Chapter 3 - The House With No Family Portraits
Adrian took Delaney to the Vale estate before sunrise.
The mansion stood beyond iron gates, surrounded by woods and a private road.
It was enormous.
But it did not feel luxurious.
It felt guarded.
Every window seemed dark.
Every hallway echoed.
There were no family portraits.
No photographs.
No signs that anyone laughed there.
Margaret led Delaney into the kitchen.
“You must be hungry.”
“I think I'm too overwhelmed to eat.”
“Eat anyway.”
Delaney almost smiled.
Margaret noticed.
“Your mother said the same thing.”
“You remember everything about her?”
“I remember what matters.”
Breakfast became the first normal thing Delaney had experienced in twenty-four hours.
Then Adrian walked in.
He placed a folder on the table.
“Your mother's case.”
Delaney looked at it.
She didn't touch it.
“Are there photographs?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Adrian hesitated.
Then he opened the file.
Police reports.
Hospital documents.
A property transfer.
A list of phone calls.
And a photograph of Kathleen Ward.
Dead.
Delaney closed her eyes.
“I didn't need to see that.”
“I know.”
“Then why show me?”
“Because truth without evidence is easy to manipulate.”
Delaney opened the folder again.
She read.
The official report said Kathleen had died in an accidental house fire.
But one page contradicted it.
The fire department found no evidence of accidental ignition.
Delaney looked up.
“Someone changed the report.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone paid them.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Margaret sat beside her.
“The man who changed the report is dead.”
“Silas?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian shook his head.
“That's what we're trying to determine.”
A maid entered.
“Mr. Vale, Mr. Cross is here.”
Adrian stood so abruptly the chair scraped the floor.
“Where?”
“In the study.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“He's alive?”
“He says he was never missing.”
Delaney looked at Margaret.
Margaret was staring at the door.
“Daniel Cross,” she whispered.
Adrian left.
Delaney followed.
He didn't stop her.
Inside the study, a man stood beside the fireplace.
Late fifties.
Gray hair.
Expensive suit.
Calm expression.
Daniel Cross turned.
His eyes landed on Delaney.
Then Margaret.
Then Adrian.
He smiled.
“I see you've brought the missing piece.”
Delaney felt a chill.
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“What did you mean?”
Daniel shrugged.
“You know exactly what I mean.”
He placed a small black box on the desk.
“Your father hid this.”
Adrian stared.
“Where?”
“Behind the foundation stone of the old mill.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Daniel opened the box.
Inside was a flash drive and a small silver locket.
Delaney's breath caught.
The locket was hers.
She had worn it every day since childhood.
Her mother had told her never to lose it.
“How did you get that?”
Daniel smiled.
“Your mother gave it to me.”
Delaney stared.
“That is impossible.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She gave me the locket the night she died.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“What else did she say?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“She said Silas wasn't the one who killed her.”
Silence.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Then who?”
Daniel looked directly at Margaret.
Margaret whispered, “No.”
Daniel said one name.
“Evelyn.”
Delaney frowned.
“Who is Evelyn?”
Adrian's face went pale.
“My father's secretary.”
“She died twenty years ago.”
“No,” Daniel said. “She didn't.”
Adrian reached for the box.
Daniel pulled it away.
“Not so fast.”
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
Adrian laughed once without humor.
“You walked into my home carrying evidence against my family and expect protection?”
“I expect survival.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Daniel, what happened?”
“I was ordered to kill Kathleen.”
Delaney stared at him.
“Did you?”
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
“Then why didn't you save her?”
“Because I was too late.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“She knew she was going to die. She begged me to find you.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew they would eventually look for her child.”
Delaney's heartbeat quickened.
Her child.
Not her daughter.
Her child.
“Was I the reason she was killed?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what was?”
He pointed to the flash drive.
“Your mother discovered where the money was going.”
“What money?”
“Millions.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Money stolen from your father.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father believed his enemies were outside.”
“But they weren't.”
“No.”
“They were inside.”
Daniel looked toward Adrian.
“They were inside your family.”
A gunshot cracked from somewhere downstairs.
Everyone froze.
The windows rattled.
Another shot.
Adrian moved instantly.
He pulled Delaney behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Delaney.”
A third shot.
Margaret grabbed her arm.
“Come with me.”
They moved toward a hidden panel behind the bookshelf.
Delaney looked back.
“Where are you going?”
Margaret pulled the panel open.
“Somewhere my son doesn't know.”
Delaney stared.
“Your son doesn't know?”
Margaret's eyes were full of sorrow.
“I've been keeping secrets from Adrian for twenty years.”
They stepped through.
A narrow passage opened behind the wall.
As they moved through the darkness, Delaney heard shouting outside.
Then a man's voice.
“Find the girl!”
Margaret gripped her hand.
“They aren't after me anymore.”
“Then who are they after?”
Margaret looked at her.
“You.”
The secret passage ended in an underground room.
There was a table.
A lamp.
Boxes.
Old documents.
And dozens of photographs.
All of Delaney.
At different ages.
Six years old.
Ten.
Fourteen.
Nineteen.
Twenty-four.
Delaney stared.
“Who took these?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Then a voice came from the shadows.
“I did.”
A woman stepped forward.
Delaney's mouth fell open.
She knew that face.
She had seen it in old dreams.
The woman from the hospital.
May you like
The woman beneath the red umbrella.
Evelyn.
