Chapter 6 - The Locked Room on Wabash Avenue
Declan turned toward his brother.
Liam did not move.
“What did you do?”
“I was three years old.”
“The letter says otherwise.”
Liam stared at the envelope.
Then whispered, “I remembered.”
Penny felt the room become smaller.
“When?”
“Years later.”
Declan stepped closer.
“What?”
“A man came into Mom’s room.”
Liam’s voice sounded younger now.
“I was supposed to be asleep. I heard her arguing.”
“With Arthur?”
“I didn’t know his name.”
“What happened?”
“I walked downstairs.”
Liam swallowed.
“He saw me.”
Declan’s anger vanished.
“What did he do?”
“Mom told me to run.”
Liam’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t.”
Declan stared.
“I hid under the table.”
For decades, Liam had carried one memory.
Arthur striking Moira.
Moira falling.
Arthur discovering the child beneath the table.
And Liam doing the only thing a terrified three-year-old could do.
He pointed toward the back door.
He told Arthur which way Moira had sent Eleanor.
“I thought he wanted to help her.”
Penny closed her eyes.
Arthur had found Eleanor because of Liam.
A three-year-old boy.
Not betrayal.
A wound.
Declan’s face crumpled for one second.
Then he pulled his brother into his arms.
Liam resisted.
Then broke.
Penny turned away, giving them the privacy nobody had given her.
Afterward, Declan opened Margaret’s envelope.
Inside was a map.
Another key.
And a letter.
Margaret explained that Moira had hidden the original ledger in a private vault beneath the Wabash building.
The brass key opened the first lock.
The second required Moira’s ring.
The third required Eleanor’s.
Three women had designed the hiding place together.
Three rings.
Penny looked at her emerald.
“Mine was Margaret’s?”
“No,” Declan said.
“Moira’s.”
Penny stared at him.
“Then Margaret had Eleanor’s.”
Which meant somewhere, another ring existed.
With Eleanor.
They returned to Wabash.
Behind a wall panel, they found stairs descending beneath the building.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
Penny inserted the brass key.
Click.
Declan pressed her emerald into a circular indentation.
A second lock released.
But the third remained.
“We need Eleanor.”
A speaker crackled above them.
Arthur’s voice.
“No. You need her ring.”
Declan spun.
A red light blinked from a camera.
Arthur had been watching.
Then the building alarm screamed.
Smoke poured down the stairwell.
“Move!”
Declan grabbed Penny.
They raced upstairs.
Flames spread through the abandoned apartment.
Someone had ignited the building remotely.
Penny stumbled.
Declan caught her.
Liam smashed a window.
Vanessa shouted from the corridor.
They escaped onto the fire stairs seconds before flames consumed apartment 611.
On the street, Penny watched twenty-nine years of secrets burn.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Penny?”
Eleanor.
No Arthur this time.
“Mom?”
“I escaped.”
Penny could barely speak.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you. Arthur has people everywhere.”
“Tell me something only you would know.”
Eleanor cried softly.
“Margaret used to sing ‘Blue Moon’ when you couldn’t sleep. You had a stuffed rabbit named Button. You hated peas. You called Daniel Daddy before you could say Margaret.”
Penny sank against Declan’s car.
It was real.
“Why didn’t you come back?”
“I tried.”
“Twenty-nine years?”
“If Arthur found me, he found you.”
Penny closed her eyes.
“I needed you.”
“I know.”
Two words.
They hurt more than excuses.
Eleanor continued.
“Listen carefully. Arthur does not want the ledger destroyed.”
“Why?”
“He wants what is hidden behind it.”
“What?”
“Proof of who actually owns Gallagher Logistics.”
Declan heard.
His expression changed.
Eleanor whispered, “Patrick Gallagher never legally owned the controlling shares.”
“Who did?”
“Moira.”
Declan froze.
“And after Moira died?”
“They transferred to her sons.”
Liam stared at Declan.
Eleanor continued.
“But Arthur forged documents giving Patrick control. The original certificates are in the vault.”
Penny frowned.
“Why does Arthur care now?”
“Because Patrick is dying. When he dies, the forged trust dissolves. Arthur loses everything.”
A car appeared at the end of the street.
Black SUV.
Fast.
Declan’s men reached for weapons.
Eleanor suddenly whispered, “He found me.”
A crash sounded through the phone.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
Then Arthur spoke.
“Bring me Moira’s ring, Penelope.”
Penny’s blood went cold.
Arthur continued.
“And this time, come without Declan.”
The call disconnected.
Seconds later, Penny received a photograph of Eleanor bound to a chair.
May you like
Behind her stood a steel door.
The same steel door they had just discovered beneath Wabash.
