Chapter 6: The Song Inside the Box
Smoke rolled down the upstairs corridor, but there were no flames.
Someone had emptied an extinguisher beneath the alarm and used the confusion to enter the girls’ room.
“The blue box is gone,” Olivia cried.
Drawers had been pulled out and dresses covered the floor.
Sophie crawled beneath Nora’s bed and came out holding one broken wooden leg.
“He broke Mommy’s box.”
I picked up the painted lid.
The compartment beneath the spinning figure was empty.
“Vincent knew where to look.”
Mrs.
Donnelly appeared in the doorway.
“No.
He knew what to break.”
She reached into her apron and removed a second memory card.
“I replaced the real one this morning.”
“You knew he was coming?”
“He telephoned before breakfast and asked whether the library panel had been disturbed.”
Olivia stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell Daddy?”
Mrs.
Donnelly knelt despite the pain in her knees.
“Because I was a coward.”
“You helped Mommy hide the picture.”
“And then I stayed quiet too long.”
Olivia took the card from her.
“You’re talking now.”
Mrs.
Donnelly’s mouth trembled.
“Yes, sweetheart.
I am.”
Mercer’s officers brought Grace upstairs, still handcuffed.
Mercer followed, red-faced.
“The alarm disabled the front doors.
Nobody leaves.”
“Take those cuffs off her,” I said.
“She is under arrest.”
“She just told us where to find evidence.”
“Evidence she planted.”
Grace held out her bound hands.
“Search me.
Search my room.
But play that card first.”
Mercer reached for it, and Olivia pulled away.
“No.”
“Give it to me, young lady.”
“She said no,” I replied.
Vincent appeared at the far end of the corridor.
“What happened?”
His shirt cuffs were dusted with white extinguisher powder.
Sophie pointed.
“He broke it.”
Vincent looked at his sleeves too late.
“I tried to put out the fire.”
“There was no fire,” Mrs.
Donnelly said.
Mercer stepped between us.
“Everyone downstairs.”
“No,” Grace said.
“We listen here.”
I inserted the card into the girls’ tablet.
Isabelle’s voice filled the room.
“Grace, if you are hearing this, Vincent found out.”
My daughters froze.
Isabelle continued.
“He moved twenty-three million dollars through Romano Construction.
Dominic does not know.
He trusts Vincent more than he trusts numbers—and lately, more than he trusts me.”
Vincent lunged for the tablet.
I caught him and drove him against the wall.
“Let it play.”
“You don’t know how she made that recording.”
“Let it play.”
A man’s voice followed Isabelle’s.
Vincent’s voice.
“You should have stayed out of the accounts.”
“Those pensions belong to working families.”
“They belong to whoever controls them.”
“I’m telling Dominic.”
“He won’t believe you.”
“And if he does?”
A pause crackled on the recording.
“Then your daughters grow up without either parent.”
Mercer snatched the tablet and stopped the recording.
“That is illegally obtained evidence.”
Grace looked at him.
“You’re on the next file.”
Mercer went still.
Vincent shoved me away and pointed at the children.
“This woman is manipulating them.
Dominic, send your daughters upstairs with someone you trust.”
“I trusted you.”
“And I protected you for twenty years.”
“From what?”
“From prison.
From enemies.
From the consequences of every order you gave.”
My daughters were watching me.
Grace stepped close enough that only I could hear.
“He is trying to make you angry because angry men stop thinking.”
I opened my hands.
Vincent’s smile faded when I stepped back.
“Mrs.
Donnelly, take the girls to the kitchen.”
Nora reached for Grace.
“I want her.”
Mercer lifted the cuffs.
“She comes with me.”
Mrs.
Donnelly picked up Nora instead.
“You come with me, darling.”
As they moved toward the stairs, the lights went out.
Someone struck my shoulder in the darkness.
A door slammed, and Nora screamed once.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Mrs.
May you like
Donnelly lay against the wall with an empty arm.
Vincent, Mercer, and Nora were gone.
