Chapter 7 - The One Person Lily Wasn’t Afraid Of
Adrian’s expression did not change.
That frightened Claire more than anger would have.
“When did Renato take you there?”
Lily looked toward Grace.
Grace looked stunned.
“I didn’t know.”
“Last month,” Lily said.
“For how long?”
“Just a little.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Lily shook her head quickly.
“No.”
Adrian’s shoulders loosened by a fraction.
“What happened?”
Lily climbed onto the edge of his desk.
“He found me when Miss Grace was buying groceries.”
Grace covered her mouth.
“I left you in the car for three minutes.”
“I know.”
Lily looked guilty.
“He knocked on the window.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he was my uncle.”
Adrian glanced at Eleanor.
“Did you go with him?”
Lily nodded.
“For a little while.”
“Why?”
“Because he had your picture.”
Adrian was quiet.
“And he knew about my purple cup.”
That broke something in his face.
Renato had used details from Adrian’s childhood home to prove he belonged.
Lily continued.
“He said he didn’t want to steal me. He said he wanted to show me why everybody was scared.”
The address belonged to a renovated Back Bay brownstone.
The place where Adrian’s childhood home had once stood.
Adrian looked at Eleanor.
“He took her to the fire house.”
“Yes,” Lily said. “But it doesn’t look burned.”
“What did he show you?”
“A wall.”
“Which wall?”
“The red room.”
Eleanor inhaled sharply.
“The study.”
Lily nodded.
“There was a loose piece near the floor. Uncle Renato couldn’t open it.”
Adrian looked at the paper again.
Charles Hart believed Renato would go there first if Lily resurfaced.
Which meant Renato still did not have the ledger.
Claire asked the question everyone was avoiding.
“Why didn’t Renato take Lily tonight?”
Lily answered before anyone else.
“Because he doesn’t want me.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What does he want?”
“She smiled faintly.
“You.”
The room went silent.
Lily pulled something from her pocket.
An old man’s wristwatch.
Not the gold pocket watch.
A plain steel watch with a cracked leather band.
Adrian recognized it.
“Renato’s.”
“He gave it to me at the station.”
“When?”
“When he left the necklace.”
Lily turned it over.
An inscription had been scratched into the metal.
1:15 — RED ROOM
Adrian checked the time.
12:54.
Victor said, “It’s a meeting.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“It could be a trap.”
“Of course it could.”
Adrian stood.
Lily grabbed his sleeve.
“Are you going?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
He looked down.
For the first time since seeing him, Lily looked like a frightened eleven-year-old instead of a child who had spent years listening to adults whisper around her.
“He looked tired, Dad.”
Adrian froze at the word.
Dad.
Lily seemed not to notice what she had done.
“He cried when he saw me.”
Eleanor turned away.
Adrian crouched.
“Renato cried?”
“Yes.”
“He said he was sorry.”
“For what?”
“He said he was sorry he waited too long to tell you what your father did.”
That changed the room again.
Renato had left Eleanor to die.
But perhaps that was not the only truth.
Adrian kissed Lily’s forehead.
“I’m coming back.”
“You promised before.”
“I’m promising again.”
“Okay.”
Lily reached into her pocket one more time.
This time she handed him a child’s folded drawing.
It showed three men.
One was tall.
One was older.
One wore a blue tie.
“What is this?”
“Uncle Renato drew the people I shouldn’t trust.”
Adrian opened the page fully.
The first figure was labeled CARLO.
Adrian’s father.
The second:
CHARLES.
Evelyn’s father.
The third had no name.
Just a blue tie.
Victor stared.
“Who wears that?”
Evelyn went pale.
“My father’s business partner.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Name.”
“Martin Vale.”
Victor swore.
Claire knew the name.
Vale was Marchetti Maritime’s chief financial officer.
A man who had worked in Adrian’s company for nineteen years.
A man who attended the charity gala earlier that evening.
Adrian checked his memory.
“Vale left the gala at ten-fifteen.”
Victor nodded.
“Before we opened the passage.”
Claire understood.
“But after Evelyn publicly accused me.”
Evelyn looked sick.
“He knew something was going wrong.”
Adrian turned to Victor.
“Get Lily somewhere safe.”
“No more hidden houses,” Lily said immediately.
Adrian looked at her.
“No hidden houses.”
“My room?”
He swallowed.
“The one at home?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“I want that.”
“And Grandma can come.”
He looked at Eleanor.
“Yes.”
“And Grace.”
“Yes.”
Lily glanced at Evelyn.
Everyone waited.
Lily said nothing.
Then she looked at Adrian.
“Miss E can come too.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
Lily added, “But not in my room.”
Claire almost smiled.
“Fair,” Adrian said.
Victor took the women back toward the mansion under guard.
Adrian insisted Claire go too.
She refused.
“Evelyn threatened my family because I opened that door. I want to see where it leads.”
Adrian studied her.
“You’re stubborn.”
“My father says the same thing.”
“Your father is probably right.”
At 1:12, Adrian and Claire entered the Back Bay brownstone with two security men.
The red room was on the second floor.
Renato stood alone beside the fireplace.
Silver-haired.
Seventy-one.
Smaller than Adrian remembered.
He looked at his nephew.
“You found her.”
Adrian stopped several feet away.
“Yes.”
Renato closed his eyes.
“Good.”
“You left my mother in a burning house.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No hesitation.
“I have hated myself for it every day since.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“That does not interest me.”
“I know.”
“Why am I here?”
Renato pointed toward the baseboard.
“The ledger is behind that wall.”
“Then take it out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor built the compartment.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“My mother?”
“She used one of her father’s old locking mechanisms. It requires pressure in three places.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she told Charles Hart.”
Claire understood.
“And Charles told you?”
“No.”
Renato looked at her.
“Charles spent twenty years blackmailing me with the possibility that he could find it first.”
Adrian asked, “Why give Lily the locket?”
“Because I knew Charles hid a copy of the film there.”
“He’s dead.”
“He prepared for that.”
Renato’s eyes moved to Claire.
“Martin Vale has been carrying out Charles’s instructions since his death.”
Adrian stiffened.
“The blue tie.”
“Yes.”
“What does Vale want?”
“The ledger destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Because his father’s name is in it.”
A floorboard creaked outside.
Claire turned.
Martin Vale stood in the doorway.
He was still wearing the same navy suit from the gala.
And the same blue tie.
But there was no gun in his hand.
Only a red gasoline can.
Adrian’s eyes lowered to it.
Martin smiled sadly.
“My father spent forty years afraid of this room.”
Then he tipped the can.
Liquid spread across the floor.
Claire stepped back.
Adrian moved toward him.
Martin struck a lighter.
Renato whispered:
“Adrian, don’t.”
Martin looked at the old walls.
“If the ledger survived one fire…”
He flicked the wheel.
May you like
“…let’s see if it survives another.”
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