Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Asked Questions
We left Cain House at seven the next morning.
Leo believed we were going on an extended visit to a smaller house while the main property’s electrical system was inspected.
He found this explanation boring enough to accept.
Pepper objected to the car harness for twelve minutes.
By the time we reached the lakeside residence, Leo was asleep against my shoulder and the puppy had defeated a stuffed duck.
Adrian met us at the entrance.
He looked as though he had not slept.
“Where’s Uncle Victor?” Leo asked.
“At home.”
“Does he know where we are?”
Adrian crouched to help him with his zipper.
“Not exactly.”
Leo glanced up.
“Is this a secret?”
I watched Adrian choose his words.
“It’s private. There’s a difference. If you feel worried about anything, you can tell June or me.”
Leo considered that.
“Even if a grown-up says not to?”
“Especially then.”
Something eased in the child’s face.
That alone made the journey worthwhile.
For two days, we built a temporary life.
Breakfast at eight. Schoolwork with permission from Leo’s teacher. Walks along a path where guards remained far enough away that we could pretend they were simply men who enjoyed cold weather.
At night, Leo asked for the Lantern Song.
I sang the verses he had taught me.
Adrian sometimes stood outside the room.
He never came in until Leo asked.
Meanwhile, the investigation continued beyond us.
I learned pieces through meetings with Detective Alvarez and Adrian’s careful updates.
Elise’s car had gone into the river, but nobody had established that she was inside when it happened.
A witness had reported a dark vehicle near the damaged barrier. The detail had seemed unhelpful amid poor visibility and dozens of emergency calls.
Now investigators were reviewing it again.
Financial records showed recurring payments from a Cain-related company to a private recovery residence in Wisconsin.
The descriptions were vague.
Consulting.
Storage.
Transportation.
Victor had approved several.
Adrian stared at those pages one afternoon while I helped Leo glue stars onto a science project.
His face made me grateful the child was looking down.
That evening, Detective Alvarez asked me about Victor’s sitting room offer.
I repeated the conversation.
When I mentioned returning to teaching, she asked whether he had discussed any other employees leaving.
“No.”
“Did you know the nanny before you?”
“Only that she quit.”
“Her name is Beth Warren. We’ve spoken with her.”
I sat forward.
Beth had left after asking why Leo sometimes woke crying and demanded to hear a recording Victor would not let anyone else play.
Victor had told Adrian she was impatient with the child.
Adrian had dismissed her.
When he told me that later, he looked sick.
“She asked questions,” I said.
“Yes.”
“And he made the questions sound like a problem with her.”
He nodded.
I thought about how close I had come to becoming another name in that story.
Too emotional.
Too curious.
Unsuitable.
The following morning, Adrian apologized to Beth by phone. I heard only his half of the conversation from the doorway.
He did not defend himself.
He did not ask her to understand the pressure he had been under.
He listened.
Afterward, he sat alone on the back steps.
I brought him coffee.
“You don’t have to keep doing that,” he said.
“Making coffee?”
“Taking care of everyone.”
I sat beside him.
“Neither do you.”
A gull passed over the lake. Somewhere inside, Leo argued with Pepper about ownership of a sock.
Adrian looked toward the sound.
“My father used to say the family survived because we kept outsiders out.”
“That seems to have worked poorly.”
He gave a short, humorless laugh.
“Yes.”
For the first time, he told me something about his business.
Not the rumors. Not the dramatic version whispered by housekeepers and drivers.
He owned legitimate property, freight interests, and restaurants. He also knew that men working for his organization collected money through threats.
He had benefited from it.
Sometimes he had authorized it.
I held my cup very still.
“Are you telling me because you think I should leave?”
“I’m telling you because you should know who you’re choosing to remain around.”
I looked at him.
“Then I need you to understand something too.”
“What?”
“Finding your sister won’t make everything else you’ve done disappear.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“Leo deserves more than a safe room in a dangerous life.”
Adrian looked back toward the house.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he nodded.
That afternoon, Detective Alvarez called.
Investigators had located a former nurse from the Wisconsin residence.
The nurse remembered a woman kept under a different surname.
She remembered that the woman asked about a boy.
And she remembered a song.
“She sang it every evening,” the detective told us.
Adrian stopped breathing.
“What woman?”
May you like
The detective’s voice softened.
“We have enough to move forward.”
