Chapter 2
The police arrived eleven minutes later.
It felt like an hour.
Ava never let go of my hand.
Not once.
Guests crowded the hallway until officers ordered everyone back into the ballroom.
Evelyn sat on a velvet bench.
She looked annoyed.
Not ashamed.
Not frightened.
Annoyed.
Marcus stood near the staircase with both hands on his head.
I watched an officer enter the hidden room.
His expression changed immediately.
“What’s inside?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
Another officer crouched beside Ava.
“Hi. My name is Officer Grant.”
Ava moved closer to me.
He noticed.
“Would you like Danielle to stay?”
She nodded.
So I stayed.
They asked her simple questions.
Her name.
Her age.
Whether she knew where she lived.
Ava answered in whispers.
“Ava Whitmore.”
That surprised me.
Whitmore.
I looked at Marcus.
He heard it too.
His face tightened.
Officer Grant asked, “How are you related to Mrs. Whitmore?”
Ava looked at Evelyn.
“I’m not supposed to say.”
My skin prickled.
“You can tell him,” I said gently.
She shook her head.
“She said Daddy would go away.”
Marcus went completely still.
Officer Grant glanced toward him.
“Who is your father, Ava?”
The girl’s eyes filled with tears.
Slowly, she lifted one trembling finger.
And pointed at Marcus.
The hallway exploded in whispers.
I stared at him.
Marcus looked like someone had punched him.
One guest actually said, “What?”
Evelyn jumped to her feet.
“She’s confused.”
Officer Grant turned sharply.
“Sit down.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Sit.”
Evelyn obeyed.
Barely.
I looked at Marcus.
“You’re her father?”
His mouth opened.
No words came out.
Ava began sobbing.
He took one step toward her.
She recoiled.
That stopped him instantly.
His face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
Ava hid behind me.
Officer Grant moved between them.
“Mr. Whitmore, we need you separate from the child right now.”
Marcus nodded.
He looked broken.
But broken people could still be dangerous.
I didn’t know which kind he was yet.
A female officer arrived and brought a blanket for Ava.
When she wrapped it around her shoulders, something fell from the pocket of Ava’s dress.
A small silver key.
Evelyn saw it.
Her reaction was immediate.
Her face went white.
“Ava.”
The girl flinched.
Evelyn stood again.
“Give me that.”
Officer Grant blocked her.
“What does it open?”
“Nothing.”
“Then you won’t mind if we keep it.”
“It belongs to me.”
Ava suddenly spoke louder.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She clutched the key.
“Mommy gave it to me.”
Marcus stared.
“Your mother?”
Ava’s chin trembled.
“She said if something happened, I had to find Daddy.”
Marcus turned pale.
“What’s your mother’s name?”
Ava whispered it.
“Claire.”
Marcus staggered backward.
I had never seen a man lose color that fast.
“No.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Marcus looked at her.
“Mother.”
She said nothing.
His voice rose.
“Mother!”
Officer Grant stepped between them.
Marcus pointed at Ava.
“Claire had a daughter?”
Evelyn’s silence filled the hallway.
Ava was crying again.
I knelt beside her.
“You’re okay.”
But I was beginning to understand why she had been hidden.
Marcus looked like he might collapse.
“Claire died eight years ago.”
Ava was seven.
The math was obvious.
He looked at his mother.
“You knew.”
Evelyn finally spoke.
“This is not the place.”
“You knew Claire was pregnant?”
“She disappeared.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Police moved closer.
Evelyn’s expression hardened.
“She was unsuitable.”
Marcus actually laughed.
It sounded terrible.
“Unsuitable?”
“She wanted money.”
“Did she?”
“She threatened this family.”
“You mean she threatened you.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed.
Marcus turned toward Ava.
His voice softened.
“How long have you been here?”
Ava looked at me instead of him.
“A lot of days.”
My stomach twisted.
“How many?”
She shrugged.
“Grandma said after the party I was going somewhere else.”
Evelyn snapped, “I am not her grandmother.”
Marcus turned toward her.
His face changed.
“I am her father.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She has Claire’s eyes.”
Silence.
Then Marcus looked at Officer Grant.
“I want a DNA test.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“Now you want to be a father?”
Marcus stared at her.
“What did you do?”
She looked away.
That question seemed to frighten her more than anything else.
The police searched the hidden room thoroughly.
They found bottled water.
Crackers.
A thin blanket.
A bucket.
And several children’s drawings.
One showed a woman with long brown hair holding a little girl’s hand.
Another showed a large house.
A third showed a black car.
But the last drawing was different.
It showed a woman falling near a staircase.
Beside her stood another woman.
Ava had colored the second woman’s dress red.
Officer Grant held it carefully.
“Who is this?”
Ava immediately covered her mouth.
Evelyn stood.
“That’s enough.”
Officer Grant looked at her.
“Why?”
“She’s exhausted.”
“So are we.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Ava.”
She shrank toward me.
He stopped.
I gently touched her shoulder.
“You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.”
Ava stared at the drawing.
Then she whispered.
“That’s my mommy.”
She pointed at the falling woman.
My chest tightened.
“And the other woman?”
Ava began shaking.
Officer Grant crouched lower.
“You’re safe.”
Her eyes moved toward Evelyn.
Then back to the picture.
“She came to our apartment.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“When?”
Marcus asked.
Ava swallowed.
“A long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Before Mommy went away.”
Marcus looked confused.
“Went where?”
Ava started crying harder.
“She said Mommy left me.”
“Who said?”
This time Ava pointed directly at Evelyn.
The room seemed to stop.
Marcus stared at his mother.
“What happened to Claire?”
Evelyn said nothing.
Officer Grant looked toward another officer.
They exchanged a glance.
Then he asked Ava, “Where did Mrs. Whitmore take you after your mother disappeared?”
“To a lady’s house.”
“What lady?”
“Miss Nora.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you live there?”
Ava nodded.
“For years?”
Another nod.
“Then why are you here now?”
Ava looked at the silver key.
“Miss Nora got sick.”
“And then?”
“Grandma came.”
Evelyn whispered, “Stop calling me that.”
Marcus slammed his palm against the wall.
Everyone jumped.
“Enough!”
Police moved toward him.
He immediately raised his hands.
“I’m sorry.”
Then he looked at Evelyn.
Tears filled his eyes.
“If Claire had my daughter and you knew…”
“I protected you.”
“You stole seven years from me.”
“I protected your future.”
“My future?”
“You were running for office.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You hid my child because of my career?”
Evelyn looked around at the guests still peering from the ballroom.
Then something in her finally cracked.
“She was supposed to disappear quietly.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
Nobody moved.
Officer Grant’s eyes sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn realized what she had said.
“I mean Claire.”
Marcus whispered, “Disappear how?”
Evelyn’s mouth closed.
Then Ava held up the silver key.
“My mommy said the truth was in the blue box.”
Marcus stared at her.
“What blue box?”
Ava pointed toward the hidden room.
“Grandma took it from our apartment.”
The officers searched again.
Nothing.
Then Ava whispered something that made Evelyn look terrified.
“She hid it under Grandpa.”
Everyone looked toward the huge family portrait.
Not the one we had moved.
Another one in the ballroom.
May you like
A portrait of Evelyn’s late husband.
And suddenly Evelyn stopped pretending she wasn’t afraid.
