Chapter 6 - The Room Nobody Could Enter
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
The mansion was sealed.
The children were taken upstairs with a female officer.
I refused to leave them.
Julián didn't object.
He sat in the library, staring at the photograph.
The boys sleeping.
Someone watching them.
Someone inside the mansion.
Then Tomás appeared at the doorway.
“Daddy?”
Julián looked up.
“Why aren't you sleeping?”
Tomás shook his head.
“Because Mommy told me not to.”
Julián's face tightened.
“Your mother is gone.”
“I know.”
“What did she tell you?”
Tomás looked at me.
“Mari knows.”
I frowned.
“I don't.”
“Yes, you do.”
He ran toward the bookshelf.
He pulled out a small children's book.
Then opened it.
A folded piece of paper fell out.
I picked it up.
It had my name written on it.
MARIANA.
My hands trembled.
Inside was a message.
“Protect my boys until the truth is safe.”
I looked at Julián.
“Did Adriana write this?”
He nodded.
“I recognize her handwriting.”
“Why would she leave this for me?”
“I don't know.”
The police officer approached.
“Mr. Montiel, we need to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Did your wife ever mention Mariana?”
Julián looked at me.
“Every day.”
I shook my head.
“She knew I took care of the boys.”
The officer frowned.
“No.”
She opened a file.
“She mentioned Mariana before the boys were born.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
The officer showed Julián a medical document.
Adriana had written a note.
Five years before her death.
“I trust Mariana Reyes.”
I stared at the page.
“I never met her then.”
Julián looked at me.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The officer said:
“Then someone knew you before you came here.”
My mind raced.
I remembered the first day I had interviewed for the job.
The butler had told me Adriana had specifically requested someone who could care for the boys.
But Adriana had already been dead.
How could she have requested me?
I turned to Julián.
“Who recommended me?”
He frowned.
“The agency.”
“Who contacted the agency?”
He didn't know.
The officer did.
“Your wife's attorney.”
The room fell silent.
The same attorney who appeared in the security footage.
The same man Julián believed had died three years earlier.
Suddenly the lights went out.
The boys screamed upstairs.
I ran.
Julián followed.
We reached the nursery.
The door was locked.
“Tomás!”
No answer.
“Emiliano!”
Silence.
Then Bruno screamed:
“Mari!”
I grabbed the handle.
It wouldn't move.
Julián hit the door with his shoulder.
Once.
Twice.
On the third attempt, it broke open.
The nursery was empty.
The window was open.
The curtains moved in the wind.
On the floor lay Tomás's toy airplane.
Beside it was a piece of red paper.
I picked it up.
May you like
One sentence was written across it.
“COME ALONE.”
