Chapter 5 - The Man in the HallwayAlexander ran first.
They sat in the mansion kitchen after midnight.
It was the first time Alexander had ever sat at the staff table.
He had walked through the kitchen thousands of times without noticing the scratches on the oak surface or the photographs taped beside the pantry.
One of them showed Lily covered in flour.
Another showed Sophie’s late mother holding her as a baby.
Sophie wrapped both hands around a mug she had not touched.
“My grandmother died when I was sixteen,” she began.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
Alexander remained across from her.
“You knew she had a connection to my mother.”
“I knew she had worked for your mother’s family. I didn’t know everything Evelyn told us tonight.”
“Why did you apply here?”
Sophie looked down.
“Because of a letter.”
“What letter?”
“My grandmother wrote it before she died. My mother kept it from me until two years ago.”
Sophie stood and retrieved a worn envelope from her bag.
Alexander recognized Margaret’s name on the corner.
She handed it to him.
The letter was addressed to Sophie.
Margaret wrote that one day Sophie might need money desperately.
If that day came, she was to find something Margaret had hidden inside Reed House.
Not steal it.
Not sell it.
Find it.
The letter mentioned Katherine.
It mentioned “proof.”
And it ended with:
If Charles Reed still controls the house, be careful.
Alexander lowered the page.
“You came here looking for evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you search my private rooms?”
“No.”
“Did you lie on your application?”
“About why I wanted the job? Yes. About my employment history, references, everything else? No.”
Alexander stood.
“Why didn’t you tell me after you were hired?”
“Because I was afraid you were like him.”
The sentence stopped him.
Sophie continued before courage abandoned her.
“You never talked to staff. You fired people without asking questions. Everyone in this house was terrified of making a mistake around you.”
Alexander looked away.
“That doesn’t make me my father.”
“I know that now.”
“But you didn’t then.”
“No.”
Alexander walked toward the window.
“You used my home to investigate my family.”
“I came here intending to.”
He turned.
“Intending?”
Sophie looked tired.
“For the first few months, I searched common rooms when I cleaned. Nothing private. I never found anything.”
“And then?”
“Then Lily’s father died.”
Alexander’s anger stalled.
He had not known.
Sophie stared at her hands.
“Daniel and I weren’t married anymore. We separated before Lily turned one. He had problems with alcohol. He was trying to get better.”
Her voice tightened.
“He was hit by a drunk driver eight months ago.”
Alexander sat again slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophie nodded.
“After that, I stopped caring about my grandmother’s mystery. I was working overtime, trying to keep our apartment, trying to make sure Lily didn’t notice I was crying in the bathroom.”
Alexander remembered the second blue bird.
For Mommy.
“So why are you still here?”
She almost smiled.
“Because the salary is good.”
He nearly smiled too.
Almost.
Then Sophie grew serious.
“And because Lily likes this house.”
Alexander looked surprised.
“She does?”
“She thinks your library is a castle.”
“She’s been in my library?”
“Once.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
“She touched nothing.”
“Remarkable.”
Sophie finally smiled.
It changed her whole face.
Alexander realized he had rarely seen it.
Then the moment disappeared.
“I’ll resign tomorrow,” she said.
Alexander looked at her.
“No.”
She blinked.
“No?”
“You’re not resigning.”
“Mr. Reed—”
“Alexander.”
She stared.
He had never asked a member of staff to use his first name.
“Alexander,” she repeated carefully.
Something about hearing it from her sounded unfamiliar.
Not unpleasant.
He pushed Margaret’s letter across the table.
“We find the rest of this together.”
“You trust me?”
“No.”
She flinched slightly.
He continued.
“But I believe you’re telling me the truth now. Trust can come later.”
Sophie nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Alexander leaned back.
“What do you think Margaret hid?”
“I always assumed documents.”
“Where?”
“She wrote something strange in another note.”
Sophie took out her phone and found a photograph.
She read it.
“When the house forgets how to breathe, look where Katherine made the stars.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“What?”
Sophie showed him.
“The house forgets how to breathe. Look where Katherine made the stars.”
He stood abruptly.
“I know where that is.”
Sophie followed him through the dark mansion.
They climbed two staircases and entered the old nursery wing.
Alexander had not been there since childhood.
The room smelled faintly of dust and cedar.
His old furniture remained beneath white sheets.
Sophie watched him.
“This was yours?”
“Yes.”
He walked toward the far wall.
When he was five, his mother had painted stars on the ceiling above his bed.
His father hated them.
Said they made the room childish.
His mother laughed and painted more.
Alexander switched on the lamps.
The stars were still there.
Faded.
But visible.
Sophie read Margaret’s clue again.
“When the house forgets how to breathe…”
Alexander looked toward an old ventilation grate.
He approached it.
Sophie understood.
Together they removed the screws.
Behind the vent was dust.
A dead spider.
And something wrapped in waxed cloth.
Alexander pulled it out.
Inside was a small cassette tape and a note.
Sophie read the label.
Katherine — August 12.
Alexander’s heart hammered.
August 12 was the night before his mother died.
They found an old cassette player in a cabinet.
Alexander inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then came his mother’s voice.
Alexander gripped the edge of the desk.
Katherine sounded frightened.
“Margaret, if you’re hearing this, Charles knows.”
Static.
“I confronted him about the foundation. He says he can fix it. I don’t believe him.”
Alexander closed his eyes briefly.
The recording continued.
“I’m leaving tomorrow morning. Evelyn is meeting me in Boston. I’m taking Alexander.”
Sophie looked at him.
Then Katherine said something neither expected.
“There’s another person involved. Someone Charles is protecting.”
Alexander leaned closer.
His mother named a man.
“Richard Vale.”
Alexander’s eyes opened.
Sophie frowned.
“Who is that?”
Alexander’s voice became cold.
“My father’s attorney.”
“Still?”
“Yes.”
Richard Vale had been the Reed family lawyer for over thirty years.
He handled Alexander’s mother’s estate.
He testified during the investigation into her accident.
And until that very morning—
He was still Alexander’s personal attorney.
The tape continued.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust Richard.”
Then a loud sound came through the recording.
Katherine gasped.
A man’s voice spoke in the background.
The recording ended.
Sophie whispered, “Was that your father?”
Alexander replayed it.
The voice was faint.
But distinct.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Alexander stared at the cassette.
“I don’t know.”
His phone buzzed.
A message appeared from Richard Vale.
Alexander,
Your father says you’ve found some old documents. We should talk before you make a serious mistake.
Alexander showed Sophie.
She whispered, “How does he already know?”
Alexander looked toward the open nursery door.
A cold realization came over him.
Because someone in the mansion had told him.
May you like
Someone was watching them.
And then, downstairs, glass shattered.
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