Chapter 5 - Twenty-Three Missing Minutes.
Adrian did not raise his voice when he saw that the brass key was missing.
That made the silence worse.
He held out his hand until Mrs. Vale placed the remaining keys in his palm.
“Where is it?”
“I don't know what Miss Brooks believes she saw.”
“I am asking what you know.”
Mrs. Vale's expression remained controlled.
“The key was decorative.”
“You just said it was lost years ago.”
Mrs. Vale looked toward the twins.
“This conversation should not happen in front of the children.”
Adrian agreed with the principle and rejected the escape.
“Library in five minutes.”
He handed the music box to Elena.
“Keep this with you.”
Mrs. Vale's eyes flashed.
Elena noticed.
Adrian did too.
Five minutes later, Elena sat at the far end of the library while Adrian questioned Mrs. Vale and the head of security.
The security guard explained that the upstairs camera had not failed naturally.
Someone had unplugged the network relay inside a locked service cabinet.
Only four people had access.
One was Adrian.
One was the security chief.
One was the property engineer, who had been off-site.
The fourth was Mrs. Vale.
Mrs. Vale did not react.
“That proves access, not action.”
Adrian leaned back in his chair.
“True.”
He looked at the security chief.
“What about other cameras?”
The guard turned the tablet around.
A downstairs camera had recorded Mrs. Vale entering the service corridor at seven eleven.
She returned at seven thirty-six.
Twenty-five minutes.
The upstairs camera had been offline for twenty-three.
Elena felt a chill.
Mrs. Vale stared at the image.
“I was checking linens.”
“In a network closet?” Adrian asked.
“The linen storage shares the corridor.”
The explanation was possible.
That was the problem.
Nothing was quite enough to prove what Elena suspected.
Adrian asked the guard to restore archived footage from the previous month.
The man hesitated.
“There is another issue.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“What issue?”
“Several nursery recordings were manually deleted.”
Mrs. Vale finally looked unsettled.
Adrian sat forward.
“When?”
“Mostly at night.”
“How many?”
“Seventeen clips.”
Elena looked at Mrs. Vale.
Mrs. Vale looked back with open irritation now.
Adrian dismissed the security chief and locked the library door behind him.
“Tell me what you were protecting.”
Mrs. Vale's face hardened.
“I protected this family when you could barely enter that nursery.”
Adrian flinched.
She continued.
“I kept schedules when you missed meals.”
“I know.”
“I sat outside the girls' room when they woke calling for Claire.”
Adrian looked down.
“I know.”
“I removed reminders when you asked me to make the house manageable.”
“I asked you to put away photographs from my office.”
“You wanted quiet.”
“I wanted to survive.”
“And I gave you the structure to do it.”
Adrian's voice became very calm.
“Did Claire ask you to hide that music box?”
Mrs. Vale did not answer.
“Did she?”
“No.”
The word landed hard.
Elena looked at Adrian.
Mrs. Vale continued before he could respond.
“She asked me to give it to you.”
Adrian's face emptied of expression.
“When?”
“After six months.”
“Six months after what?”
Mrs. Vale looked at the floor.
“After she was gone.”
Adrian stood so quickly that the chair pushed backward.
“Why didn't you?”
“Because you were finally functioning again.”
“That was not your decision.”
“I thought it was protecting you.”
“What is inside it?”
“I don't know.”
Elena looked at the box on her lap.
Mrs. Vale's gaze followed.
Adrian saw the fear return to her face.
“If you don't know, why are you afraid of it?”
Mrs. Vale did not answer.
Adrian walked to the door.
“You are suspended from household duties while I review this.”
Mrs. Vale looked almost offended.
“You are removing me because a maid danced with your children?”
“No.”
Adrian opened the door.
“I am removing you because my wife trusted you with something meant for me, and you decided you knew better.”
Mrs. Vale left without another word.
Elena expected relief.
Instead, she felt the house become even more uncertain.
Adrian sat down again and rubbed both hands over his face.
“I don't know where the key is.”
Elena studied the music box.
“There may be another way to open it.”
“No.”
His answer came instantly.
“It was Claire's.”
Elena understood.
He would not damage it to reach what was inside.
That night, Adrian moved the music box into his office safe.
Elena returned to the blue guest suite.
At midnight, a soft knock woke her.
She opened the door and found nobody there.
On the floor lay Nora's stuffed white rabbit.
A thin brass object had been tied around its neck with pink ribbon.
Elena picked it up.
May you like
It was the crescent-shaped key.
Before she could move, the hallway camera above her clicked off.
