Chapter 1 - The Third Floor
The floorboard creaked again.
Nobody moved.
Roman Archer stood in the center of the hallway with one arm wrapped around his son and the other already reaching beneath his jacket.
Claire saw the weapon before he fully drew it.
“Roman.”
His eyes remained fixed on the dark staircase.
“Take Eli back to his room.”
“No.”
The answer came from Eli.
Roman looked down.
The boy’s face had gone white.
“She’s up there.”
Another sound came from above.
Not a creak this time.
A door closing.
Roman handed Eli to Claire so suddenly she nearly stumbled.
“Stay here.”
Claire caught his sleeve.
“You don’t know who’s up there.”
“That’s exactly why you’re staying here.”
Roman started toward the staircase.
Two security men appeared from the opposite corridor.
“Mr. Archer?”
“Third floor. Someone’s up there.”
Both men drew their weapons.
Roman pointed at the taller one.
“Davis, east staircase. Cole, come with me.”
Claire tightened the blanket around Eli.
The boy was trembling so hard his teeth clicked.
“Look at me,” she whispered.
Eli did.
“Was the woman wearing anything else you remember?”
He swallowed.
“Black coat.”
“What about her face?”
“I couldn’t see it at the river.”
“Why?”
“She had a hood.”
A crash came from upstairs.
Claire flinched.
Roman disappeared around the landing.
Eli grabbed Claire’s wrist.
“Dad’s going after her.”
“He has security with him.”
“She said she’d make him disappear.”
Claire crouched.
“That woman has spent tonight making threats to a child. Your father has spent his entire life dealing with grown adults who make threats. I’m putting my money on him.”
A tiny laugh escaped Eli before fear swallowed it again.
Then the lights went out.
Every chandelier.
Every lamp.
Every hallway fixture.
Darkness swallowed the mansion.
Somewhere downstairs, an alarm began screaming.
“Claire!”
Roman’s voice came from above.
Claire pulled Eli against her.
“Stay with me.”
Emergency lights flickered on several seconds later, bathing the hallway in a dim red glow.
Claire saw movement at the far end.
A figure.
Female.
Black coat.
Running.
“There!”
The woman reached the service staircase before Claire could see her face.
Roman came charging down the main stairs.
“Stop!”
The woman disappeared.
One of the guards followed.
Roman reached Claire.
“Eli?”
“He’s okay.”
His gaze shot toward the service hall.
“Where did she go?”
“Down.”
Roman pressed a radio button.
“Seal every exterior door. Nobody leaves this property.”
Static answered him.
Roman frowned.
He tried again.
Nothing.
“That’s impossible.”
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
“The power outage?”
“Backup communications operate independently.”
“So whoever cut the lights also knew how to cut your radios.”
Roman’s jaw hardened.
They heard footsteps pounding back up the service staircase.
The security guard appeared alone.
“She’s gone.”
Roman stared at him.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“The basement door was open. By the time I reached the courtyard—”
“You were ordered to seal the estate.”
“Mr. Archer, the west gate opened during the blackout.”
Roman went completely still.
Again.
A camera failed.
Again.
A gate opened.
Again.
Someone disappeared.
This was no outsider breaking into Roman Archer’s mansion.
Someone knew the system.
Someone controlled it.
Roman looked toward Eli.
“Whoever this is has access from inside.”
Claire glanced down.
Something glittered near the doorway to the service stairs.
She crossed the hall.
“Don’t touch anything,” Roman warned.
Claire ignored him and crouched.
A thin silver chain lay against the carpet.
Broken.
Roman came closer.
At its end hung a tiny oval locket.
Eli made a frightened sound behind them.
“That’s it.”
Roman picked up the necklace with the edge of his handkerchief.
His expression changed.
Claire had already seen what was engraved on the back.
A.
Roman turned it over.
Inside the tiny locket was a photograph.
Roman.
Younger.
Smiling.
Beside him stood a dark-haired woman holding a toddler.
Eli.
“My wife,” Roman whispered.
Claire stared at him.
“You’re sure this was hers?”
“I bought it for Amelia after Eli was born.”
“Where was it kept?”
Roman looked toward the third floor.
“In a locked cabinet.”
“Upstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe she didn’t bring it from outside.”
Roman’s eyes lifted.
“She took it tonight.”
“Or somebody gave it to her.”
Eli clutched the blanket.
“Dad.”
Roman crossed to him.
“What?”
“She knew Mom’s song.”
His father froze.
“What song?”
“The one Mom used to sing before bed.”
Roman crouched slowly.
“Eli, what exactly happened tonight?”
The child looked toward Claire.
Then toward the staircase.
Roman touched his shoulder.
“You are not in trouble.”
“I went upstairs.”
“Why?”
“I heard music.”
Roman’s face changed.
Claire saw it.
“Was the third floor forbidden?” she asked.
Roman nodded.
“It’s been closed since Amelia died.”
Eli continued.
“I heard Mom’s piano.”
Roman’s breathing stopped for half a second.
“Which song?”
Eli hummed three frightened notes.
Whatever they meant, they hit Roman like a blow.
Amelia’s song.
“I followed it,” Eli said.
“What happened when you went upstairs?”
“There was a woman in Mom’s room.”
Roman looked at Claire.
“Which room?”
“The blue room.”
Something unreadable crossed Roman’s face.
Claire noticed.
“You know it.”
“My wife’s private sitting room.”
Eli continued.
“The woman was going through Mom’s desk.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked what I was doing.”
“And?”
“I told her I heard the music.”
“Then?”
“She smiled.”
The boy shivered.
“She said Mom had left me something.”
Roman went motionless.
“What?”
“A box.”
Claire pulled the blanket more tightly around Eli.
“What box?”
“Brown. Small. She said I needed to help her open it.”
Roman slowly removed the brass key from his pocket.
“This?”
Eli nodded.
“She couldn’t get the box open. Then she got angry.”
“Where did you get the key?”
“Behind Mom’s picture.”
“What picture?”
“The one in Dad’s bedroom.”
Roman frowned.
“How did you know it was there?”
Eli looked confused.
“The note told me.”
“What note?”
The question came sharper than Roman intended.
Eli recoiled.
Roman immediately softened his voice.
“Sorry. Tell me about the note.”
“It was under my pillow.”
Claire and Roman exchanged a look.
“What did it say?”
Eli closed his eyes.
“Your mother left you something. Bring the brass key upstairs after midnight if you want to know what really happened to her.”
Roman’s face emptied of color.
Claire felt her stomach drop.
This entire night had been planned.
The music.
The note.
The key.
The boy.
“Eli,” Claire asked carefully, “did you open the box?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“The woman heard someone coming.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“She grabbed me.”
Roman’s hand tightened into a fist.
“She put something over my mouth. I got sleepy.”
Claire remembered pulling the nearly unconscious child from black water.
“She drugged him.”
Roman’s voice was barely audible.
“I woke up in a car.”
“Was the woman driving?”
Eli shook his head.
“A man was.”
Roman leaned closer.
“Did you see him?”
“Only the back.”
“Anything about him you remember?”
Eli hesitated.
“He had a watch.”
Roman’s expression tightened.
“A watch?”
“With a red face.”
Claire looked at him.
“You recognize that?”
“I might.”
Eli continued.
“The woman told him they should leave me somewhere else.”
Roman’s eyes became terrifyingly calm.
“And the man?”
“He said the harbor would make it look like an accident.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Claire had never seen rage become so quiet.
Then Eli whispered, “She didn’t want to throw me in.”
Roman’s eyes opened.
“What?”
“She said I was just a kid.”
“Who threw you?”
“The man.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“Then why did you call her the woman from the river?”
“Because she got out too.”
“She was at the dock?”
Eli nodded.
“She told him not to do it.”
Roman stared at his son.
“Did she try to stop him?”
“A little.”
A little.
Not enough.
Eli looked at the broken necklace.
“Then she saw something.”
“What?”
“The key.”
Roman looked at the brass key in his hand.
“It was stuck in my coat. She tried to grab it, but the man yelled at her because headlights were coming.”
Claire’s headlights.
Maybe that was why they had fled.
Maybe her presence had saved Eli before she ever entered the water.
Roman stood.
“We find that box.”
He led them up the third-floor staircase.
The corridor smelled different from the rest of the mansion.
Dust.
Old wood.
Closed rooms.
And faintly—
Jasmine.
Claire stopped.
“What?”
Roman turned.
“Do you smell that?”
He inhaled.
His face changed.
“Yes.”
“You know it?”
“Amelia wore jasmine.”
Roman pushed open the blue room.
Claire expected dust sheets and forgotten furniture.
Instead, the room looked as though its owner might return at any moment.
A grand piano stood near tall windows.
Books lined one wall.
Photographs covered a desk.
A pale blue chair faced the fireplace.
Roman stopped in the doorway.
He hadn’t been inside for years.
Claire could tell.
Eli took his hand.
“Dad?”
Roman swallowed.
“I’m okay.”
He wasn’t.
But he entered.
They found the small wooden box beneath the desk.
Someone had dragged it halfway out.
Roman knelt.
A brass lock gleamed on the front.
Claire handed him the key.
It fit perfectly.
Roman turned it.
Click.
Inside lay several envelopes.
A flash drive.
An old phone.
And a folded letter.
Roman unfolded it.
His eyes moved across the first line.
Then stopped.
Claire saw his hands begin to shake.
“What does it say?”
Roman looked at her.
“My wife wrote this.”
He turned the paper so Claire could read.
The first sentence was short.
Roman, if you are reading this because I am dead, my death was not an accident.
Eli buried his face against Claire.
Roman continued reading.
Someone inside Archer Holdings has been stealing from the company for years. Not money alone. Containers. Identities. Shipping manifests. Government contracts. I found proof.
Roman’s jaw tightened.
I made the mistake of confronting someone I trusted.
Then came the line that changed everything.
If anything happens to me, protect Eli from your own family.
Roman stared at those words.
“My family.”
Claire looked toward the hallway.
A sound echoed below.
A door opening.
Then a man’s voice called from the staircase.
“Roman?”
Roman’s face hardened.
He recognized the voice.
Seconds later, a tall man stepped into view.
Dark coat.
Gray eyes.
Expensive suit.
And on his wrist—
A watch with a deep red face.
Eli made a sound of pure terror.
The man stopped.
His smile disappeared.
Roman slowly stood.
“Julian.”
His younger brother looked from Roman to Claire.
Then to Eli.
“What happened?”
Eli backed away.
Claire felt his small hand searching for hers.
He found it.
And squeezed.
Roman’s eyes dropped to his brother’s watch.
May you like
Then rose again.
“Funny you should ask.”
