Chapter 5 - THE CHILD WHO KNEW THE WAY HOME
Arthur felt the world stop.
Leo.
Missing.
Again.
The boy who had barely begun speaking.
The only living child of his dead son.
Gone.
Marcus immediately contacted the penthouse staff.
The nanny reported that Leo had been resting in his bedroom.
A security guard had been posted outside.
Then the building's fire alarm activated.
Staff evacuated.
When they returned, Leo was gone.
Arthur grabbed his coat.
“Find him.”
Marcus nodded.
“We're checking cameras.”
Clara stood beside the Meridian Clock.
Something bothered her.
The music.
Leo's reaction.
The phrase he had whispered.
You came back.
She looked toward the hidden cylinder.
Then toward Arthur.
“Wait.”
He turned sharply.
“Miss Wright, my grandson is missing.”
“I know.”
She swallowed.
“But I don't think Leo was taken randomly.”
Arthur stared.
“What?”
“He knew the music box. He knew the melody. And he knew something about Richard.”
She looked at the clock.
“Maybe someone is trying to stop him from remembering.”
The security footage showed a man wearing a maintenance uniform escorting Leo through a service elevator.
The man kept his face turned away.
But Clara noticed something.
He carried a small wooden case.
A music box.
Arthur stared.
“Why would Leo follow him?”
Clara's voice trembled.
“Because he thought it was his mother's.”
They traced the elevator to an underground loading dock.
A black van had left twelve minutes earlier.
Marcus contacted authorities.
Arthur stood motionless.
Then his phone rang.
Richard Sterling.
Arthur answered.
“Richard.”
“Father.”
His voice sounded calm.
“Where are you?”
“At the museum.”
A pause.
“Is Leo with you?”
Arthur looked toward Clara.
Then said, “Why do you ask?”
Richard laughed softly.
“Because I heard he was missing.”
Arthur went still.
The disappearance had not been publicly reported.
Only security and a few staff members knew.
Arthur's voice became quiet.
“How did you hear that?”
Silence.
Then Richard said:
“Father, we need to talk.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
May you like
And for the first time, he understood that the danger wasn't outside his family.
It had been sitting at his dinner table for years.
