Chapter 7 - Someone Had Been Watching Sophie
Grant called the mansion before Daniel had fully turned the vehicle around.
“Stop Mrs. Hargrove.”
The security supervisor responded immediately.
“Sir?”
“Do not let her leave Sophie’s room.”
“Understood.”
Grant watched the live feed.
Mrs. Hargrove stood beside the bed holding the music box.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
Her expression changed.
She knew.
She slipped the box beneath her uniform jacket and moved toward the door.
Two guards entered.
“Mrs. Hargrove.”
She stopped.
Sophie woke.
“What’s happening?”
Grant’s chest tightened.
The guards did not touch the older woman.
“Mr. Mercer needs you to remain here.”
Mrs. Hargrove’s face hardened.
“I have worked for this family longer than either of you have been alive.”
“Please hand us the item.”
Sophie sat up.
“That’s mine.”
Mrs. Hargrove looked at the child.
Then something unexpected happened.
She began crying.
Grant stared at the screen.
The woman slowly removed the box.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
She handed it to the guard.
Grant frowned.
That was not the behavior of someone caught stealing evidence.
When he returned to the mansion four hours later, Mrs. Hargrove was waiting in the library.
Sophie had been moved to another room.
Grant entered with Nora and Daniel.
Elias remained elsewhere.
Grant had decided one supposedly dead relative was enough confusion for Sophie that day.
Mrs. Hargrove stood.
“Where is my daughter’s music box?”
“Safe.”
“Why did you take it?”
“To protect it.”
“From whom?”
She looked at Nora.
“You.”
Nora blinked.
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
Mrs. Hargrove faced him.
“I knew your wife hid something inside that box.”
Grant stared.
“You knew?”
“Not what. Only that she once told me if anything happened to her, Sophie’s box mattered.”
“Five years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“Mara specifically ordered me not to.”
Grant slammed a hand against the table.
“My wife disappeared!”
Mrs. Hargrove did not flinch.
“She said if she vanished, the danger might be inside the family.”
“I am her husband.”
“She did not mean you.”
“Then who?”
“She didn’t know.”
Grant stepped away, furious.
Every person in his life seemed to have possessed one fragment of Mara’s secret while he had been left with nothing.
Mrs. Hargrove continued.
“When Nora arrived, I recognized her.”
Nora looked confused.
“From where?”
“A photograph.”
“What photograph?”
Mrs. Hargrove went to a locked cabinet.
She removed a thin folder.
Inside was an image taken outside Mercer Tower three years ago.
Nora stood near the entrance.
“That was the day I tried accessing the foundation records,” Nora said.
Mrs. Hargrove nodded.
“Owen brought me the photograph.”
Grant turned.
“Why?”
“He said Nora was dangerous. That if she ever came near Sophie, I should contact him immediately.”
Grant’s eyes narrowed.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Nora looked surprised.
“Why not?”
“Because Mara once told me never to trust a warning that comes with too much certainty.”
Grant almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Mara.
“So you let Nora enter the house.”
“I watched her.”
“Why take the box tonight?”
“Because I saw you leave. Then I saw Nora leave. I assumed she had told you something. I feared she might return for whatever Mara hid.”
Nora crossed her arms.
“You could have asked.”
Mrs. Hargrove gave her a look.
“You infiltrated my employer’s house under an agency placement.”
“Fair.”
Grant sat.
“Who else knew about Mara’s warning?”
“No one.”
“Owen?”
“He knew I was watching for Nora. He did not know why.”
Daniel entered.
“Sir, there’s another issue.”
Grant sighed.
“Of course there is.”
“We reviewed the school surveillance.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
The photograph sent to Grant had been taken Tuesday at 3:16 p.m.
A dark sedan parked across the street.
Daniel switched frames.
A man stepped out.
Nora leaned toward the image.
“That’s him.”
Grant looked.
“Who?”
“The man who came to Harbor House after Mara called Mercer Tower.”
The man was now older, but unmistakable.
Tall.
Gray coat.
Expensive shoes.
Grant zoomed in.
His face appeared.
He recognized him.
“Leon Voss.”
Daniel nodded.
“Former Mercer security consultant.”
Grant remembered.
Voss had worked for the company for almost twenty years.
He had retired two years after Mara disappeared.
“Who hired him originally?” Nora asked.
“Owen.”
Grant rubbed his jaw.
Mrs. Hargrove went pale.
“Mr. Voss came here often.”
“When?”
“After Mrs. Mercer disappeared.”
Grant looked at her.
“For what?”
“He helped redesign the security system.”
Silence.
Daniel understood first.
“If Voss installed the cameras…”
“He could have created remote access,” Grant finished.
Daniel immediately began typing.
“I’ll isolate every device.”
Grant turned toward Mrs. Hargrove.
“You said Mara left you another instruction?”
“One.”
“What?”
“She told me there would be a day when Sophie remembered more than anyone expected.”
Grant frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Mrs. Hargrove looked toward the doorway.
Sophie stood there.
Everyone fell silent.
Grant rose.
“You’re supposed to be upstairs.”
“I heard my name.”
“Sophie—”
“I remember Uncle Owen.”
Grant froze.
Sophie looked frightened.
“From when Mommy left.”
No one moved.
Grant slowly crouched.
“What do you remember?”
Sophie hugged her teddy bear.
“I was little.”
“You were three.”
“I know.”
“What did you see?”
She frowned, struggling.
“Mommy was crying.”
Grant’s heart hammered.
“Where?”
“In my room.”
“What else?”
“She put something in my music box.”
The note.
“Then?”
“She told me to stay in bed.”
Grant whispered, “Did you see anyone?”
Sophie nodded.
“A man came upstairs.”
“Who?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Uncle Owen.”
Grant felt the blood leave his face.
“What did he do?”
“He told Mommy Daddy had sent him.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Sophie continued.
“Mommy said she didn’t believe him.”
Grant’s chest tightened.
“What happened next?”
“He got angry.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think, sweetheart.”
Sophie squeezed the bear.
“He said…”
She stopped.
“What?”
“He said if Mommy told you, he would make everything look like she ran away.”
Grant and Nora exchanged a look.
Then Sophie whispered something even worse.
“I remember another man too.”
Grant’s voice lowered.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he look like?”
“He had your face.”
Grant frowned.
“My face?”
“Kind of.”
Mrs. Hargrove went still.
Grant turned toward her.
“What?”
She whispered, “Elias.”
But Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
Grant looked back.
“Then who?”
Sophie pointed toward a family portrait hanging above the fireplace.
Grant followed her finger.
The portrait showed Grant.
Mara.
Sophie as a toddler.
And Grant’s younger brother, Matthew Mercer.
Matthew had moved to Europe shortly after Mara disappeared.
He had barely spoken to Grant in five years.
Sophie whispered:
“Uncle Matt.”
And suddenly the disappearance was no longer about Grant’s best friend.
May you like
It had reached all the way into his own blood.
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