Chapter 2 - THE SECRET BENEATH HER PILLOW
The emergency physician arrived twenty minutes later.
Dr. Rachel Morgan had treated Lily since infancy. She examined the child carefully, monitored her breathing, and recommended hospital observation because Lily had been submerged and had experienced respiratory symptoms.
Daniel rode beside his daughter in the ambulance.
He held her hand throughout the journey.
Victoria was left behind with Michael and the mansion's security staff.
When they reached the hospital, Lily was taken into an examination room. Daniel waited outside, soaked clothes replaced by a borrowed sweatshirt, his hands still trembling.
Dr. Morgan emerged after several minutes.
“She is frightened, but she's receiving the care she needs. We'll continue monitoring her.”
“Will she be all right?”
“We're watching her closely. You did the right thing by getting her help immediately.”
Daniel closed his eyes in relief.
Then the doctor added, “Daniel, I need to ask you something. Has Lily seemed unusually frightened at home recently?”
He remembered the nights she had started sleeping with the lights on. The sudden refusal to wear her favorite yellow swimsuit. The way she had begun asking whether the doors were locked before bedtime.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I thought she was struggling with her mother's death.”
“Grief can affect children in many ways. But if she's afraid of a particular person, we need to understand why.”
Daniel looked through the glass at his daughter.
“I'll find out.”
When Lily was settled in her hospital room, he called Mrs. Collins.
“Go to Lily's bedroom. Look under her mattress. There's a pink pillowcase. Bring everything inside it directly to me.”
Mrs. Collins hesitated.
“Is something wrong, sir?”
“I don't know yet.”
He ended the call.
An hour later, she arrived carrying a small canvas bag.
Inside were seven photographs, several folded notes, and Elizabeth's silver necklace.
Daniel recognized the necklace immediately. He had given it to his wife on their fifth wedding anniversary.
His fingers went cold when he turned over the first photograph.
It showed Elizabeth standing in the garden with Lily as a baby. On the back, in Elizabeth's handwriting, were the words:
My greatest reason to stay.
The second photograph showed Elizabeth beside Michael Ashford at a charity event.
Daniel frowned.
He remembered that event. Michael had been introduced as a financial consultant helping Elizabeth manage the charitable foundation she had established.
The third photograph had been taken in a hospital corridor.
Elizabeth looked exhausted. Michael stood beside a woman Daniel didn't recognize, holding a thick envelope.
On the back was a date.
Two days before Elizabeth died.
Daniel read the note beneath it.
Mommy said Uncle Michael took something important. She said I must remember where she hid it.
He stared at the handwriting.
The note was written by Lily, with the uneven letters of a child still learning to write.
Another paper contained a drawing of the mansion. Beside the swimming pool, Lily had drawn a small black box.
Underneath it, she had written:
Mommy's secret.
Daniel called Mrs. Collins into the room.
“Did you know Lily was keeping these?”
The housekeeper looked at the photographs and began crying.
“I knew she was frightened, sir. I didn't know about the notes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Mrs. Collins lowered her head.
“Because Victoria told us Lily had been having nightmares. She said you needed time to recover from your wife's death, and that we shouldn't upset you with every little thing.”
Daniel felt sick.
Victoria had not simply entered his home.
She had slowly become the person everyone consulted before deciding what he should know about his own daughter.
He looked at the photograph of Elizabeth and Michael again.
“What did Michael do for my wife?”
Mrs. Collins hesitated.
“He managed some of the foundation's accounts. Mrs. Hayes trusted him at first. Toward the end, they argued several times.”
“About what?”
“I don't know. But once, I heard your wife say she would never sign the documents.”
Daniel looked down at the final photograph.
Elizabeth stood beside a hospital window, her face pale but determined.
On the back, she had written the same six words:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, ASK MICHAEL.
Daniel rose.
“I'm going home.”
“Sir, Dr. Morgan said Lily should be observed.”
“I'll stay here with her. But first, I need to know what that secret is.”
He called his head of security and instructed him to inspect the garden, the pool equipment, and every area Lily had drawn.
An hour later, the security director called back.
“We found something beneath the removable panel near the pool's filtration system.”
“What?”
“A waterproof case. It contains documents and a small digital recorder.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Don't open it. Photograph everything and bring it to the authorities.”
There was a pause.
“Sir, there's something else.”
“What?”
“The pool camera system was disabled remotely at 2:14 this afternoon.”
Daniel looked through the hospital window at Lily.
May you like
Victoria had known exactly where the cameras were.
And someone had made certain there would be no footage of what happened in the water.
