Chapter 6 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be DeadThe Secret Behind My Father's DisappearanceArthur locked every door in the mansion.
Nobody left.
Nobody entered.
Even his own men were searched.
I sat in the library while Arthur paced in front of the fireplace.
“Thomas is alive?”
“He was.”
“You said was.”
Arthur didn't answer.
Dr. Mercer examined the blood on the blanket.
“This is old.”
“How old?”
“Hours.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Then he's nearby.”
Mercer nodded.
“Or someone wants you to think he is.”
Arthur turned toward me.
“You said the man at the store had a snake ring.”
“Yes.”
“Victor Vale wears one.”
“But the attacker had a snake button.”
Arthur's jaw tightened.
“Victor likes symbols.”
He opened a safe.
Inside were old photographs.
He spread them across the table.
One showed Arthur as a young man.
Beside him stood a man with the same eyes.
Thomas.
Next to them was my father.
Daniel Sterling.
I stared.
“My dad.”
Arthur nodded.
“He worked for us.”
“Was he a bad man?”
“No.”
“Then why were we poor?”
Arthur looked away.
“Because he betrayed us.”
My chest tightened.
“He wouldn't.”
“You don't know him.”
“I know he wouldn't.”
Arthur studied me.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because he left me this.”
I held up the locket.
Arthur stared at it.
“Your father told you anything else?”
“He said something once.”
“What?”
I remembered.
I had been six.
Dad had appeared in a dream.
No.
Not a dream.
A memory.
He had knelt beside me.
He wore a blue shirt.
He whispered:
“When the blue door opens, never touch the red book.”
I had forgotten it until then.
Arthur looked stunned.
“Say that again.”
I repeated it.
“Blue door. Red book.”
Arthur walked backward.
“That was his code.”
“What code?”
“A dead-drop system.”
“For what?”
“Evidence.”
Before he could say more, the library door opened.
One of Arthur's men entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
Arthur followed him.
I followed Arthur.
Of course I did.
We descended to the basement.
Behind a wine rack was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a cardboard box.
Arthur opened it.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Police reports.
And one envelope with my name.
IVY STERLING.
My hands shook.
“Why would my father leave that?”
Arthur gave it to me.
Inside was a letter.
Only one page.
I read:
Ivy,
If you are reading this, I failed to keep you away from them.
Trust Arthur Pendleton.
He will want answers.
Do not give him the key until he tells you the truth about Thomas.
I looked up.
Arthur stared at the letter.
“What truth?”
He said nothing.
“You knew something.”
Silence.
“You knew about Thomas.”
Arthur sat down heavily.
“Thomas was my younger brother.”
“I know.”
“He wasn't killed by Victor.”
I waited.
Arthur's face hardened.
“He was betrayed by someone in our own family.”
“Who?”
Arthur looked at me.
“Your father knew.”
“Who was it?”
Before he could answer, the basement lights flickered.
A phone rang.
Not Arthur's.
Mine.
I stared at the old landline on the wall.
It shouldn't have been connected.
Yet it was ringing.
Arthur picked it up.
Nobody spoke.
Then a child's voice came through.
My brother's voice.
“Owen?”
I grabbed the receiver.
“Where are you?”
A whisper answered.
“Ivy.”
I cried.
“Owen!”
Then another voice replaced his.
A man's voice.
“Bring me the girl.”
Arthur's hand tightened around the receiver.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
Then he said:
“You've been protecting the wrong child, Arthur.”
The line went dead.
Arthur slowly looked at me.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
Because he was staring at the key.
The key with the letters B-17.
And suddenly he realized what those letters really meant.
“Basement seventeen.”
I looked around.
“We're in the basement.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Not this basement.”
May you like
His voice became a whisper.
“Your father built another one.”
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