Chapter 3 - The Locked Study
“Turn it off,” Jack said.
“I can’t.” Claire jabbed at the screen. “It’s not responding.”
Dana stepped closer. “Airplane mode.”
Claire tried. Nothing.
Jack took the phone, held the power and volume buttons, and forced a shutdown.
The screen died.
“Who has remote access?” he asked.
Ethan laughed once. “You think I sit around wiping my wife’s phone?”
“Do you?”
“Jack,” Charles warned.
“No,” Jack said. “We’re done with warnings that only go one direction.”
Claire looked at Dana. “Can you preserve the house cameras?”
Margaret’s eyes sharpened.
“Why would you need those?”
Claire looked at the red mark on her wrist.
“Because I want today recorded.”
Dana hesitated.
Jack understood immediately. The cameras were part of Sentinel’s system, but the Vale family controlled the internal privacy zones. Hallways were covered. Bedrooms were not. Charles’s study had a camera outside the door, not inside.
“Save everything from noon forward,” Jack ordered.
Dana nodded and spoke into her radio.
Ethan threw up his hands. “Fine. Save it. You’ll see Claire sneaking into my father’s study.”
Claire faced him. “The study was unlocked.”
“It is never unlocked.”
Charles finally stood.
He looked older than Jack remembered from the week before. Not weak. Just tired.
“I unlocked it,” he said.
Everyone turned.
Margaret’s voice became very quiet. “Charles.”
He ignored her.
“I left it open because I wanted Claire to find something.”
Ethan stared at his father.
Claire stepped forward. “What?”
Charles reached inside his suit coat.
Margaret caught his wrist.
It happened fast, but not fast enough to miss.
“Charles, you’re confused,” she said.
His eyes flashed.
“I am not confused.”
Jack watched Margaret release him.
Charles pulled a brass key from his pocket and held it out to Claire.
“This opens the bottom drawer of my desk.”
Ethan swore under his breath.
Charles looked straight at Jack.
“If that drawer is empty, get your daughter out of this house.”
Jack took the key.
From somewhere deeper in the mansion came the sound of a door slamming shut.
May you like
Dana touched her earpiece.
“Mr. Mercer,” she said, “someone just locked the study from the inside.”
