Chapter 2 - The Woman Upstairs
The mansion changed in less than thirty seconds.
Doors locked.
Security shutters lowered over several service entrances.
Men appeared in hallways that had been empty moments earlier.
Ethan carried Noah himself.
“Dad?”
“I’ve got you.”
“Is Margaret mad?”
Ethan looked down at his son.
“No.”
I saw the lie immediately.
So did Noah.
“She gets mad when I don’t take my medicine.”
Ethan stopped walking.
“What did you say?”
Noah leaned against his father’s shoulder.
“She says good boys don’t complain.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
I stepped closer.
“Noah, what happens after she gives you the medicine?”
“My legs get heavy.”
“How quickly?”
He thought.
“Before cartoons.”
Twenty or thirty minutes.
Exactly what I had suspected.
Ethan looked at me.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No. I didn’t know.”
“Then why make him walk?”
“Because I tested his reflexes before his morning medication.”
Ethan stared at me.
“He was stronger.”
“How much stronger?”
“Enough that I stopped believing his condition was progressing naturally.”
Daniel approached.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Margaret’s room is empty.”
Ethan’s expression remained still.
“Find her.”
“We’re checking the house.”
“No one touches her.”
Daniel nodded.
Ethan glanced toward Noah.
“Not in front of my son.”
He carried Noah upstairs.
I followed.
Inside Noah’s bedroom, Ethan placed him gently on the bed.
Noah grabbed his wrist.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Am I sick?”
Ethan looked at me.
For perhaps the first time since I had met him, Ethan Caldwell had no answer.
I sat beside Noah.
“You are weak. That part is real.”
“Will I walk again?”
“We need doctors to figure out exactly what’s happening.”
“That means maybe.”
“Yes.”
He considered that.
“Maybe is better than never.”
Ethan turned away.
His shoulders rose with one slow breath.
Someone knocked.
Dr. Samuel Pierce entered.
I recognized him immediately.
Noah’s physician.
“What’s going on?” Pierce asked. “Security called me.”
Ethan closed the door.
“My son walked today.”
Pierce froze.
“What?”
“Eight steps.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” I said. “It happened.”
Pierce looked at me sharply.
“You exercised him?”
“I evaluated him.”
“You had no authority—”
Ethan stepped between us.
“She has authority now.”
Pierce went silent.
Ethan held out my phone.
“What is this?”
Pierce studied the photographs.
His face drained.
“I don’t know.”
“You prescribed Noah’s medication.”
“Yes.”
“So tell me why there are two bottles.”
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
Pierce enlarged the label.
Then he shook his head.
“That second bottle didn’t come from my office.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You’re certain?”
“Completely.”
A radio crackled outside.
Daniel’s voice came through.
“Boss, we found Margaret.”
Ethan opened the door.
“Where?”
“East stairwell.”
“Bring her to my study.”
A second voice interrupted.
“Daniel, wait.”
Static.
Then:
“She has a suitcase.”
Ethan looked at me.
I looked at him.
Margaret hadn’t been hiding.
She had been trying to leave.
Ten minutes later, she sat across from Ethan’s desk.
Her suitcase rested beside her chair.
Ethan stood near the fireplace.
I remained by the door.
Dr. Pierce stood beside me.
Margaret looked at each of us.
Then she smiled.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ethan placed my phone on the desk.
“Explain the second bottle.”
Her smile disappeared.
“What bottle?”
“The one hidden behind my son’s medicine.”
“I don’t know anything about it.”
“Interesting.”
Ethan opened her suitcase.
Clothes.
Cash.
Passport.
And an airline ticket.
Departure: tonight.
Margaret’s face changed.
Ethan picked up the ticket.
“You planned a vacation?”
“My sister is ill.”
“You never mentioned a sister.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have one.”
Ethan nodded.
Then he turned to me.
“What would you do?”
Margaret stared at him.
“You’re asking the nanny?”
“No.”
Ethan’s eyes remained on me.
“I’m asking the woman who made my son walk.”
I answered immediately.
“Send both bottles to independent laboratories.”
Dr. Pierce nodded.
“And take Noah to a hospital Margaret has never had contact with.”
Margaret stood.
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Sit down.”
She did.
His phone rang.
Daniel answered from the hallway.
Then he stepped inside.
“Boss?”
Ethan turned.
“We checked the security footage.”
“And?”
Daniel looked at Margaret.
“Someone entered Noah’s room at 2:13 this morning.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Daniel held up a tablet.
The footage began playing.
A figure entered Noah’s bedroom.
Margaret leaned forward.
“That isn’t me.”
She was right.
The person was taller.
Male.
Wearing gloves.
Dr. Pierce whispered, “Who is that?”
Ethan stared at the screen.
Then his face went completely still.
May you like
“I know exactly who that is.”
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