Chapter 6 - THE CHILD THEY TRIED TO USE
Poppy came to Raven Hill the next afternoon.
Not because I wanted her there.
Because someone tried to collect her from school.
The woman at the front office called at 2:17.
“Ms. Ellison?”
“Yes?”
“A driver is here for Poppy.”
My heart stopped.
“I didn't send one.”
The secretary's voice changed immediately.
“She's still inside.”
“Lock the doors.”
“We already have.”
The driver left before police arrived.
Security footage showed a black sedan.
Temporary plates.
The woman who entered the school wore a cap and medical mask.
She carried a forged note with my signature.
That evening, I packed Poppy's clothes with shaking hands.
She sat on the bed watching me.
“Are we moving?”
“Only for a little while.”
“Why?”
“Work.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“I know.”
“Are bad people looking for us?”
Children always know where adults think they've hidden fear.
I stopped packing.
“Somebody made a bad choice.”
“Are they going to hurt me?”
I crossed the room and knelt.
“No.”
“Promise?”
The word nearly destroyed me.
Adults shouldn't promise what they cannot control.
So I said:
“I promise I'm going to do everything I can to keep you safe.”
Poppy studied my face.
Then nodded.
Ronan sent an armored SUV.
I argued about it.
Then I put my daughter inside.
The guest cottage at Raven Hill had three bedrooms.
Poppy ran through it with wide eyes.
“We're rich.”
“No.”
“There are two bathrooms.”
“Still no.”
She opened the refrigerator.
Food.
Actual food.
Milk.
Fruit.
Chicken.
Yogurt.
Eggs.
Her face changed.
“Can I have one?”
She pointed at a yogurt.
I almost cried.
“You can have two.”
Ronan stood in the doorway.
He heard.
I knew because he looked away.
That night, Poppy met Evelyn.
I worried.
Children can stare.
They can ask questions adults are too polite to ask.
Poppy walked into Evelyn's room carrying paper and crayons.
She looked at the wheelchair.
Then at Evelyn.
“Hi.”
Evelyn lifted her hand.
Hello.
Poppy's face lit up.
“You sign!”
Evelyn smiled.
Poppy sat cross-legged on the carpet.
For forty minutes they spoke with their hands.
Not Falcon.
Ordinary ASL.
Poppy told her about school.
Rabbits.
A girl named Mila who cheated at spelling games.
Evelyn laughed without sound.
Ronan stood in the doorway.
Watching.
Afterward Poppy whispered:
“Your boss is scary.”
“He can hear you.”
She turned.
Ronan was six feet away.
“Oh.”
He raised an eyebrow.
Poppy considered apologizing.
Then said:
“You are.”
Ronan looked at me.
I covered my mouth to hide a smile.
That night, the three of us ate in the small guest cottage kitchen.
Poppy asked Ronan:
“Are you the mafia?”
I nearly inhaled water.
“Poppy!”
“What?”
Ronan calmly cut his chicken.
“Who told you that?”
“Everybody knows.”
I closed my eyes.
Ronan looked thoughtful.
“Everybody is frequently wrong.”
“So no?”
“I run businesses.”
“What kind?”
“Shipping.”
“That's boring.”
“It usually is.”
Poppy accepted that.
After she fell asleep, I found Ronan outside on the cottage porch.
Snow had begun falling.
“You didn't have to eat with us.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you?”
He looked through the window toward Poppy.
“My brother talked about her.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Not by name.”
Ronan leaned against the railing.
“A few months before he died, Dorian told me he'd met a woman who didn't want anything from him.”
I looked down.
“He said she had a little girl who made him wear a paper crown.”
Poppy's second birthday.
I remembered.
Ronan smiled faintly.
“He refused to explain.”
“He was protecting us.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Ronan said:
“I thought he was having an affair with someone.”
I laughed.
“He would've hated that.”
“He enjoyed being misunderstood.”
“That is true.”
For several seconds, grief made us allies.
Then a security light flicked on near the main house.
Malcolm Rusk approached.
“Ronan.”
“What?”
“We recovered Wesley's cloud backup.”
His gaze moved to me.
“You both need to see this.”
In the security office, Rusk played one of Wesley's videos.
It showed June shoving the medicine tray into my hands.
Then me walking upstairs.
The video cut.
A text exchange appeared.
UNKNOWN:
MAKE SURE SHE ENTERS ALONE.
WESLEY:
WHY?
UNKNOWN:
I ONLY NEED TO KNOW IF THE OLD WOMAN REACTS.
Then another message.
IF THE CLEANER SHOWS A MARK ON HER LEFT WRIST, CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY.
My skin went cold.
Ronan looked at Rusk.
“Trace?”
“Burner routing.”
“Anything?”
“One payment.”
Rusk displayed a transfer.
Five hundred dollars.
Originating through a shell company.
Ronan stared.
I recognized the company name.
MORROW LEGAL SERVICES.
Ronan whispered:
“Gideon.”
Rusk nodded.
Then another file appeared.
A security log.
Four years earlier.
The night Evelyn suffered her stroke.
Three visitors entered Raven Hill after midnight.
Dr. Hollis.
Gideon.
And Malcolm Rusk.
I turned slowly.
Rusk stared at the screen.
Ronan did too.
“What is that?”
Rusk's face had gone pale.
“I was here.”
“You told me you were in Boston.”
“I was ordered not to tell you.”
“By whom?”
Rusk looked toward Evelyn's wing.
“Your mother.”
Ronan stepped toward him.
“Explain.”
Rusk swallowed.
“She caught Gideon inside your father's private office.”
My heart pounded.
“Doing what?”
“Opening the safe.”
Ronan's voice became deadly quiet.
“And you kept this from me for four years?”
Rusk looked ashamed.
“Because Evelyn made me swear to get Dorian out first.”
Ronan stared.
“Dorian was already being targeted.”
Rusk nodded.
“Your mother knew.”
The betrayal wasn't new.
Neither was the resistance.
Evelyn Cain had been fighting Gideon before her stroke.
Dorian had been fighting him before his death.
And Malcolm Rusk—
the man I had assumed might be the traitor—
had been carrying a secret of his own.
Rusk looked directly at Ronan.
“The black box from the falcon clock didn't disappear after Dorian died.”
Ronan went still.
“What?”
May you like
Rusk reached inside his coat.
“I moved it.”
