Chapter 5
Richard called the tape ancient nonsense.
“Eleanor hated me.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“She knew you.”
He turned.
“You survived because of me.”
Her face changed.
There.
Not love.
Debt.
Control.
Richard looked at me.
“That tape is fourteen years old.”
“The burner phones aren’t.”
Silence.
Daniel closed his eyes.
I picked up the newest phone.
One recent message.
CHRISTMAS DINNER. KEEP EMMA IN THE BANQUET ROOM UNTIL 9.
Another.
IF SHE LEAVES EARLY, USE THE CHILD.
My hand tightened.
Lily whispered:
“Mommy?”
I crouched.
“You’re okay.”
Richard laughed.
“She isn’t.”
I looked up.
He smiled.
“She never will be if you keep lying to her.”
“What lie?”
“That the world cares when she cries.”
Margaret whispered:
“Richard, stop.”
He ignored her.
“In this family, children learn usefulness.”
I stood.
“Was Lily useful tonight?”
His expression sharpened.
“She was supposed to stay where Daniel put her.”
I turned toward my husband.
Daniel went pale.
“Put her where?”
No answer.
“Daniel.”
He looked at Lily.
Then away.
“The porch.”
“You told Margaret to chain her?”
“No.”
Richard answered:
“I did.”
Daniel snapped:
“Dad.”
Richard smiled cruelly.
“What? Your wife wants truth.”
He looked at me.
“Daniel was supposed to keep Lily outside.”
“For what?”
“To keep you distracted.”
My stomach turned.
The message said keep Emma in the banquet room until nine.
“Why nine?”
Richard said nothing.
Margaret suddenly whispered:
“The west gate.”
His face changed.
I looked at her.
“What happens at nine?”
She looked toward Daniel.
Then Richard.
“I heard them yesterday.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Margaret continued.
“Calder men are coming through the west service gate.”
Richard lunged verbally.
“You stupid woman.”
Margaret flinched.
He smiled.
“There. That’s why no one ever trusted you with real decisions.”
She looked down.
I saw decades of that sentence.
Then my captain’s radio crackled.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Movement outside west gate.”
I checked the clock.
8:43.
They were early.
May you like
And Richard smiled.
Because whatever he had planned was already moving.
