Chapter 3 - The Drawing Lily Was Afraid to Show
Adrian reached the hallway before anyone else.
Vanessa stood beside a shattered porcelain vase.
“I dropped it.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You were listening.”
“I heard my name.”
“You were told to leave.”
Vanessa straightened.
“And now your traumatized daughter is accusing me of involvement in Catherine's death?”
“She didn't accuse you.”
“Not yet.”
The bitterness in Vanessa's voice made Adrian narrow his eyes.
“Interesting choice of words.”
Vanessa grabbed her coat.
“You know where I was the night Catherine died.”
Adrian did.
At least, he thought he did.
Catherine Blackwood had died when her car went through a guardrail on a rain-soaked road north of the city.
Police ruled it an accident.
Vanessa had not been Adrian's fiancée then.
Officially, she had barely been part of their lives.
She had been Catherine's friend.
One of her closest friends.
And according to Vanessa, she had spent that night at a charity board dinner in Manhattan.
Adrian had never questioned it.
Why would he?
Until now.
“Leave,” he said.
Vanessa's eyes hardened.
“This maid is poisoning your family.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“No. Grace is the reason my daughter is speaking.”
Vanessa flinched at the sound of her name.
That was enough.
Adrian saw jealousy.
Not romantic jealousy alone.
Something darker.
Something desperate.
Vanessa left without another word.
That night, Adrian ordered his security team to preserve every piece of surveillance footage from the estate.
Then he made another call.
“Find everything from the night Catherine died.”
His security chief, Marcus Vale, hesitated.
“That case was closed almost two years ago.”
“Open it.”
Grace remained upstairs with Lily.
The little girl refused to sleep alone.
Mrs. Price brought Grace a clean nightdress and quietly told her Adrian had authorized her to remain.
At midnight, Lily finally fell asleep.
Grace sat beside her bed.
A soft knock came.
Adrian stood outside.
“How is she?”
“Sleeping.”
He entered quietly.
For several seconds, he simply watched his daughter.
“She called you Mom.”
Grace looked down.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I don't think she believes I'm Catherine.”
“Neither do I.”
Grace glanced at him.
Adrian's expression softened.
“I think she remembers how it felt to have someone make her feel safe.”
Grace swallowed.
“That doesn't make me her mother.”
“No.”
His eyes remained on Lily.
“But tonight you gave her something I haven't been able to give her in two years.”
“What?”
“A reason to speak.”
Grace shook her head.
“She did that herself.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You always minimize what you do?”
Grace gave a faint smile.
“Only when my employer is terrifying.”
For one second, Adrian almost smiled.
Then Lily moved.
Her hand slipped from beneath the blanket.
She was holding a folded piece of paper.
Grace frowned.
“I haven't seen that before.”
Adrian carefully took it.
Lily woke instantly.
“No!”
She grabbed the paper.
“Sweetheart—”
“No!”
Grace sat beside her.
“It's okay.”
Lily clutched the paper against her chest.
Adrian backed away.
“What is it?”
Lily looked at Grace.
“Promise?”
“Promise what?”
“Don't let Daddy get mad.”
Adrian's face tightened.
Grace answered carefully.
“Nobody is angry with you.”
Lily unfolded the paper.
It was a child's drawing.
Three figures stood beside a black car.
One was a woman in blue.
One was a small child.
The third was a tall figure colored almost entirely in red.
Above them, Lily had drawn rain.
Adrian stared at it.
“When did you draw this?”
Lily whispered, “After Mommy died.”
“Who is the red person?”
Lily shook her head.
“I couldn't see.”
Grace noticed something.
Beside the red figure was a small black square.
“What is this?”
Lily pointed.
“Phone.”
Adrian frowned.
“Whose phone?”
“Mommy's.”
His breathing slowed.
Catherine's phone had never been recovered after the accident.
Police assumed it had been thrown from the vehicle.
Lily touched the drawing.
“They wanted it.”
“Who?”
“The person Mommy fought with.”
Adrian sat down.
“You were there?”
Lily nodded.
His face went white.
Every official report said Lily had been asleep at home with her nanny.
But Catherine had apparently taken her somewhere before the crash.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Lily began trembling.
“They said you'd die too.”
Adrian's entire body went rigid.
“Who said that?”
“I don't know.”
Grace took Lily's hand.
“Think about what you remember, sweetheart. Not what you think you're supposed to remember.”
Lily closed her eyes.
“Mommy put me in the back seat.”
Adrian barely breathed.
“She told me to stay down.”
“What happened next?”
“She talked to someone outside.”
“Could you hear them?”
“A little.”
“What did Mommy say?”
Lily's brow tightened.
Then she whispered:
“Vanessa knows.”
Adrian looked at Grace.
Lily continued.
“Mommy said, ‘Vanessa knows what you did.’”
That changed everything.
Vanessa might not have been the person Catherine fought with.
She might have known who was.
The next morning, Adrian's security chief arrived carrying an old evidence file.
“There’s something strange.”
Adrian opened it.
“The crash report?”
Marcus nodded.
“Catherine's vehicle was inspected after the accident. Brake failure was ruled out.”
“And?”
“The mechanic who signed that report disappeared six months later.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Disappeared?”
“His family reported him missing.”
Marcus placed another document on the desk.
“And there’s more.”
Catherine had made three calls during the final hour of her life.
One was to Adrian.
He had missed it during a meeting.
One was to Vanessa.
The third number had been unidentified.
Until Marcus traced it.
The phone belonged to someone inside Adrian's organization.
Someone who still came to the Blackwood estate.
Someone who had eaten at his table.
Adrian read the name.
His expression changed.
“Impossible.”
Marcus said nothing.
Grace entered the study carrying tea.
She stopped when she saw Adrian's face.
“What happened?”
Adrian slowly folded the paper.
“Nothing.”
Grace stared at him.
“You're lying.”
Under any other circumstances, nobody would have spoken to Adrian Blackwood that way.
But he didn't become angry.
Instead, he looked exhausted.
“Catherine called someone the night she died.”
“Who?”
Adrian hesitated.
“My uncle.”
Grace frowned.
“Your uncle?”
“Victor Blackwood.”
The man who had helped raise Adrian after his father died.
The man who had taught him the family business.
The man Adrian trusted more than almost anyone alive.
Grace looked toward the hallway.
“Was he at dinner last night?”
Adrian nodded.
“He was sitting six feet away when Vanessa poured wine over you.”
Grace remembered.
An older man with silver hair.
Quiet.
Watching.
He had never looked surprised.
Not even when Lily spoke.
A chill moved through her.
Before she could say anything, Mrs. Price rushed into the study.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Adrian stood.
“What?”
“Lily is missing.”
Silence.
Grace dropped the tea tray.
Adrian's face transformed.
“When did anyone last see her?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Grace ran upstairs.
Her bedroom was empty.
The conservatory was empty.
The library was empty.
Then Grace saw Lily's stuffed rabbit lying in the corridor.
She picked it up.
Underneath it was another drawing.
This one was new.
A little girl.
A black car.
And a man standing beside it.
Unlike the first drawing, this figure had a face.
Gray hair.
A black suit.
And on his hand, Lily had carefully drawn a large gold ring.
Grace had seen that ring before.
On Victor Blackwood.
May you like
And beneath the picture, in the shaky handwriting of a six-year-old child, Lily had written four words:
HE SAW MOMMY DIE.
