Chapter 211 Interviews
ADRIANA
I screamed.
Everything I had came out in that sound and before it had finished Elijah was through the door, moving so fast it hit the wall behind him.
“What happened — where is she—” He crossed straight to the cradle and his face changed when he saw the blood. He spun to me. “Where is the baby? What happened? Whose blood is this?”
I couldn’t form words. I was standing two feet from the cradle staring at the empty blanket like she was going to reappear in it if I looked long enough.
“Adriana.” He grabbed my arms. “Look at me. Where is she?”
Nothing came out.
“Adriana, I need you to say something right now—”
“I put her down.” My voice came from somewhere distant and flat. “She was asleep. I put her in the cradle and I covered her. I know I did. I was right here.”
Hazel appeared in the doorway. Elijah said something to her that I didn’t catch and then it was just us. My legs stopped working and I went down and he came with me, crouching on the floor, hands on my face.
“How long ago?”
“Fifteen minutes. Maybe less. I didn’t leave the room.”
He stood up and I watched him fight to keep his expression controlled. He lost that fight briefly and then found it again, and the version of him that came back was colder and steadier than the one that had walked in.
Hazel came back. She had a folded piece of paper in her hand, found beneath the blanket. She held it toward Elijah and he took it. I watched his face go through three different things while he read it.
“Give it to me.”
“Adriana—”
“Give it to me, Elijah.”
He held it for one more second, then passed it across.
The handwriting was neat and unhurried. That was the first thing I registered. He had written this with complete calm, which told me more about who we were dealing with than anything else.
By the time you find this, your child will be dead. Yes, that’s her blood and I killed her right in front of you while you and your children slept. That is for killing my son. Landon was mine and you had no right to take him from me. Now you will understand what I felt. Come find me if it hurts. Let’s make a truce before I take the rest of them. Come before it’s too late.
I read it twice, folded it, and set it on the floor.
“She’s not dead.”
Elijah’s voice was rough. “Adriana—”
“She is not dead.” I got up off the floor. My legs were steadier than they had any right to be. “If she were dead there would be nothing to negotiate with. He said come find me, which means she’s a bargaining piece. He needs her alive to get what he wants. That’s her blood but it’s not enough of it.” I looked at Elijah directly. “She’s alive.”
He turned away from me for a moment, one hand pressed against the back of his neck, and I could see what it was costing him to hold himself together. When he turned back his eyes were wet.
“How are you this calm?”
“Because I don’t have the option not to be.” I picked up the letter from the floor and set it on the table. “Lock down every exit right now. Nobody in or out. I want every person in this house interviewed and I want it done before anyone has the chance to get their story straight.”
He didn’t move immediately.
“Elijah.” I waited until he looked at me fully. “She needs us to think clearly. So think.”
Something settled in him. He straightened, pressed the back of his hand against his mouth once, and walked out into the hallway. I heard his voice going out sharp and clear, orders moving fast, and within thirty seconds the energy of the entire floor changed.
Hazel came back in and looked at me.
“What do you need?”
“I want to watch the staff interviews. Don’t put me in front of them. I want to observe from the side.” I picked up my phone and opened a notes app. “Someone in this building let him in. The same person who helped him escape helped him get back through. I want to watch their faces when they answer questions.”
She took me outside without another word.
The staff had been gathered in the courtyard — kitchen, housekeeping, grounds, security, all of them standing in a loose group with the stillness of people waiting to find out how bad the news was going to be. Hazel took the guards. The new chief guard handled the household staff.
I stood back against the wall and watched.
Most of them were clean. Easy to read. The eyes stayed steady, the answers came without hesitation, the body language was open. But five guards had something slightly off — a fractional pause before responding, weight shifting back, eyes that moved down and away before they answered. Nothing that would hold up on its own. Together it was a pattern.
I typed the names into my phone as I identified them.
Elijah appeared at the edge of the courtyard and clocked me within seconds. He started across the grass toward me. I turned and went back inside before he reached me.
Leo was in the hallway at the top of the stairs. He had clearly been waiting.
“I need to ask you some questions,” I said before he could speak. “You and your siblings, together. Come and sit down.”
He followed me without arguing, which told me he already understood something serious had happened, and was choosing to help rather than demand. I pulled the chair from the desk and sat across from all three of them.
“I need you to tell me exactly what happened this evening. Where you were, when you left the room, and if you saw or heard anything outside in the hallway. Everything. Don’t leave anything out because you think it’s too small.”
Leo looked at me steadily. “Is she okay?”
“Tell me what you saw first.”