Chapter 2 - The Locked Room
Three days later, Nora found the door.
It stood at the end of the west corridor.
Dark walnut.
Brass handle.
No dust.
Every other room in Blackwood Manor was cleaned daily.
This one looked untouched but carefully protected.
Nora reached for the knob.
“It’s locked.”
Dante’s voice came from behind her.
She turned.
He stood ten feet away.
Black shirt.
Dark trousers.
Expression cold.
“You don’t come down this corridor.”
Nora dropped her hand.
“Okay.”
Dante seemed almost confused.
“No argument?”
“I know when someone means it.”
“You usually don’t.”
“That’s because you usually don’t.”
Dante stepped closer.
“This room is different.”
“I figured.”
Nora picked up the basket of linens beside her.
As she passed him, she paused.
“Luca?”
Dante went still.
Nora instantly regretted it.
“Margaret mentioned his name once,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Dante’s voice turned quiet.
“Yes.”
She looked at the door.
“His room?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t touch it.”
Dante studied her.
Most people tried to force grief open.
Nora didn’t.
That disturbed him more than curiosity would have.
That evening, she found Dante in the kitchen drinking black coffee.
“At midnight?” she asked.
“It’s coffee.”
“It’s punishment.”
“Same thing.”
Nora opened a cabinet.
“Tea?”
“No.”
“Whiskey?”
“No.”
“Warm milk?”
Dante stared at her.
“Try that sentence again and you’re unemployed.”
She laughed.
Something in his chest loosened.
Then the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The estate went dark.
A second later, emergency lights glowed red through the hallway.
Dante’s entire body changed.
The grieving man disappeared.
The boss returned.
“Stay here.”
Nora looked at him.
“What happened?”
“Generator should’ve activated immediately.”
Footsteps thundered outside.
Vincent entered.
“South grid is down.”
“Sabotage?”
“Maybe.”
Dante pulled a pistol from beneath his jacket.
Nora stared.
“So Margaret was slightly dishonest about the wealthy-businessman part.”
Dante looked at her.
“This isn’t the time.”
“What exactly do you do?”
“Stay here.”
“Dante.”
His voice sharpened.
“Now.”
He left with Vincent.
Ten minutes later, Nora heard glass break near the west corridor.
She grabbed a heavy cast-iron skillet.
“This is stupid,” she muttered.
Then she went anyway.
Near Luca’s locked room, a man in maintenance clothing crouched beside an electrical panel.
Nora raised the skillet.
“Hey.”
The man spun.
He ran.
Nora swung.
CLANG.
The skillet hit the wall.
The intruder disappeared through a side exit.
Seconds later, Dante arrived.
He grabbed Nora by the shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“What were you thinking?”
“That he wasn’t here to fix your lights.”
“You could have been killed.”
“You told me to stay in a dark kitchen while armed men ran through the house.”
“That was exactly what I told you to do.”
She pulled free.
“Well, I’m bad at instructions.”
Dante was furious.
But his anger shifted when he saw something on the floor.
A silver cuff link.
He picked it up.
His face changed.
Nora noticed.
“You recognize it.”
Dante turned the cuff link over.
An engraved letter M.
“Luca had a pair.”
Nora stared.
“Was that his?”
“No.”
Dante’s voice dropped.
“They were custom-made.”
Vincent appeared behind them.
“What happened?”
Dante held up the cuff link.
Vincent’s expression changed for barely a second.
Nora saw it.
Dante didn’t.
“Where did you find that?” Vincent asked.
“Here.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Could be one of the old household pieces.”
“No,” Dante said. “Only two sets were made.”
Nora looked between them.
“Who got the second?”
Dante’s eyes moved slowly toward Vincent.
“My father.”
Vincent answered too quickly.
“And after your father died?”
Silence.
Dante turned to him.
Vincent gave a calm smile.
“Probably packed away somewhere.”
Nora watched him.
Something about that smile bothered her.
Later that night, she found Margaret in the laundry room.
“Did Dante’s father own silver cuff links with an M?”
Margaret stopped folding a towel.
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who handled his things when he died?”
Margaret’s face tightened.
“Vincent.”
Nora went silent.
Margaret looked at her.
“Why?”
May you like
Nora glanced toward the hallway.
“Because I think somebody just came into this house wearing one.”
