Chapter 5: The Locked Room Behind the Library
“Cancel it.””
Adrian's voice was so controlled that it frightened the nurse more than shouting would have.
Dr. Price took the tablet from him and examined the transfer order.
“I can suspend the request pending verification.””
“Do it.””
“I'll need to contact our compliance department.””
“Then contact them.””
Dr. Price stepped into the corridor to make the call.
Adrian stayed beside Camille, who had begun clutching Evelyn's sleeve again.
“She's coming,” Camille whispered.
Adrian crouched several feet away, keeping his hands visible.
“No one is taking you anywhere without your consent.””
“You said that before.””
The words were not an accusation. They were worse.
They were a frightened woman's attempt to remember whether she could trust the person she had once loved.
Adrian swallowed.
“I know you don't believe me right now. I can't change what happened to you in one conversation. But I can stay here, and I can make sure no one moves you without proper authorization.””
Camille studied his face.
“Will you leave?””
“Not unless you ask me to.””
She looked toward Evelyn.
“Will Evie stay?””
Evelyn squeezed her hand.
“Every minute you want me here.””
Camille's shoulders relaxed slightly.
Adrian turned toward the nurse.
“Please arrange for someone independent to assess her condition. I want her own wishes documented, and I want a lawyer who has no connection to me or Victoria involved.””
The nurse nodded and hurried away.
Evelyn looked at him with quiet surprise.
“That's the right thing to do,” she said.
“It's the least I can do.””
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Camille began humming.
The familiar lullaby drifted through the room, but she stopped halfway through the melody.
“I can't remember the ending,” she whispered.
Evelyn moved closer.
“You used to change it every time.””
Camille shook her head.
“No. There was a line.””
She closed her eyes.
Something in Adrian's memory stirred.
He remembered Camille singing while rocking Nathan beside the nursery window. He remembered asking her why the song never sounded the same twice.
She had laughed and told him the last line was a secret.
Only mothers were allowed to know it.
He had assumed she was teasing him.
Now he wished he had asked her to teach him.
Camille looked at Evelyn.
“Did I tell you where I hid it?””
Evelyn frowned.
“The ending?””
Camille nodded.
“No. The thing I couldn't let her find.””
Evelyn's expression changed.
“The documents?””
Camille pressed her fingers to her lips.
“The blue ribbon.””
Adrian glanced at the ribbon beside the table.
“What about it?””
Camille reached for it, then pulled her hand back.
“They said it was just a keepsake. Victoria thought it was something I used to tie around Nathan's wrist.””
Evelyn stared at the ribbon.
“But you told me to keep it safe.””
Camille nodded.
“I put something inside.””
Adrian stepped closer.
“What?””
“A key.””
The room fell silent.
Camille looked at him with sudden urgency.
“If she gets that key, she'll know where the papers are.””
“Where are they?””
Camille's gaze moved toward the window.
“In the house.””
Adrian's stomach tightened.
“Which house?””
“Our house,” she whispered.
“The one with the library.””
He looked at Evelyn.
Neither of them spoke.
The nurse returned with Dr. Price, who confirmed that the transfer request had been suspended. An independent patient advocate would arrive shortly, and the facility's legal team had been notified.
Adrian thanked her, then looked at Camille.
“I need to go back to the estate.””
Camille immediately shook her head.
“No.””
“I won't take you with me. I promise. I'll go with Evelyn if she wants to come, and we'll look for the key.””
Camille's eyes filled.
“Don't open the door.””
Adrian felt a cold knot form in his stomach.
“Why?””
“Because that's where she keeps the things she doesn't want anyone to see.””
He crouched beside her.
“Camille, what happened behind that door?””
She stared at him for a long time.
Then she whispered, “I heard Nathan crying.””
Adrian couldn't breathe.
Camille continued, her voice barely audible.
“He was so little. I heard him crying somewhere in the house, and I tried to get to him. I couldn't open the door.””
Evelyn pressed a hand over her mouth.
“Camille…”
“I screamed until my throat hurt. I told her he needed me. I told her I could hear him.””
Camille's eyes filled with terror.
“She said he was better off without me.””
Adrian felt a wave of nausea.
He wanted to deny it, to tell Camille she was remembering something incorrectly. But he had no right to challenge her memories when he had spent three years refusing to examine his own.
Instead, he said, “I'll find out what happened.””
Camille looked at him.
“Don't let her near Nathan.””
“I won't.””
“And don't tell her about the key.””
Adrian nodded.
He left Willow Creek with Evelyn shortly before noon.
During the drive back, neither spoke much. The city passed in streaks of glass and concrete. Adrian kept thinking about the locked room, the false signatures, and the possibility that the woman he had trusted with his son's safety had been using their home to conceal a crime.
When they reached the estate, the front door was open.
Adrian frowned.
He was certain he had locked it before leaving that morning.
Inside, the house looked undisturbed. Sunlight streamed across the foyer, illuminating the polished floors and the staircase that curved toward the upper landing.
But the smell of perfume lingered in the air.
Victoria's perfume.
Evelyn stopped beside him.
“She was here.””
Adrian took out his phone and called Marcus.
“Where are you?””
“Outside the west entrance, sir.””
“Did Victoria enter the house?””
A pause.
“Yes, sir. She arrived about twenty minutes ago. She said she'd forgotten a document. I let her in because she had a key.””
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Did she leave?””
“About five minutes ago.””
“Did she take anything?””
“I couldn't tell.””
“Check the security footage. Nobody enters or leaves without my authorization.””
He ended the call.
Evelyn was already walking toward the library.
Adrian followed.
The room smelled of leather, cedar, and old paper. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered three walls. A large desk stood beneath the windows, and a framed photograph of Camille rested beside a brass lamp.
Evelyn stopped before the shelves.
“Which part?””
Adrian examined the wall.
“The original plans showed a storage compartment behind the central bookcase. It was supposed to have been sealed during the renovation.””
“Supposed to have been?””
“The contractor said it was too small to be useful.””
He ran his fingers along the edge of the shelves.
At first, he found nothing.
Then he noticed a thin line in the wood, barely visible beneath the decorative molding.
He pressed it.
A small click sounded from inside the wall.
Evelyn stepped back.
Adrian pressed again, harder.
One section of the bookcase shifted forward by less than an inch.
Behind it was a narrow door.
Its brass handle had been polished recently.
Adrian stared at it.
Someone had been using the space.
He tried the handle.
Locked.
“Do you have the key?”” Evelyn asked.
“No.””
They searched the desk drawers, the cabinets, and the shelves, but found nothing.
Then Evelyn remembered the blue ribbon.
“Could the key still be at Willow Creek?””
“Camille said she hid it in the ribbon.””
“Then we need to go back.””
Adrian shook his head.
“We can't leave this room unsecured.””
He called Marcus again.
“Come inside. I need you in the library.””
Within minutes, Marcus arrived and examined the concealed door.
“That's not part of the current floor plan,” he said.
“Can you open it?””
“Not without damaging the lock.””
“Then don't damage it yet. Photograph everything. Check for fingerprints and preserve the area.””
Marcus nodded.
Evelyn walked slowly around the room.
She stopped beside Camille's photograph.
“Adrian, look at this.””
The frame had been moved slightly. Beneath it, a small rectangle of lighter wood marked the desk where it had previously rested.
Someone had lifted the frame recently.
Evelyn picked it up carefully.
A folded envelope lay beneath it.
Adrian took the envelope and opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Camille standing beside a hospital bed, holding a newborn baby.
Nathan.
On the back, Camille had written a date and a sentence.
*The truth is in the room where he first learned to breathe.*
Adrian stared at the words.
“The hospital nursery,” Evelyn whispered.
“No.”” Adrian looked toward the locked door.
“She meant this house.””
He turned the photograph over again.
A small detail caught his attention.
Behind Camille, reflected in the hospital room's window, stood a woman in a red dress.
Victoria.
Adrian's hands tightened around the picture.
“She was there when Nathan was born.””
Evelyn looked at the image.
“And she told you she arrived after the delivery.””
He nodded slowly.
“Why lie about that?””
Marcus approached them.
“Sir, there's something else.””
He held up his phone, showing a security image from the previous evening.
Victoria stood in the library, alone, holding a small metal object.
A key.
Adrian stared at the screen.
The timestamp showed 11:42 p.m.
“Can you identify the object?”” he asked.
Marcus enlarged the image.
“It's difficult to tell, but it appears to be a key with a blue tag.””
Evelyn went pale.
“The ribbon.””
Adrian looked toward the hidden door.
Victoria had already found the key.
She had returned to the house that morning to retrieve something, and she knew they were investigating the library.
The question was no longer whether she had been hiding something.
It was what she was willing to do to keep it hidden.
A soft sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Adrian turned.
Victoria stood in the doorway, holding a small leather handbag. Her red cape dress had been replaced by a cream blouse and dark trousers, but her expression was the same polished mask she wore whenever she wanted people to underestimate her.
Her eyes moved from Adrian to the photograph in his hand.
Then to the concealed door.
For one second, her composure shattered.
“You shouldn't have opened that,” she whispered.
Adrian stepped between her and the bookcase.
“What's behind it, Victoria?””
She stared at him.
“Nothing you need to see.””
“Then open it.””
Her gaze shifted to Marcus.
“Is this how you treat the woman you're going to marry?””
Adrian's voice turned cold.
“I'm not marrying you.””
Victoria's face hardened.
“You don't mean that.””
“I found Camille.””
The color drained from her cheeks.
He watched her carefully.
“She's alive, Victoria. She's been alive all this time.””
Victoria's hand tightened around her handbag.
“Then you should leave her where she is.””
Evelyn took a step forward.
“How can you say that?””
Victoria ignored her.
“Adrian, you don't understand what you're bringing into this house.””
“Then explain it.””
She looked at the hidden door.
For a moment, something like grief crossed her face.
Then she lifted her chin.
“If you open that room, you'll destroy everything you think you know about your family.””
Adrian held her gaze.
“Open it.””
Victoria slowly reached into her handbag.
May you like
She pulled out a small brass key attached to a faded blue tag.
And as she placed it in Adrian's palm, she whispered, “Before you turn it, you should know that Camille wasn't the only one who disappeared that night.””
