
Mommy shook her head.
“That’s not true.”
“You took everything from the bedside cabinet when she transferred to intensive care.”
Mommy froze.
Nurses did that.
When a patient transferred, personal items moved too.
“I packed Lily’s belongings.”
“Yes.”
“What was hidden?”
Caleb smiled.
“Now you understand why I need to speak with you.”
Damian’s voice became colder.
“You’re finished.”
“Not even close.”
The gray sedan backed away.
Damian turned.
“Marco.”
“Already tracking.”
Mommy looked stunned.
“What could I have taken?”
Damian was thinking quickly.
“What happened to Lily’s belongings?”
“Her clothes and toys were bagged.”
“Where did they go?”
“I gave them to…”
She stopped.
Damian waited.
“To you.”
“I never received them.”
Mommy stared.
“Yes, you did. A black patient-property bag.”
“No.”
“You signed for it.”
“No, Anna. I didn’t.”
They looked at each other.
“Who did?”
Mommy whispered.
Damian called for Lily’s medical discharge records.
Twenty minutes later, Marco found the scanned form.
Property released.
Signature:
D. Cross
Damian stared at it.
“That isn’t my signature.”
Mommy’s skin went pale.
“Then someone intercepted the bag.”
“Maybe.”
“But Caleb thinks I took something.”
“Which means whatever they were looking for wasn’t in that bag.”
Mommy started pacing.
“I moved some items separately.”
“What items?”
“Things Lily wanted.”
“Such as?”
“A stuffed fox.”
Damian nodded.
“She still has it.”
“A drawing book.”
“She has that too.”
“A red blanket.”
“Still upstairs.”
Mommy stopped.
“What?”
“There was a music box.”
Damian frowned.
“Lily doesn’t have a music box.”
“She did.”
“Describe it.”
“Small. Wooden. Blue flowers painted on the lid.”
Damian shook his head.
“I’ve never seen it.”
Mommy thought.
“She told me her father gave it to her.”
“I didn’t.”
They stared at each other.
“Who gave Lily the music box?”
“I assumed you did.”
Damian touched his earpiece.
“Mrs. Vega.”
A voice responded.
“Ask Lily whether she remembers a wooden music box from the hospital.”
They waited.
Thirty seconds.
Then Mrs. Vega answered.
“She remembers.”
Damian leaned closer.
“Who gave it to her?”
Another pause.
“She says she doesn’t know.”
“Where is it?”
Mrs. Vega asked.
Lily’s faint voice could be heard.
Then Mrs. Vega returned.
“She says Nurse Anna took it.”
Mommy stared at Damian.
“I don’t remember that.”
Damian said, “Ask why.”
A longer pause.
Mrs. Vega’s voice changed.
“She says Anna told her it was broken and she’d fix it.”
Mommy covered her mouth.
Memory returned slowly.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“The mechanism jammed.”
“And?”
“I took it home.”
Damian’s eyes widened.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“The house was searched.”
“I know.”
“Could whoever broke in have found it?”
“I don’t remember seeing it in years.”
“Anna.”
“I moved twice.”
Damian called Marco.
“Send someone back. Search for a small wooden music box with blue flowers. Every box, attic, storage space.”
Mommy shook her head.
“It may not be there.”
“Where else?”
She thought.
“My storage unit.”
Damian looked at her.
“You have a storage unit?”
“Near my old apartment.”
“Address.”
An hour later, Marco’s team arrived there.
The unit had already been opened.
The lock was cut.
Boxes had been torn apart.
Furniture overturned.
But the music box was gone.
Damian looked at the photographs.
“Someone beat us to it.”
Mommy sank into a chair.
“If Caleb’s people found it—”
“Then he wouldn’t still need you.”
She looked up.
“What?”
“He came here before the storage unit was searched.”
“So?”
“So either he didn’t find it…”
Damian’s phone buzzed.
Marco called.
He answered.
“What?”
Marco spoke.
Damian’s eyes shifted toward Mommy.
“Where?”
He hung up.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Someone left something at your house.”
“What?”
“Under the front door.”
They drove there without us.
Police were present.
Damian’s security was present.
Nothing inside had been disturbed since the previous search.
On the floor beneath the mail slot lay a photograph.
Mommy picked it up with gloved hands.
It showed Evelyn Shaw.
Alive.
Standing in St. Catherine’s parking garage.
Beside her stood Caleb Voss.
The timestamp was from the night before Evelyn died.
On the back, someone had written:
ASK WHAT EVELYN HID INSIDE THE MUSIC BOX.
Below that was another line.
AND ASK WHY SHE TRUSTED YOU MORE THAN THE POLICE.
Mommy stared at the handwriting.
Then her knees almost gave way.
Damian caught her arm.
“Anna?”
She turned the photograph around again.
“What?”
“I know this handwriting.”
“Whose?”
Her voice trembled.
“It’s Evelyn’s.”
Damian went very still.
Mommy looked at him.
“If Evelyn wrote this…”
She swallowed.
“…then she knew someone would eventually come looking.”
May you like
And somewhere, hidden inside a music box nobody could find, was the reason she had died.
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