Chapter 5 - THE NURSERY BEHIND THE WALL
Before searching for Victor Shaw, Evelyn insisted they return to Ashford House.
She claimed there was something Clara needed to see.
The estate stood behind iron gates on two hundred wooded acres.
Clara had visited it dozens of times during her relationship with Julian.
She had attended formal dinners in the west wing.
She had walked through the rose garden.
She had spent Christmas mornings beneath the enormous staircase.
Yet she had never been permitted inside the sealed eastern corridor.
Evelyn led Clara and Julian to that corridor now.
She removed a key from a chain around her neck.
The lock resisted at first.
Then the door opened with a groan.
Dust covered the floor.
White sheets concealed the furniture.
At the end of the hallway, Evelyn stopped before a pair of painted doors.
Small golden roses had been carved into the wood.
“This was her nursery,” Evelyn said.
She opened the doors.
Time had stopped inside the room.
A white crib stood near the windows.
Stuffed animals rested on the shelves.
A music box remained open on the dresser.
Above the crib, faded letters spelled ROSE.
Clara entered slowly.
The room carried the faint smell of cedar and old fabric.
Evelyn moved toward a rocking chair.
“I sat here every night for almost a year after she disappeared.”
Clara said nothing.
“I convinced myself that if I kept the room ready, she would come home.”
Evelyn touched the back of the chair.
“Then Julian came into my life.”
Julian remained near the doorway.
Evelyn looked at him.
“I loved you from the moment I saw you.”
“I never considered you a replacement.”
“But I was,” Julian said.
“No.”
“You brought me into the room of your missing daughter.”
“I brought you into my home.”
Julian looked away.
Clara realized the pendant had not only unsettled her own identity.
It had shattered Julian’s understanding of his place in the family.
She moved toward the crib.
A deep scratch marked the floor beside it.
The crib had once been dragged several feet.
“Was it always positioned here?” Clara asked.
Evelyn shook her head.
“It used to stand against the opposite wall.”
Clara followed the scratch.
A narrow section of wallpaper had begun peeling near the baseboard.
She pulled it carefully.
Behind the paper was a thin wooden panel.
Julian removed it.
Inside the wall was a small metal box.
Evelyn stared at it.
“I have never seen that before.”
The box was locked.
Julian used a letter opener from the desk to force the latch.
Inside were four cassette tapes.
A hotel receipt.
A tiny knitted baby shoe.
And a handwritten note.
Evelyn unfolded it.
Her face changed after the first line.
“What does it say?” Clara asked.
Evelyn handed her the note.
The handwriting belonged to Evelyn’s late husband, Richard Ashford.
Helena knows Victor took the child.
Do not trust Warren.
I will bring Rose home before Evelyn discovers what I allowed.
Clara read the sentence twice.
“What did he allow?”
Evelyn looked as if the floor had shifted beneath her.
“I don’t know.”
The hotel receipt was dated the night Rose disappeared.
It came from a roadside inn near the Canadian border.
The registered guest was Richard Ashford.
Julian picked up one of the tapes.
A label had been placed along the edge.
It contained a single date.
October 16.
The night before the kidnapping.
They found an old cassette player in the library.
Julian inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then Richard’s voice emerged.
“You promised the child would not be harmed.”
A second voice answered.
It belonged to Helena.
“I promised Evelyn would never raise her.”
Evelyn gripped the table.
Richard spoke again.
“You said we were only frightening her.”
Helena laughed.
“No, Richard.”
“We are replacing her.”
The tape ended.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Evelyn stared toward the nursery.
“My husband knew.”
Clara felt the pendant resting against her chest.
The man who should have protected her had helped create the plan that stole her life.
Then the second cassette began playing by itself.
May you like
A frightened male voice whispered through the static.
“If you are hearing this, Helena has already decided to silence me.”
