Chapter 3 - THE THREE CHILDREN BEHIND THE GLASS
Adrien did not ask Evelyn to come home with him.
He asked whether she would consider visiting the children the following afternoon.
That distinction mattered to her.
She had spent most of her life watching powerful people confuse requests with orders.
“I have a shift,” she told him.
“I'll compensate you.”
“I didn't ask for money.”
“I know.”
“Then don't make it the first thing you offer.”
Adrien studied her.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
Almost.
She agreed to visit for one hour.
Only because Lily had refused to release her hand until Adrien promised she could see Evelyn again.
The Belandi residence stood behind iron gates on Chicago's North Shore.
It was less a house than a private museum.
White stone columns.
Tall windows.
A circular driveway lined with old oak trees.
Evelyn arrived wearing jeans, a wool coat, and shoes that had been repaired twice.
The security guard looked at her suspiciously.
She looked back.
“I'm here to see the children.”
He checked his list.
Then opened the gate.
Inside, everything was beautiful.
And strangely lifeless.
No toys in the hallway.
No children's drawings on the walls.
No shoes abandoned beside the stairs.
The house looked as though children were visitors rather than residents.
Adrien met her near the entrance.
“Thank you for coming.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Where are they?”
He led her upstairs.
The nursery occupied three connected rooms.
There were expensive toys, shelves of books, and a miniature indoor climbing structure.
But the triplets sat together on a carpet beside the window.
Two boys.
One girl.
All four years old.
Lily looked up first.
Her face brightened.
She ran toward Evelyn.
Evelyn crouched.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Lily threw herself into her arms.
Her brothers approached more cautiously.
Adrien watched from the doorway.
“That's Noah,” he said, indicating the boy with slightly longer hair. “And that's Oliver.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Hello, Noah. Hello, Oliver.”
Neither answered.
But Noah touched her sleeve.
Oliver held up a wooden dinosaur.
Evelyn admired it.
“That's a very serious dinosaur.”
Oliver's mouth twitched.
Adrien stared.
He had not seen his son smile at a stranger in years.
For the next hour, Evelyn did not ask the children to speak.
She sat on the floor.
Built towers.
Read books.
Let Lily arrange toy animals in a circle.
Noah drew pictures.
Oliver lined up wooden blocks.
Evelyn noticed something peculiar.
Every time footsteps approached the nursery, all three children stopped playing.
Their shoulders stiffened.
Their eyes moved toward the door.
The reaction was immediate.
Practiced.
Evelyn looked at Adrien.
“Does someone come into their rooms at night?”
He frowned.
“The nanny checks on them.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked back at the children.
Noah had drawn a picture.
A house.
Three small figures.
A woman standing beside a staircase.
And beneath the staircase, a dark rectangle.
Evelyn pointed gently.
“What's that?”
Noah froze.
He looked at his brother.
Oliver shook his head.
Lily whispered something too softly to hear.
Evelyn leaned closer.
“What was that, sweetheart?”
Lily's lips moved again.
“Sellar.”
Adrien went completely still.
Evelyn looked at the drawing.
The dark rectangle.
The staircase.
The frightened children.
Then she understood.
“Cellar,” she whispered.
Lily nodded.
Adrien's face drained of color.
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Because beneath the Belandi mansion was a cellar.
And according to Adrien, the children had never been allowed inside it.
