Chapter 6 - WHAT ROSE’S HUSBAND REALLY SAW
Eleanor sat down.
“Sarah?”
Richard had not heard the name in years.
Sarah Warren had been beside Fiona at birthdays, charity dinners, hospital appointments.
Then, shortly after Leo’s birth, she vanished from their lives.
Fiona told Richard they had fallen out.
Richard never asked why.
Now he hated himself for that too.
“Where is she?” he asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Helena did.
Richard could see it.
“Tell me.”
“She lives in Savannah.”
“How long have you known?”
“Years.”
“And you never told me.”
Helena looked tired.
“No.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Rose took the child’s drawing from his hands.
Robert with the camera.
Sarah in blue.
Fiona in bed.
Leo in someone’s arms.
“What was Robert photographing?” Rose asked.
Thomas stared at the floor.
“The signing.”
Richard turned.
“What signing?”
“The second attempt.”
Helena closed her eyes.
Thomas continued.
“Victor realized the first papers could be challenged because Fiona was unconscious. Around four in the morning, he brought another set upstairs.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“Fiona was awake.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She refused.”
Thomas looked at Rose.
“Robert had already discovered there was no kidnapping threat. He brought the cameras back online without telling Victor.”
“Then why use a handheld camera?” Rose asked.
“Because Victor had ordered every recording destroyed.”
Thomas swallowed.
“Robert used Fiona’s little video camera instead.”
Rose remembered it.
Fiona filmed everything.
Leo’s first steps.
Richard burning Thanksgiving turkey.
Rose dancing badly at a Christmas party.
“Where is the tape?”
Nobody knew.
Then Leo spoke.
“Mom had tapes in the piano.”
Richard crouched.
“What do you mean?”
“She showed me once.”
“When?”
“Before she went to heaven.”
Rose closed her eyes briefly.
Leo continued.
“She said old music could hide new music.”
Richard looked toward the conservatory.
The piano.
They returned downstairs.
Detective Harris was waiting outside the room.
Richard stopped.
“I need thirty minutes.”
Harris shook his head.
“You already took more than that.”
Richard’s security chief stepped forward.
Richard raised one hand.
No threats.
No games.
Harris looked at Leo, then Rose.
“I’ve got a child who was intentionally confined inside a wall.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got financial records being shown to a ballroom full of witnesses.”
“Yes.”
“And your wife has admitted at least part of this?”
Helena answered from behind him.
“I locked Leo inside the passage.”
Harris stared at her.
Helena continued.
“I did not intend to leave him there for thirty minutes, but I closed the panel knowingly.”
Richard looked at her.
For the first time that night, Helena had given up protecting herself.
Harris told an officer to remain beside her.
Richard expected Helena to protest.
She didn’t.
They searched the piano.
Nothing beneath the lid.
Nothing beneath the bench.
Then Leo pointed toward the old sheet-music compartment.
“There.”
Rose removed several books.
Behind them was a narrow wooden strip.
Richard pressed it.
A hidden slot opened.
Inside was one mini-DV tape.
The label read:
LEO — FIRST NIGHT
Nobody spoke.
Richard had an old camcorder brought from storage.
The tape began with static.
Then Fiona’s bedroom appeared.
The timestamp flickered.
3:58 A.M.
Robert’s voice whispered from behind the camera.
“If he destroys the hall footage, this stays with me.”
Rose covered her mouth.
She had not heard her husband’s voice in eight years.
Fiona appeared on the screen.
Pale.
Exhausted.
But awake.
Victor stood beside the bed.
Thomas was near the window.
Helena stood by the desk wearing gray.
And Sarah Warren stood near Fiona in a blue dress.
Victor placed papers in front of Fiona.
“You sign this, and Richard never has to know how close his son came to dying tonight.”
Fiona stared at him.
“My son didn’t almost die.”
Victor smiled.
“He might if you keep making poor decisions.”
Richard stopped the tape.
His breathing had changed.
Rose touched his arm.
Not to calm him.
To remind him Leo was watching.
Richard looked at his son.
Then pressed play.
On-screen Fiona said, “Get out.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Your husband’s entire life depends on me.”
“No. Your life depends on everybody believing that.”
Thomas looked away in the recording.
Present-day Thomas did the same.
Victor pushed the papers closer.
Sarah suddenly spoke.
“Fiona, just sign.”
Eleanor whispered, “Oh, God.”
Fiona stared at her friend.
“You too?”
Sarah began crying.
“My father will lose his license.”
“So that makes this right?”
“No.”
“Then stop helping them.”
Sarah looked toward Victor.
Terrified.
That mattered.
She had not looked greedy.
She had looked trapped.
The video shifted.
Robert’s camera moved as someone approached.
Victor saw him.
“What are you doing?”
The screen jerked.
Robert ran.
The image went black.
Rose pressed both hands against her face.
Richard stopped the tape.
“He tried.”
Rose nodded.
Her voice came out rough.
“He tried.”
For twenty years she had wondered whether Robert had been too loyal to the Sterlings.
Now she saw the moment he chose the truth over them.
Richard looked at her.
“Rose.”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
He understood.
An apology would come.
But not while she was still learning what had been taken from her.
Thomas pointed toward the television.
“There’s more.”
The tape resumed.
The next recording was two days later.
Fiona sat alone.
She looked straight into Robert’s camera.
“If anything happens to me, Richard needs to know Victor did not act alone.”
Richard leaned closer.
Fiona continued.
“Helena told me the truth. Thomas has promised to help me. Robert has the first copy.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Fiona’s expression hardened.
“But Sarah took something before she left this house.”
Richard whispered, “What?”
On-screen Fiona answered as though she heard him.
“My original medical chart.”
Helena inhaled sharply.
Fiona continued.
“It proves the birth time was changed. It also proves someone administered medication to me after Leo was born.”
Richard stared.
“What medication?”
Helena whispered, “A sedative.”
Fiona continued.
“I did not consent to it.”
The screen flickered.
“Sarah told me she did not give it to me.”
Eleanor stood.
“Then who did?”
Fiona looked directly into the camera.
“The chart says Dr. Warren.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
Helena looked at him.
“What?”
Thomas’s face had gone gray.
“Dr. Warren wasn’t upstairs then.”
Richard turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because I was with him downstairs.”
Silence.
Richard looked back at Fiona.
The video continued.
“So either Sarah is lying,” Fiona said, “or someone used Dr. Warren’s name.”
The tape ended.
Detective Harris stepped forward.
“Who had access to the medical kit?”
Thomas whispered, “Everyone in that room.”
Richard’s eyes moved over them.
Victor.
Thomas.
Helena.
Sarah.
Robert.
Then Helena said something none of them expected.
“Not everyone.”
Richard looked at her.
“Robert never entered Fiona’s room after the birth.”
Rose froze.
Thomas nodded slowly.
“She’s right.”
Helena looked toward the black screen.
“And I never touched the medical kit.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Then who did?”
Thomas answered.
“Victor.”
But Helena shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone stared.
She looked directly at Richard.
“Victor was downstairs when Fiona was sedated.”
Richard felt the room tilt.
“Then who was upstairs?”
May you like
Helena’s voice dropped.
“Sarah.”
