Chapter 3 - Twelve Silent Witnesses
Daniel called the lodge manager before returning downstairs.
“Evelyn, I need the west family wing restricted.”
Evelyn Park had worked for Hale Summit Lodge for eleven years and had never heard Daniel sound like that.
“Restricted how?”
“No one enters Lily’s room except me. If someone tries, call me.”
A pause.
“Is Lily safe?”
That question mattered.
Not What happened?
Not Is Vanessa upset?
Is Lily safe?
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
“She is now.”
“I’ll handle it.”
When Daniel returned to the great room, the dining table had been partially cleaned.
That angered him almost as much as anything else.
The evidence of chaos was disappearing.
Margaret stood near the fireplace talking quietly with Cecilia.
Vanessa was on her phone.
Rebecca sat alone.
Nolan remained near the stairs.
Daniel walked to the center of the room.
“No one leaves yet.”
Margaret looked up.
“You don’t control everyone here.”
“No. But anyone who wants to maintain a relationship with me or Lily can give me ten minutes before leaving.”
Vanessa lowered her phone.
“You’re holding people here now?”
Daniel ignored her.
He picked up the frying pan using a dish towel and placed it on the sideboard.
“Evelyn.”
The manager appeared from the hallway.
“Would you photograph the dining room before anything else gets cleaned?”
Margaret scoffed.
“For heaven’s sake.”
Evelyn took out her phone.
Vanessa stared.
“What exactly are you trying to imply?”
Daniel faced the table.
“I’m not implying anything. I’m asking each person what they witnessed today.”
Margaret walked toward him.
“No one is participating in your interrogation.”
Daniel looked at Cecilia.
“Did Vanessa raise the frying pan beside Lily?”
Cecilia’s lips parted.
Margaret said, “Cecilia.”
Daniel did not look away from his aunt.
“Yes or no?”
Cecilia’s hands twisted together.
“Yes.”
Vanessa snapped, “I was cooking.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“At the dining table?”
“I picked it up because Lily was throwing food.”
“What did you intend to do with it?”
“Nothing.”
“You swung it.”
“I gestured.”
Rebecca suddenly spoke.
“It wasn’t a gesture.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret’s expression hardened.
Rebecca was twenty-eight, Margaret’s niece, and had been working in the Hale family foundation for four years.
Her face had gone pale.
“She swung it beside Lily’s head.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“I stopped.”
“You stopped because Daniel walked in.”
“No.”
Rebecca rose.
“Yes.”
The word shook, but it came out.
Daniel looked at her.
“What happened before I arrived?”
Rebecca glanced at Margaret.
Her fear was immediate.
Daniel noticed.
Margaret did too.
“Rebecca,” Margaret said softly, “you are upset.”
Rebecca’s shoulders tensed.
It was not a comforting voice.
It was a warning wrapped in concern.
Daniel moved between them.
“Look at me.”
Rebecca did.
“What happened?”
She wiped beneath one eye.
“Vanessa kept trying to make Lily eat.”
Daniel waited.
“She didn’t want to.”
“What did Vanessa do?”
“She called her spoiled.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“This is absurd.”
Rebecca continued.
“She knocked Lily’s spoon onto the floor. Then she made Lily get down and pick it up.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Anything else?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“She told her she wasn’t allowed back in the chair until she said sorry.”
“For what?”
“For embarrassing Vanessa.”
Nolan cursed under his breath.
Daniel looked at the others.
“You all watched this?”
Uncle Peter spoke defensively.
“We didn’t realize it was becoming serious.”
“How serious does an adult humiliating a two-year-old need to become before you stand up?”
Peter’s cheeks reddened.
“That’s unfair.”
“No. Unfair is expecting Lily to protect herself while surrounded by family.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“She has no discipline.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“She is two years old.”
“And you let her control everything because you feel guilty about Claire.”
The room went still.
Daniel stared.
Vanessa seemed to realize too late that she had said something dangerous.
Claire Morgan had been Lily’s mother.
Daniel and Claire had never married.
Margaret had spent three years making sure everyone knew it.
Claire had died when Lily was eleven months old after complications from an undiagnosed heart condition.
Daniel had not spoken her name at family dinners since the funeral.
Mostly because Margaret always found a way to make the grief ugly.
Daniel looked toward his mother.
Margaret gave Vanessa a warning glance.
He saw it.
A silent exchange.
Old and practiced.
“How often did the two of you discuss Claire?”
Neither answered.
Rebecca whispered, “Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“There were rules.”
“What rules?”
“For Lily.”
Margaret spoke quickly.
“Basic structure.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed.
Rebecca continued anyway.
“When you traveled, Vanessa had rules that changed.”
Daniel felt something heavy settle behind his ribs.
“What changed?”
Rebecca counted on trembling fingers.
“No snacks unless she finished meals. No calling you during tantrums. No going into your room. No photographs of Claire.”
Daniel stopped her.
“What did you say?”
Rebecca looked toward the stairs.
“No photographs of Claire.”
Daniel thought of Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
Her bedside table.
The small framed picture he always kept beside her travel crib.
Claire sitting in summer grass, Lily in her lap.
He had not noticed it tonight.
“Where is the photograph?”
Nobody answered.
Daniel turned toward Vanessa.
“Where is it?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“She kept crying over it.”
“So you took it?”
“It was unhealthy.”
“You took a photograph of her dead mother away from a two-year-old while I was gone?”
Margaret intervened.
“Claire’s memory has been used to encourage Lily’s attachment problems.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Used by whom?”
Margaret’s silence answered.
Daniel looked around the room.
This had not been one bad afternoon.
There were rules.
Patterns.
Objects removed.
People instructed not to interfere.
And everyone at that table had adapted.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
Evelyn had sent him a message.
He opened it.
DINING CAMERA IS WORKING RIGHT NOW. ARCHIVE SHOWS MULTIPLE MANUAL DISCONNECTIONS. I CAN SEE WHO ACCESSED THE CONTROL CLOSET.
Daniel lifted his eyes.
The security closet was locked.
Only three people had regular keys.
Evelyn.
Nolan.
May you like
And Margaret.
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