Chapter 7 - The green room
Leo’s “green room” was identified.
A cottage on a 40-acre property owned by Blue Ash Advisory LLC.
Thirty-eight miles from Carter House.
Clara’s company.
Police obtained warrant.
One bedroom had been repainted recently.
Under newer paint:
Green.
Window locks modified.
Interior door had high slide bolt outside.
Mattress.
Old children’s books.
A growth chart carved inside closet frame.
Marks beginning at approximately age six.
Leo’s initials?
Some.
Forensic comparison not perfect.
Then DNA.
Hair from old mattress.
Matched Leo.
There.
He had been moved between Carter House and Blue Ash cottage.
Why return him to mansion?
Safer during property sale? Records showed Blue Ash had listed cottage for sale four months earlier.
Clara moved Leo back through basement service entrance at night.
The west drawing room was rarely used.
Renovation plans changed everything.
Who scheduled wall demolition?
Me.
Not part of their plan.
I wanted to enlarge room before charity event season.
Clara argued against it repeatedly.
“Historic character.”
“Dust.”
“Timing.”
I ignored her.
That is how I found him.
Not because recorder summoned me.
Because an architect disliked an old partition.
Real discoveries often begin stupidly.
Then plaster dust on Clara.
She had been near wall before I struck it.
Why?
She was trying to reach concealed basement access panel to move Leo before renovation crew arrived.
I arrived early.
Again.
Timing.
Then voice recorder.
Forensics authenticated device.
Files had continuous internal timestamps? Device clock had drift.
Some files dates inaccurate.
But audio signatures and metadata showed no obvious post-recording edits.
Julian’s voice comparison strongly consistent.
Clara’s too.
Still, court would determine admissibility.
Then one recording:
Clara:
“He asks for Arthur.”
Julian:
“Then stop telling him Arthur is coming.”
Clara:
“He’s ten now. He knows we lied.”
Julian:
“Tomorrow it ends.”
Clara:
“What happens to Leo?”
Long silence.
Then Julian:
“After Arthur signs, we move him.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere he can’t come back from.”
May you like
No explicit murder.
Terrifying anyway.
