Chapter 4 - The Man With Brown Shoes.
Adrian had never been more frightened by a sentence spoken in such an innocent voice.
He guided Noah to a chair in the breakfast room and sat across from him rather than towering over him.
Emma remained nearby, and Daniel stood against the wall with the briefcase closed at his feet.
“Noah, I need you to tell me only what you remember,” Adrian said.
“You are not in trouble.”
Noah nodded.
“The man comes through the little hall.”
“How many times have you seen him?”
Noah thought carefully.
“Three.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Adrian kept his voice even.
“Did he ever talk to you?”
“No.”
“Did he see you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why were you awake?”
Noah looked embarrassed.
“I wanted water.”
Emma crouched beside him.
“What did the man look like?”
“He had a gray coat and brown shoes.”
Daniel opened his phone and showed Noah a few photographs from the service entrance.
Noah pointed to the blurred figure beside the van.
“That one.”
The image showed almost nothing useful except height, coat, and shoes.
Still, the child’s certainty changed the room.
Adrian turned toward Eleanor, who had been asked to wait at the doorway.
She looked offended by the entire conversation.
“You are questioning a six-year-old like a witness,” she said.
“I am listening to my son.”
“And encouraging a fantasy.”
Noah’s face fell.
Emma stood immediately.
“He is not making it up.”
Eleanor’s eyes moved to her.
“You have become far too comfortable speaking for this family.”
The remark landed harder than it should have.
Emma went silent.
Adrian did not.
“She is speaking for a child you just dismissed.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“So now I am the enemy because a maid became dizzy and a child saw a shadow?”
Daniel picked up the brown briefcase.
“No one called you the enemy.”
“You did not have to.”
Eleanor turned away.
Then Daniel said one more thing.
“The access code used at the service gate belongs to your office.”
She stopped.
“That code is shared by the senior staff.”
“It is not supposed to be.”
Her shoulders stiffened.
Adrian felt the conversation drifting toward accusation without enough proof.
He hated uncertainty more than anger.
“Daniel, lock the service entrances and call the security company.”
Daniel nodded.
“Emma, stay with Noah in the library.”
Emma hesitated.
“What about the vent?”
“No one goes near it until it is inspected.”
Eleanor laughed once without humor.
“This has become absurd.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Then it should be easy to clear up.”
She left without another word.
Twenty minutes later, the security company arrived and found no intruder.
The mansion settled into a nervous quiet.
Adrian went upstairs to check Noah’s room.
His son’s water glass sat on the nightstand.
The curtains were open.
Everything looked ordinary.
Then Adrian noticed a small object on the carpet beside the toy chest.
It was not one of Noah’s toys.
It was a brass tag stamped with a single number.
317.
Daniel examined it under the bedside lamp.
“That looks like an old locker tag.”
Emma, standing in the doorway, went pale again.
“I know that number.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“From where?”
May you like
Emma looked down at the tag.
“Room 317 was my mother’s room at St. Vincent’s when she worked for your family.”
