Chapter 3
Wycliffe Academy confirmed that Melisande had contacted its admissions office.
Not once.
Four times.
She described herself as the children’s future stepmother.
She asked about temporary residential placements lasting six to twelve months.
She claimed both children had become increasingly difficult to manage.
Wycliffe’s admissions coordinator told her that parental consent, school records, and appropriate professional recommendations would be required.
Melisande asked whether one parent could begin the process privately.
The coordinator said no.
Leander read the emails twice.
“Did she ever use my name?”
Grant pointed to one.
Their father is overwhelmed and will likely agree once he sees how severe things have become.
Leander’s jaw tightened.
He had never been overwhelmed enough to consider sending his children away.
Tired?
Yes.
Frustrated?
Frequently.
But they were his children.
Home was theirs before Melisande entered it.
That afternoon Bastian asked to speak with him alone.
“I broke the vase.”
Leander frowned.
“What vase?”
“The blue one.”
A decorative vase had shattered in the upstairs hallway six weeks earlier.
Melisande told Leander Bastian kicked a soccer ball indoors.
Bastian had admitted it then.
Now he looked ashamed.
“I didn’t kick the ball.”
Leander sat down.
“Then why did you say you did?”
“Melisande said if I told you what happened, you’d send me to the school.”
“What happened?”
“She knocked it over.”
Leander became still.
“On purpose?”
“I don’t know.”
“She was mad.”
“About what?”
“I wouldn’t give her Mom’s key.”
“What key?”
Bastian reached beneath his shirt.
A small brass key hung from a cord.
Leander recognized it immediately.
Caroline’s old desk key.
Leander had forgotten Bastian still wore it.
“What did Melisande want with it?”
Bastian shrugged.
“She said Mom’s office needed to be cleaned out.”
Caroline’s office.
Another room Melisande had repeatedly suggested renovating.
Leander had always refused.
He told himself there was no hurry.
Apparently Melisande disagreed.
May you like
The second clue arrived from the children rather than the paperwork.
She had been turning resistance around Caroline’s belongings into behavioral evidence too.
