Chapter 12 - The room with the clock
Leo remembered time through sound.
The service corridor ran near an old grandfather clock in the west hall.
He could hear chimes.
That was how he knew mornings.
Nights.
Hours.
He did not always know dates.
Clara sometimes brought newspapers with dates removed? Too theatrical. Better packaged food with expiration labels, books, and eventually an old tablet with offline games. He learned age from Clara slipping.
At seven he asked:
“Am I seven?”
She said:
“Almost.”
At eight:
He began writing marks.
At nine:
He stopped believing I was sick.
Why?
He heard me during events.
My voice through wall.
Once I stood twenty feet away on other side and gave a speech.
Leo heard me.
He screamed.
Music and guests drowned it.
Clara later punished him by moving him to Blue Ash cottage for months.
That explained cycling between sites.
Then recorder.
Julian used it because he distrusted digital meeting apps.
He dictated notes while walking the service corridor?
Sometimes.
Why would he enter Leo’s area with recorder?
Because he and Clara used the concealed passage for conversations they did not want cameras capturing.
Carter House had extensive security in public corridors.
The old service passage had none.
Irony.
Julian used hidden space to discuss hidden plan.
Dropped recorder.
Leo found it under pipe chase.
Then learned recording button.
He captured:
Seven useful conversations.
Several meaningless ones.
One audio of Clara crying alone.
One of Julian insulting board members.
One of him discussing North Meridian.
One of move.
One final:
“Once Arthur signs tomorrow, everything will belong to us.”
Why say such incriminating thing?
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Because conspirators are not always careful after five years.
They begin believing secrecy is permanent.
