Chapter 5 - THE PATCHWORK RABBIT
Hadrian returned to the yellow house with one objective.
Find the rabbit.
Sorrel was upstairs with Dr. Cole when he arrived.
Two uniformed officers had been assigned to the property.
Hadrian hated that his daughter now needed police outside the house.
He hated more that he was grateful they were there.
He went directly to the attic.
Boxes lined the walls.
Eleanor had labeled almost everything.
CHRISTMAS.
SORREL BABY CLOTHES.
KITCHEN.
BOOKS.
PHOTOGRAPHS.
Hadrian opened them one after another.
No rabbit.
He searched Sorrel’s childhood bedroom.
Closets.
Drawers.
Toy chests.
Nothing.
He called Marta’s room at the hospital.
A detective answered.
Marta was being moved to a secure floor.
She was exhausted and could not speak again yet.
Hadrian ended the call.
Sorrel appeared in the doorway.
“What are you looking for?”
Hadrian turned.
He had wanted to keep her away from the investigation.
But secrets had already done enough damage.
“A toy your mother made.”
Sorrel frowned.
“The funny rabbit?”
Hadrian’s heart jumped.
“You remember it?”
“It had one blue ear.”
“Yes.”
“And one yellow ear.”
“Yes.”
Sorrel thought for a moment.
“Celeste threw it away.”
Hadrian stared.
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“Why?”
“She said it was dirty.”
His hope collapsed.
“Do you know where she threw it?”
Sorrel nodded.
“In the basement garbage.”
Hadrian’s chest tightened.
“How long ago?”
“Maybe before Christmas.”
Months.
The trash had been collected dozens of times.
Hadrian sat on the edge of the bed.
Sorrel looked at him.
“Was it important?”
Hadrian forced a smile.
“It might have been.”
Sorrel came closer.
“I didn’t let her throw it away.”
Hadrian looked up.
“What?”
Sorrel smiled faintly.
“I put a different bunny in the bag.”
For the first time in days, Hadrian almost laughed.
“You tricked her?”
Sorrel nodded.
“She never looks at my art box.”
Hadrian stood immediately.
“Where is your art box?”
Sorrel took him to a closet.
A large plastic container sat beneath watercolor paper.
She opened it.
Crayons.
Ribbon.
Glue.
Old drawings.
At the bottom lay a patchwork rabbit.
One blue ear.
One yellow ear.
Hadrian picked it up.
The fabric smelled faintly of cedar.
Eleanor had sewn it while pregnant.
He remembered her sitting on the sofa.
“Why are the ears different colors?”
“Because perfect things are boring.”
Hadrian had laughed.
Sorrel watched him.
“Daddy?”
“I’m okay.”
He turned the rabbit over.
Nothing seemed unusual.
Then he felt the seam along the back.
One section was thicker.
Hadrian found a tiny thread knot.
He pulled.
The seam opened.
Inside the stuffing was a narrow brass key.
Sorrel’s eyes widened.
“You found treasure.”
Hadrian looked at the key.
“Maybe.”
A small metal tag hung from it.
C-417.
Gideon arrived twenty minutes later.
He recognized the code.
“Private vault.”
“Where?”
“Cross & Vale used a secure archival facility.”
Hadrian frowned.
“Eleanor’s old legal office?”
“Yes.”
“Still operating?”
“Under another name.”
They called.
Vault C-417 still existed.
Access required the key and biometric authorization.
Eleanor’s biometric record was obviously useless.
But the trust documentation named two successor access holders.
Julian Cross.
And Sorrel Vale.
Hadrian stared at Gideon.
“Sorrel?”
“Eleanor planned ahead.”
Sorrel sat at the kitchen table coloring.
Hadrian looked at his daughter.
Eleanor had trusted a future version of Sorrel to open something important.
Something she had hidden before she died.
They drove to the archival facility under police escort.
The building stood beneath an old bank.
A manager checked the trust documents.
Sorrel placed her small finger on the scanner.
The machine rejected it.
Hadrian’s heart sank.
Then the manager adjusted the sensitivity.
“Her print pattern changed as she grew.”
Sorrel tried again.
Green light.
ACCESS AUTHORIZED.
The vault corridor opened.
C-417 was a steel drawer.
Hadrian inserted the brass key.
It turned.
Inside were three objects.
A sealed envelope.
A black notebook.
A memory card.
The envelope was addressed to Hadrian.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Eleanor’s handwriting appeared.
Hadrian,
If you are reading this, then something happened before I could explain everything myself.
I need you to believe that what I did was for Sorrel.
Hadrian swallowed.
He continued.
Marcus approached me six months ago about restructuring our shares.
I refused.
He became angry.
He said family ownership made the company vulnerable.
I later discovered he had hidden liabilities through a subsidiary called North Cedar.
Hadrian stopped.
North Cedar.
The shell company receiving Marta’s stolen salary.
Gideon saw it too.
Hadrian continued reading.
I believe Marcus has been moving money through entities we do not control.
I have not confronted him because I do not know who else is involved.
I changed Sorrel’s trust because I needed the shares placed beyond Marcus’s reach.
If anything happens to me, do not allow Marcus to control Sorrel.
Do not allow anyone chosen by Marcus to become her guardian.
Hadrian’s eyes burned.
The final paragraph was worse.
There is a woman named Celeste Marrow.
I have never met her in person.
Marcus has.
I found payments to her eighteen months ago.
I do not know what she does for him.
But I know she is part of North Cedar.
Hadrian stopped breathing.
Eleanor knew Celeste.
Not personally.
But by name.
Eighteen months before Eleanor died.
More than two years before Hadrian supposedly met Celeste at a charity auction.
Gideon whispered.
“My God.”
Hadrian turned to the notebook.
Eleanor had recorded dates.
Account numbers.
Transfers.
Meetings.
Marcus’s unexplained travel.
Payments to North Cedar.
Payments from North Cedar to C.M. Strategic Services.
Hadrian looked at Gideon.
“Celeste Marrow.”
“Most likely.”
The memory card contained photographs.
Marcus meeting Celeste outside a hotel.
Marcus handing her an envelope.
Celeste entering Vale Meridian headquarters through a service entrance.
The dates were four years old.
Then a video appeared.
Eleanor had recorded herself.
Hadrian pressed play.
His wife’s face filled the screen.
She looked tired.
Alive.
So painfully alive that Hadrian almost closed the laptop.
Instead, he watched.
“If you are seeing this, I was probably right to be afraid.”
Eleanor looked away from the camera.
“I hope I am being paranoid.”
“I hope Hadrian teases me for hiding this.”
“I hope Sorrel laughs at me when she is older.”
Her expression changed.
“But Marcus is stealing from the company.”
“And I think he knows I discovered it.”
Hadrian clenched his jaw.
Eleanor continued.
“I confronted his accountant yesterday.”
“He told me North Cedar is not merely financial.”
“It pays investigators.”
“Security contractors.”
“People who solve problems.”
She paused.
“And Celeste Marrow appears on several of those payments.”
Hadrian’s chest tightened.
Eleanor looked directly into the camera.
“If something happens to me, investigate Marcus.”
“And keep Sorrel away from Celeste.”
The video ended.
Hadrian sat completely still.
For four years, he had unknowingly allowed the woman Eleanor warned him about into Sorrel’s home.
He had proposed to her.
He had given her access to his accounts.
He had trusted her with his daughter.
Sorrel touched his arm.
“Daddy?”
Hadrian immediately closed the laptop.
He did not want her to see Eleanor’s fear.
Sorrel looked at the envelope.
“Was Mommy scared?”
Hadrian considered lying.
Then decided against it.
“Yes.”
Sorrel looked down.
“Did Celeste scare her too?”
“Maybe.”
Sorrel became quiet.
Hadrian crouched.
“What are you thinking?”
Sorrel twisted the rabbit’s blue ear.
“I saw Celeste with Mommy once.”
Hadrian froze.
“That is impossible.”
Sorrel looked confused.
“Why?”
“You were three when Mommy died.”
“I remember.”
Hadrian’s heart accelerated.
“Where?”
“At the flower place.”
“What flower place?”
Sorrel thought.
“The one with the glass roof.”
Hadrian stared at Gideon.
Eleanor had volunteered at the Bellmere Conservatory.
It had a glass roof.
Hadrian took out his phone.
He found a photograph of the conservatory.
“Here?”
Sorrel nodded.
Hadrian swallowed.
“What happened?”
“Mommy was mad.”
“At Celeste?”
Sorrel nodded again.
“What did Mommy say?”
Sorrel frowned.
“I don’t remember everything.”
“Try.”
Sorrel closed her eyes.
Then she whispered.
“Mommy said, ‘Tell Marcus I said no.’”
Hadrian’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.
“And Celeste said…”
Sorrel hesitated.
“What?”
Sorrel opened her eyes.
“She said, ‘Then you should drive carefully.’”
The archival manager entered the room.
“Mr. Vale?”
Hadrian turned.
“There is someone upstairs asking about Vault C-417.”
Gideon stood.
“Who?”
The manager looked uneasy.
“He claims to be Julian Cross.”
Hadrian’s breath stopped.
Julian had been missing for nine days.
Hadrian followed the manager upstairs.
A man stood in the lobby.
Thin.
Unshaven.
Gray hair longer than Hadrian remembered.
Julian.
Hadrian stopped.
Julian looked at him.
Then at Sorrel.
His eyes filled.
“Sorrel.”
Hadrian moved protectively in front of her.
“Where have you been?”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Hiding.”
“From whom?”
Julian glanced toward the windows.
“Marcus.”
Hadrian stepped closer.
“You knew?”
“I knew enough.”
“You let me marry his accomplice.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“You never listened to me after Eleanor died.”
“You never told me about Celeste.”
“I did not know her name until two weeks ago.”
Hadrian stared.
Julian lowered his voice.
“You need to leave this building.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you opened that vault, an access alert was sent.”
“To whom?”
Julian looked at the brass key in Hadrian’s hand.
“Eleanor made one mistake.”
“What?”
“She kept the old security contractor on the vault.”
Hadrian felt dread.
“Which contractor?”
Julian looked toward the entrance.
“North Cedar.”
An explosion sounded somewhere beneath them.
The floor jumped.
Sorrel screamed.
Hadrian grabbed her.
Smoke began pushing beneath the basement door.
The fire alarm erupted.
The archival manager shouted for everyone to evacuate.
Gideon seized the laptop.
Julian grabbed the black notebook.
Hadrian carried Sorrel toward the exit.
Behind them, a second blast shook the vault corridor.
Someone had not come to steal Eleanor’s evidence.
May you like
Someone had come to erase it.
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