Chapter 1 - The GlassAudrey had stopped trying to scream.
The cloth over her mouth turned every sound into a frightened, broken hum.
Her wrists and ankles were held so she could not move freely from the chair beside her mother’s vanity. Tears ran continuously down her cheeks, catching beneath her chin.
But her eyes never stopped moving.
Chair.
Door.
Mirror.
Door again.
She was waiting for someone to come.
Malcolm stood behind her.
Her father.
The man who had taught her to ride a bicycle.
The man who used to carry her upstairs when she fell asleep on the couch.
The man who now held a syringe where she could see it.
“Just one shot…”
Audrey shook her head violently.
Malcolm’s face did not change.
“Then you’ll sleep for a very long time.”
Audrey’s breath caught.
He leaned slightly closer.
“And you won’t be a problem for me anymore.”
She struggled harder.
Malcolm grabbed the back of the chair.
“Stop.”
Audrey froze.
“Where is it?”
She stared at him.
“The blue envelope.”
Audrey shook her head.
“I know you found it.”
Another desperate shake.
Malcolm’s voice lowered.
“You were in here yesterday. You opened the vanity drawer.”
Audrey began crying harder.
“You took something that doesn’t belong to you.”
She tried to answer through the cloth.
Malcolm leaned near her ear.
“Tell me where you put it.”
Then—
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
Malcolm froze.
“Malcolm?”
Veronica.
Audrey’s eyes flew toward the door.
Her entire body jolted.
Malcolm’s expression transformed instantly.
The tension vanished from his jaw.
His voice became perfectly ordinary.
“Yes?”
“Have you seen Audrey?”
Audrey tried desperately to make noise.
Malcolm moved closer behind her.
One warning look stopped her.
“No,” he called. “I thought she was downstairs with you.”
“That’s strange.”
Audrey heard her mother shift outside.
“I checked her bedroom.”
Malcolm glanced at the syringe in his hand.
“Maybe she went outside.”
“She knows she isn’t supposed to go past the garden without telling me.”
“Kids forget.”
Audrey’s eyes filled with panic.
Her mother’s footsteps began moving away.
No.
No.
No.
Audrey twisted against the chair.
Malcolm turned sharply toward her.
“Don’t.”
She pulled harder.
Her elbow struck the vanity.
A drinking glass trembled.
Moved.
Rolled.
Malcolm’s eyes widened.
The glass dropped.
CRASH.
Silence.
Outside, Veronica stopped.
Audrey stared at the door.
Malcolm did not breathe.
“Malcolm?”
His wife’s voice had changed.
“What broke?”
“Nothing.”
Veronica immediately returned.
“That didn’t sound like nothing.”
“It was a glass.”
“Open the door.”
Malcolm looked at Audrey.
“No reason to come in. I knocked something over.”
“You just said Audrey wasn’t there.”
“She isn’t.”
Audrey kicked the chair leg against the floor.
THUD.
Malcolm’s face went cold.
“Open the door, Malcolm.”
“In a minute.”
“Now.”
Audrey had never heard her mother use that voice before.
Malcolm slid the syringe into the vanity drawer.
Then he leaned toward Audrey.
“If you say anything—”
The doorknob moved.
Locked.
Veronica went silent.
That frightened Malcolm more than shouting would have.
“Why is my dressing-room door locked?”
He did not answer immediately.
“Malcolm.”
“I was looking for something.”
“Then unlock it.”
Audrey kicked again.
THUD.
Veronica tried the handle harder.
“Audrey?”
Audrey screamed through the cloth.
Malcolm swore.
Everything happened quickly after that.
He pulled the cloth away.
“Do not make a sound.”
Audrey inhaled sharply.
Then screamed with everything she had.
“MOM!”
Veronica slammed her palm against the door.
“AUDREY!”
Malcolm lunged toward his daughter.
Audrey jerked backward.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!”
Veronica pounded again.
“Open this door right now!”
Malcolm stared at Audrey.
There was no believable explanation anymore.
The normal mask was gone.
For several seconds he seemed to calculate.
Then he unlocked the door.
Veronica pushed inside.
She saw Audrey first.
Red eyes.
Wet face.
Chair.
Then Malcolm.
“What happened?”
Audrey sobbed.
“Mommy!”
Veronica rushed toward her.
Malcolm stepped between them.
“She had a panic attack.”
Veronica stopped.
“What?”
“She got herself tangled up while playing around.”
Audrey screamed, “No!”
Malcolm turned.
“Audrey—”
“Don’t speak to her.”
Veronica moved around him.
Audrey clung to her mother the instant she was free enough to reach her.
“Daddy locked me.”
Veronica’s face changed.
“What?”
“He said—”
Audrey began shaking so badly she could not finish.
Malcolm spoke over her.
“She’s confused.”
Veronica looked at him.
Then at the broken glass.
Then at the chair.
Then at Audrey.
“What were you doing in here?”
“Looking for a document.”
“What document?”
“Nothing important.”
Audrey whispered:
“The blue envelope.”
Malcolm’s eyes snapped toward her.
Veronica saw it.
That single reaction was enough.
“What blue envelope?”
Audrey buried her face against her mother.
“Grandma’s.”
Veronica went still.
Her mother had been dead for four years.
“What did you find?”
Audrey cried.
“I don’t know.”
Malcolm stepped forward.
“She misunderstood something.”
Veronica raised one hand.
“Stay away.”
“Veronica.”
“Stay away from us.”
His expression hardened.
“This is my house too.”
“And that is our daughter.”
Audrey whispered:
“He had a needle.”
Veronica’s eyes moved to Malcolm.
“What?”
“No.”
Audrey pointed shakily toward the vanity.
“Drawer.”
Malcolm moved first.
So did Veronica.
She reached the drawer before him.
Pulled it open.
There was the syringe.
She stared at it.
Then at her husband.
All color disappeared from her face.
“What were you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“You had this in front of our child?”
“It isn’t what you think.”
“What do I think?”
Malcolm had no answer.
Veronica pulled out her phone.
His voice sharpened.
“Who are you calling?”
“Police.”
“Veronica, stop.”
He reached for the phone.
Audrey screamed.
That stopped Veronica from hesitating.
She backed toward the door with Audrey behind her.
“Do not come closer.”
Malcolm stared.
For twelve years, Veronica had trusted the man standing in front of her.
They had built a marriage.
A home.
A child.
A company.
She knew how Malcolm took his coffee.
She knew which shoulder hurt when the weather changed.
She knew the story he told when he was nervous and the joke he repeated when he wanted investors to like him.
And suddenly she understood something terrifying.
Knowing a person’s habits was not the same thing as knowing what they were capable of.
The emergency dispatcher answered.
Veronica gave the address.
Malcolm’s expression finally cracked.
“Think about what you’re doing.”
“I am.”
“You call the police into this house and nothing goes back to normal.”
Veronica held Audrey tighter.
“Normal ended before I opened that door.”
Malcolm looked toward the vanity.
Not toward his daughter.
The vanity.
Veronica noticed.
“What is in that envelope?”
He said nothing.
Audrey tugged on her mother’s sleeve.
“I hid it.”
Malcolm’s eyes widened.
Veronica looked down.
“Where?”
Audrey whispered:
“In Grandpa’s piano.”
Malcolm went white.
May you like
And Veronica suddenly realized the syringe was not the secret.
It was what Malcolm had been willing to do to keep the secret hidden.
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