Chapter 2 - What Noah Refused to Repeat
Ethan did not call the police immediately.
Anna expected him to.
Eleanor clearly expected him to.
Instead, Ethan called the family physician and ordered everyone into separate rooms.
Noah was examined first.
No serious injury.
Water inhalation had been limited.
He was frightened, exhausted and physically safe.
That should have been the only thing that mattered.
It wasn’t.
Dr. Melissa Grant came downstairs twenty minutes later.
“Ethan.”
“Tell me.”
“Noah’s all right.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Only briefly.
Relief softened him before anger returned.
“And what did he say?”
Melissa hesitated.
“He asked whether Anna was still here.”
Eleanor folded her arms.
“Of course he did. Children fixate on the person who frightened them.”
Melissa looked at her.
“He asked whether she was safe.”
Silence.
Ethan turned.
“What exactly did he say?”
“‘Did Daddy make Anna leave?’ Then he asked me not to let her go outside alone.”
Anna heard this from the service hallway.
Ethan had ordered her to wait there.
She still had Noah’s note hidden inside her wet uniform.
She had not shown it to anyone.
Not yet.
She did not understand why.
Perhaps because Noah had specifically asked her not to tell Ethan about the red room.
Perhaps because a child who had just lied to his father had somehow trusted Anna with something he considered more dangerous than the lie itself.
Eleanor entered Noah’s room alone.
Five minutes later, Ethan followed.
Anna moved closer to the doorway.
“Noah,” Ethan said gently, “I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”
Silence.
“Did Anna push you?”
“Yes.”
“Where was Eleanor?”
Another pause.
“By the pool.”
“Did she touch you?”
“No.”
Eleanor’s voice came softly.
“See?”
Noah immediately began breathing faster.
Anna could hear it.
Ethan could too.
“Noah?”
“I’m tired.”
“Just one more question.”
“No.”
“Noah—”
“I SAID I’M TIRED!”
The shout startled everyone.
Noah rarely raised his voice.
Ethan backed off.
“All right.”
Anna heard footsteps.
She retreated.
Eleanor emerged first.
For one second the two women stood face-to-face.
Eleanor’s wet hair had begun drying around her shoulders.
Her expression was composed again.
“Pack your things.”
Anna stared at her.
“You know I saved him.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“You should be grateful Ethan hasn’t called the police.”
“You threw him.”
A flicker.
There.
Gone.
“You’re confused.”
“I saw you.”
“Then why did Noah say otherwise?”
Anna said nothing.
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“That’s what I thought.”
She walked away.
Anna watched her.
It should have confirmed everything.
Eleanor was the villain.
Noah was afraid of her.
Simple.
Except Anna had learned something during fourteen months in wealthy houses:
When something looked too simple, somebody usually wanted it to.
She returned to the pool.
The courtyard had been left untouched.
She reconstructed the moment.
Eleanor beside the edge.
Noah in her arms.
Anna approaching with the tray.
Eleanor releasing him.
Anna running.
Then Ethan arriving.
But something bothered her.
Ethan had entered after Noah was already out of the water.
Eleanor had enough time to wet herself deliberately.
Why?
To support her lie.
Obviously.
Yet Noah had already warned Anna that morning that he might accuse her.
That meant Noah knew before the pool incident that he would need to lie.
How?
Had Eleanor told him the plan?
If so, why warn Anna?
Anna looked toward the second floor.
Noah’s bedroom curtains moved.
He stood behind the glass.
Watching her.
Anna touched the note inside her pocket.
Noah raised one hand.
Four fingers.
Then two.
Then four again.
4-2-4.
Anna frowned.
Noah disappeared.
Behind her, something clicked.
She turned.
A small security camera under the courtyard eave had rotated toward her.
Anna looked back at the pool.
Then understood why Noah had not simply written everything down.
Someone was watching.
She returned to the service corridor and found the old house-security keypad.
She entered 424.
Nothing.
Again.
A hidden menu appeared.
CAMERA ARCHIVE 4/24.
April 24.
Not a code.
A date.
Anna selected it.
Six months earlier.
Pool courtyard.
The footage loaded.
Noah stood beside the exact same pool.
But he was not alone.
A woman knelt in front of him.
Blonde.
Elegant.
Anna recognized her from photographs throughout Noah’s room.
Claire Mercer.
Noah’s mother.
May you like
The woman Ethan had told Anna died when Noah was five.
The video had been recorded almost eighteen months after Claire’s funeral.
