Chapter 6 - THE VOICE BEHIND THE SCREEN
-6
Marcus unplugged the network cable.
The message remained.
“That’s impossible,” he said.
Edmund moved toward the computer.
“Local connection.”
Marcus opened the equipment cabinet.
“There’s a second line.”
Chadworth looked around the underground room.
“Someone is inside the estate.”
Lorelai grabbed his hand.
“Sabina?”
“Maybe.”
But Chadworth no longer believed Sabina was the highest level of the threat.
Evelyn’s letter had been clear.
Someone had directed her hatred.
Funded her.
Given her access.
Sabina was dangerous.
But she was also a weapon.
And weapons did not choose where they were pointed.
Marcus traced the secondary cable into the wall.
“It goes north.”
“Toward the mansion?”
“Yes.”
Edmund looked at the camera feeds.
“Whoever built this network had access to the renovation plans.”
Chadworth began listing names in his mind.
Architects.
Contractors.
Security consultants.
Estate managers.
Only a handful remained connected to him today.
One stood out.
Dr. Voss.
But a physician could not build surveillance networks and alter trust documents alone.
“This required several people,” Chadworth said.
Marcus nodded.
“Medical records. Security access. Corporate documents. Financial transfers.”
“A network.”
“Exactly.”
Lorelai looked at the wall of photographs.
“Mommy knew.”
Chadworth crouched beside her.
“She knew some of it.”
“Did they kill her?”
The question came without warning.
He could not lie.
“I don’t know.”
Lorelai looked at Evelyn’s photograph.
“But you think maybe.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
No tears.
That frightened him more than crying.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“If they did, promise you won’t disappear too.”
Chadworth pulled her against him.
“I promise.”
But as he said it, he understood promises were not protection.
Evidence was.
Truth was.
And right now the truth remained hidden inside people who had spent years manipulating his family.
Marcus finally disconnected the second line.
The screen went black.
“Whoever was connected can’t see this room now.”
Edmund laughed bitterly.
“You hope.”
Marcus ignored him.
Chadworth took Evelyn’s letter and several folders.
“We’re leaving.”
“What about the archive?” Edmund asked.
“Lock it.”
“And Sabina?”
“We find her.”
They returned through the tunnel.
When Chadworth reached the mansion, Rosamund was waiting with Gemma.
Gemma ran toward Lorelai.
The sisters hugged.
Chadworth watched the way they checked each other.
Hands.
Face.
Arms.
A ritual.
He realized with horror that they had developed their own silent system for confirming that the other was unharmed.
He turned to Rosamund.
“How long?”
She understood.
“Since shortly after Sabina moved in.”
“And you documented it?”
“What I could.”
“Why did Evelyn trust you?”
Rosamund looked toward the girls.
“Because she knew my mother.”
Chadworth frowned.
“Who was your mother?”
“Margaret Hale.”
He knew the name.
Evelyn’s childhood nanny.
A woman Evelyn had remained close to until Margaret died six years earlier.
“You’re Margaret’s daughter?”
Rosamund nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mrs. Prescott asked me not to use the connection when I applied here. She wanted you to judge my work, not my family.”
Chadworth almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Evelyn.
Rosamund continued.
“After Mrs. Prescott became frightened, she started leaving information with me because no one considered me important.”
“The invisible employee.”
“Yes.”
Sabina’s insult suddenly revealed why Rosamund had survived so long.
Invisible people heard everything.
Chadworth looked toward the girls.
“What happened after Evelyn died?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
“Because of them.”
Rosamund’s eyes moved toward Lorelai and Gemma.
“And because I knew her death wasn’t an accident.”
“Why?”
Rosamund hesitated.
“Her shoes.”
Chadworth frowned.
“What?”
“The police returned her belongings. I unpacked them.”
Her voice became quiet.
“Mrs. Prescott hated driving in heels. She always kept flats in the car.”
Chadworth remembered.
Every car Evelyn owned contained a pair of simple black shoes.
“The night she died, the police inventory said she was wearing high heels.”
“So?”
“She had been wearing flats when she left the mansion.”
Chadworth’s skin prickled.
“You saw her leave?”
“Yes.”
“And the shoes changed?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. But someone changed something after she left.”
Marcus spoke from behind them.
“Or she changed shoes.”
Rosamund gave him a cold look.
“She never did while driving.”
“That isn’t proof.”
“No.”
“But it was enough to make me keep looking.”
Chadworth rubbed his forehead.
A sharp pain pulsed behind his eyes.
Rosamund noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Headache?”
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“When did you last take the vitamins?”
“This morning.”
“Before pretending to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“Mr. Prescott.”
Her tone was unexpectedly firm.
“Sit.”
He did.
Marcus contacted a private medical unit.
Not Dr. Voss.
A hospital Chadworth’s companies had no ownership stake in.
While they waited, Edmund opened Evelyn’s folders across the dining-room table.
Lorelai and Gemma sat in the adjoining room with Rosamund.
Chadworth refused to let them out of sight.
Marcus placed guards at every entrance.
The estate was locked.
Sabina still had not been found.
Then Edmund found something.
“Look.”
A payment record.
Five years earlier.
$62,000 transferred from a shell company to a private laboratory.
The authorization code came from an internal Prescott account.
“Whose?”
Chadworth asked.
Edmund entered the code into his phone.
His expression changed.
“Mine.”
Chadworth stared.
“You authorized it?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe someone used your credentials?”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked suspicious.
Edmund slammed his phone onto the table.
“Why would I show you?”
“Because maybe you know we’ll find it anyway.”
Edmund looked ready to explode.
Then Rosamund appeared in the doorway.
“Stop.”
All three men turned.
She held something in her hand.
A small black device.
“Where did that come from?”
Chadworth asked.
“Gemma’s rabbit.”
His stomach dropped.
Rosamund had opened a seam along the stuffed animal’s back.
Inside was a tiny wireless microphone.
Chadworth felt fury rise so quickly he nearly became dizzy again.
Sabina had thrown the rabbit onto the sofa earlier.
Not because she hated the toy.
Because she knew what was inside.
“Did you put that there?” Marcus asked.
Rosamund looked offended.
“No.”
Edmund examined the device.
“Professional.”
Marcus took it.
“This isn’t part of any standard residential system.”
Chadworth walked into the adjoining room.
Gemma sat beside Lorelai.
He crouched.
“Sweetheart, where did you get your rabbit?”
Gemma looked confused.
“Sabina.”
“When?”
“My birthday.”
Eight months earlier.
Chadworth closed his eyes.
She had gifted his daughter a surveillance device.
“Did she give Lorelai anything?”
Gemma nodded.
“A necklace.”
Lorelai immediately touched her neck.
A delicate gold pendant.
Marcus removed it carefully.
Another microphone.
Chadworth looked at Rosamund.
“They were listening to everything.”
“Yes.”
“No wonder Sabina always knew when the girls talked to you.”
Rosamund’s eyes filled with realization.
“She wasn’t guessing.”
She had been hearing them.
Every whisper.
Every plan.
Every attempt to ask for help.
Chadworth felt sick.
Then the house phone rang.
No one moved.
It rang again.
Marcus checked the display.
“Internal line.”
“From where?”
Marcus’s face became puzzled.
“The nursery.”
The nursery had been closed since Gemma turned four.
Chadworth answered using speakerphone.
Silence.
Then a voice.
Distorted electronically.
“You found the gifts.”
Chadworth looked around the room.
“Who are you?”
Soft laughter.
“You still think this began with Sabrina.”
“Tell me where she is.”
“She’s exactly where she belongs.”
“What does that mean?”
“You wanted to watch what happened when everyone believed you were gone.”
Chadworth’s grip tightened on the phone.
The voice continued.
“So did I.”
A click.
Then a video appeared on the dining room television.
Sabina was sitting inside a dark room.
Her hands appeared bound.
She was crying.
Behind her stood a person wearing black gloves.
The face remained outside the frame.
Sabina looked directly into the camera.
“Chadworth.”
Her voice shook.
“You have to listen to me.”
The gloved person placed something on the table beside her.
A photograph.
Evelyn’s crashed car.
Sabina sobbed.
“I didn’t kill your wife.”
May you like
A pause.
“But I know who did.”
