Chapter 1
Thayer did not ask Poppy about the key in front of Corinne.
His daughter came first.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her away from the dining hall while two members of his security team remained downstairs.
Corinne shouted after him.
“You’re seriously letting a child manipulate you?”
Thayer kept walking.
He regretted the slap already.
Not because Corinne had not crossed an unforgivable line.
Because Poppy had watched another adult answer cruelty with physical force.
He would deal with that separately.
Upstairs, Poppy refused to let go of his jacket.
“How long were you in there?”
She shrugged.
“Tonight?”
She nodded.
“Maybe a lot.”
Thayer sat beside her.
“Did she hurt you?”
“No.”
“Did she give you food?”
Poppy looked confused by the question.
“At parties?”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes Nora brings me crackers.”
Thayer’s stomach tightened.
Nora Ellis was the mansion’s house manager.
He would speak to her later.
Poppy touched the pearl clip still in her hair.
“She says I ruin dinner.”
“How many times has she locked you there?”
Poppy looked toward the ceiling as though counting.
“Birthday dinner.”
“Whose?”
“Uncle Vincent.”
Another finger.
“Christmas.”
Another.
“Grandma’s dinner.”
Another.
“And tonight.”
Four that she remembered immediately.
Possibly more.
Thayer’s face remained calm.
That frightened the men who worked for him far more than shouting ever did.
A pediatrician examined Poppy that evening.
No physical injuries.
No dehydration.
No medical emergency.
A child psychologist was called for the next morning.
Thayer also instructed everyone in the mansion that Poppy would not be questioned repeatedly about Corinne.
When Nora entered the room, she looked terrified.
“I should have told you.”
Thayer turned.
“Told me what?”
“Mrs. Knox said Poppy became overstimulated at large dinners.”
“She said that?”
“Yes.”
“She told staff the coatroom was her quiet space.”
Thayer stared at her.
“You believed her?”
Nora looked ashamed.
“At first.”
“And later?”
“I started wondering.”
“Wondering isn’t reporting.”
“No, sir.”
Poppy tightened her arms around him.
Thayer lowered his voice.
“We’ll deal with that later.”
Nora nodded.
Thayer looked toward his daughter.
“Where did you get the key?”
Poppy reached into her cardigan pocket.
Small.
Brass.
Old-fashioned.
“Mommy’s music box.”
Thayer went completely still.
Elise.
Poppy’s mother had died three years earlier after a long illness.
Her private sitting room remained locked at the end of the west hallway.
Thayer had never emptied it.
He had barely entered it after the funeral.
Poppy continued.
“The bottom came loose.”
“The music box?”
She nodded.
“Key was inside.”
“And you tried it on Mommy’s door?”
Another nod.
“When?”
Poppy hesitated.
“Last party.”
Thayer felt something change.
“What did you see?”
Poppy looked frightened.
He stopped immediately.
“You don’t have to tell me tonight.”
She leaned against him.
Then whispered:
“Corinne was already inside.”
Thayer said nothing.
Downstairs, Corinne was demanding her suitcase.
There had been no suitcase beside the stairs.
No prepared departure.
Only the coatroom.
Only the child.
Only the key.
May you like
And now one fact Thayer could no longer ignore:
Corinne had entered a room he had never given her permission to open.
