Chapter 6 - What Ruby Remembered From the Fire
Roman reached the twins’ room first.
The hallway lights flashed red.
Emergency alarms pulsed through the estate.
Two guards stood outside the bedroom.
Roman shoved past them.
Theo was beneath the bed.
Ruby stood on the mattress screaming.
Norah entered seconds later.
“Ruby!”
The child saw her and jumped down.
Norah caught her.
Ruby wrapped both arms around Norah’s neck.
“The fire!”
“There’s no fire.”
“The noise!”
“I know.”
Theo crawled out.
Roman crouched immediately.
“Theo.”
His son backed away.
The siren had taken him somewhere else.
Six months earlier.
Smoke above the trees.
Adults shouting.
Cars tearing down the driveway.
Roman returning after midnight.
The twins had lived inside that moment ever since.
Norah raised her voice.
“Turn the alarm off!”
A guard touched his earpiece.
“Security protocol—”
“Turn it off!”
Roman looked at him.
“You heard her.”
The siren stopped.
Silence hit almost as hard.
Ruby sobbed into Norah’s shoulder.
Roman moved toward her.
Norah shifted so he could reach.
“Ruby.”
His daughter looked at him.
“It’s okay,” Roman said.
She shook her head violently.
“No fire.”
“No fire.”
“Mommy.”
Roman’s face broke.
Norah felt it.
The child was not crying about an alarm.
She was back at the window.
“Mommy burned.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Then he did something Norah had never seen him do.
He sat on the floor.
He pulled Ruby into his arms.
And he cried.
Quietly.
No dramatic collapse.
No shouting.
Just a father pressing his face against his daughter’s hair while grief finally escaped the place he had locked it.
Theo watched.
Roman reached one arm toward him.
Theo hesitated.
Then crossed the room.
The four of them remained there until Ruby’s breathing steadied.
Eventually, Paul appeared at the door.
His expression told Roman the situation was bad.
Roman kissed Ruby’s forehead.
“I need to talk to Paul.”
Ruby grabbed his jacket.
“You’re leaving.”
Roman stopped.
Norah watched him.
This was the moment.
The old Roman would have promised nothing.
He would have left because danger demanded action.
Roman looked at his daughter.
“I’m going downstairs for fifteen minutes.”
Ruby stared.
“Then what?”
“Then I’m coming back.”
“You promise?”
Roman swallowed.
“Yes.”
Ruby released him.
Roman stood.
He looked at Norah.
“Stay.”
“I wasn’t going anywhere.”
He left.
Exactly fourteen minutes later, Roman returned.
Norah checked the clock.
So did Ruby.
She smiled when he entered.
Roman noticed.
One promise kept.
Small.
But something had changed.
Later, after the children fell asleep, Roman met Paul in the security room.
Norah was there too.
Roman did not object.
Twenty-four hours earlier, he would have.
Now Victor had escaped.
Evelyn had named Norah in a letter.
And someone inside the estate had intentionally disabled security.
The rules had changed.
Paul displayed a map.
“Power failure affected cameras four through nine.”
“Manual?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Maintenance access behind the old conservatory.”
Roman frowned.
“Who has keys?”
“Five people.”
“Names.”
“Me. Mrs. Finch. Head of security. You.”
Paul paused.
“And Victor.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“He didn’t have his key.”
“We didn’t search him thoroughly.”
Roman looked at him.
Paul accepted the blame.
“My mistake.”
Norah stood beside the monitors.
“Could someone have helped him?”
“Possibly,” Paul said.
“Probably,” Roman corrected.
Norah looked toward footage from the upstairs hall.
“Why would Victor come here tonight if he knew Evelyn left evidence?”
Roman stared at the flash drive.
“Maybe he didn’t know she had.”
“He watched the box before he watched the letter.”
Paul nodded.
“He wanted something inside.”
“The drive,” Norah said.
Roman inserted it into an isolated laptop.
Encrypted.
Paul frowned.
“Military-grade?”
“No.”
“Corporate?”
Roman shook his head.
Norah leaned closer.
A password prompt appeared.
“Could it be Evelyn’s birthday?”
“No.”
“Twins’ birthday?”
“No.”
Roman tried several combinations.
Nothing.
Norah remembered the note.
“Green room.”
Roman typed it.
Wrong.
Paul looked at the red pouch.
“What about the numbers?”
Norah unfolded the paper.
Six digits.
170614.
Roman stared.
Paul tried.
Wrong.
Norah frowned.
“Date?”
Roman whispered, “June seventeenth, 2014.”
“What happened?”
Roman looked at him.
“Evelyn and I got married June fourteenth.”
“Three days later.”
Norah thought.
“What did you do three days after?”
Roman’s face softened.
“Went to Florence.”
“Try Florence.”
Wrong.
“Hotel?”
Roman typed.
Wrong.
“Restaurant?”
Wrong.
They tried twenty possibilities.
Nothing.
Finally Norah said, “Maybe the numbers aren’t for the drive.”
Paul looked at the ledger.
“Safe combination?”
There was no safe.
Roman searched the desk.
Norah checked cabinets.
Paul examined a painting.
Nothing.
Then Norah noticed the green walls.
Decorative wood panels ran from floor to ceiling.
One panel looked slightly different.
She pressed.
Nothing.
Roman ran his hand along the trim.
A tiny keypad emerged.
Paul smiled.
“Your wife was better at this than half my people.”
Roman entered 170614.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a digital recorder.
Roman’s hands trembled as he picked it up.
He pressed play.
Static.
Then Evelyn’s voice filled the room.
Roman stopped breathing.
“If you’re hearing this, I either finally became paranoid enough to embarrass myself…”
A small laugh.
Roman lowered his head.
Norah looked away to give him privacy.
“…or I was right.”
The recording continued.
“Roman, I’m sorry.”
A long pause.
“You always told me I believed too easily in good people. Maybe you were right.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“I found discrepancies in the dock ledgers four months ago. At first I thought someone was stealing from you. Then I realized the routes being leaked all had one thing in common.”
Paper rustled.
“Victor approved them.”
Roman’s fists tightened.
Evelyn continued.
“But Victor isn’t working alone.”
Paul looked at Roman.
Norah leaned closer.
“I found records from your father. Charles was laundering money through the same shipping companies twenty years ago. One of his bookkeepers discovered it and tried to leave.”
Norah’s throat tightened.
“Hannah Hayes.”
Norah gripped the edge of the desk.
“I found her daughter.”
Roman looked at Norah.
“Norah doesn’t know any of this. Leave her out of it unless there is no other choice.”
Norah felt tears sting.
“She has already lost too much because of our family.”
Norah whispered, “Eli.”
Evelyn continued.
“I paid what I could anonymously. It wasn’t enough.”
Norah covered her mouth.
The recording became quieter.
“Hannah took something when she disappeared. A ledger Charles never recovered. She believed it proved who was moving money and weapons through city contracts.”
Paul stiffened.
Roman stared at the recorder.
“If that ledger still exists, Victor will want it.”
Evelyn paused.
“And Roman…”
Her voice shook for the first time.
“I think Victor knows I’m looking.”
The recording ended.
Roman pressed play again.
Nothing.
Norah stood motionless.
“My mother stole evidence from your father.”
Roman’s gaze was distant.
“If Evelyn was right.”
“And Victor believes I know where it is.”
“You don’t.”
“No.”
Paul crossed his arms.
“He may not believe that.”
Norah suddenly remembered Victor’s words.
Who do you think made sure you saw the advertisement?
“He brought me here.”
Roman frowned.
“Victor?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“To search me?”
Paul shook his head.
“Too indirect.”
“To use me,” Norah said.
Roman’s face hardened.
“For what?”
Norah thought about the twins.
The key.
Evelyn’s message.
Victor needed something.
Something connected to Hannah Hayes.
“What if he thought Evelyn told me before she died?”
Roman nodded slowly.
“Then once you were inside, he could watch you.”
Paul cursed softly.
Norah looked toward the security monitors.
“Watch me how closely?”
Nobody answered.
Upstairs, Ruby woke from another nightmare.
Norah heard her through the monitor.
“I’ll go.”
Roman stopped her.
“No.”
He stood.
“I promised.”
Norah watched him leave.
Paul remained.
After several seconds he said, “You did that.”
“Did what?”
“Got him upstairs.”
“He chose.”
Paul looked at her.
“That’s new.”
Norah stared at Evelyn’s recorder.
“No. I think that was always there.”
Paul followed her gaze.
“Maybe.”
Ruby was sitting upright when Roman entered.
He sat beside her.
“You came back.”
“I said I would.”
Ruby leaned against him.
For several minutes they were silent.
Then Ruby whispered, “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“I saw the bad man.”
Roman’s blood turned cold.
“What bad man?”
“The day Mommy went away.”
Roman kept his voice calm.
“Where?”
“Outside.”
“Outside where?”
Ruby pointed toward the windows.
“By Mommy’s car.”
Roman’s heart hammered.
“Who was he?”
Ruby’s face tightened with concentration.
“I don’t know.”
“Can you remember?”
She nodded slowly.
“He gave Mommy something.”
“What?”
“A paper.”
Roman swallowed.
“What did he look like?”
Ruby closed her eyes.
“Gray hair.”
Roman felt the room tilt.
Victor had silver hair.
But so did many men.
“Anything else?”
Ruby opened her eyes.
“He had the shiny bird.”
Roman frowned.
“What bird?”
Ruby touched her own collar.
“Here.”
A pin.
Roman suddenly remembered.
Victor wore a lapel pin.
Silver.
An eagle.
Roman stood so quickly the chair moved.
Ruby flinched.
He stopped.
“Sorry.”
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
He crouched.
“Not at you.”
Ruby stared.
Roman touched her cheek.
“You did something very brave.”
She whispered, “Mommy said not to tell.”
Roman froze.
“Mommy saw him?”
Ruby nodded.
“She said if the bird man came back, we should hide.”
Roman kissed her forehead.
Then walked into the hallway.
Norah was already there.
She had heard enough.
Roman looked at her.
“Victor was here the day Evelyn died.”
Norah’s stomach tightened.
Roman’s face was no longer grieving.
It was focused.
Dangerously focused.
But before he could speak, Paul came running up the staircase.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“Victor’s car.”
“Where?”
“Three miles from the estate.”
Roman waited.
Paul’s face tightened.
“Empty.”
Then he held out a phone sealed in a plastic evidence bag.
“But this was inside.”
The screen showed a single unsent message.
Roman read it.
She found the recording. Move the twins tonight.
Norah felt the blood leave her face.
Roman looked toward his children’s bedroom.
The enemy was no longer running away.
Someone was coming for Theo and Ruby.
May you like
And they had only hours to discover who.
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