Chapter 5 - Sadie’s Crayon Drawing
Roman drove back to Vale House in silence.
Megan Cole.
His housekeeper had worked for him for three years.
She had passed every background check.
Her father, Thomas Cole, had died when Megan was seven.
Officially, it had been a workplace accident at a Vale warehouse.
Roman suddenly understood why Margaret had kept records.
“Find everything on Thomas Cole,” he told Daniel.
They had an answer before reaching the estate.
Thomas Cole had worked security at Pier 14.
The same pier Margaret mentioned in her ledger.
He died eleven months after Anthony Vale.
The report said he fell from a loading platform.
Roman stared through the windshield.
Two deaths.
One location.
One company.
One man connecting them.
Graham Pierce.
Roman called Megan.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Daniel checked the location associated with the security phone Roman had given her.
“She’s home.”
Roman changed direction.
They reached Megan’s modest row house twenty minutes later.
The front door stood open.
Roman’s entire body tightened.
“Megan?”
No response.
Daniel entered first.
Then Roman heard a child.
“Mommy!”
He followed the voice.
Sadie sat beneath the kitchen table, crying.
Megan was beside the back door, conscious but shaken, clutching her phone.
Roman crossed the room.
“What happened?”
“A man came to the door.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. He asked about Sadie.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“What did he want?”
“The drawing.”
“What drawing?”
Sadie crawled out.
Her cheeks were wet.
“He took my picture.”
Roman knelt.
“What picture, sweetheart?”
“The one I made at your house.”
Roman remembered the crayons.
“What did you draw?”
“The angry man.”
Roman looked at Megan.
“She drew the man she saw upstairs?”
Megan nodded.
“I didn’t realize what it was until we got home.”
“Did you see who came here?”
“No. He never got inside. I shut the door and called Daniel, but he grabbed the paper from the mail slot after Sadie dropped it.”
Roman turned to Daniel.
“Cameras.”
Megan had a doorbell camera.
The footage showed a man in a baseball cap.
Victor Dane.
Roman watched him take Sadie’s drawing and hurry toward a car.
“Why would he care about a child’s drawing?” Megan asked.
Roman replayed the footage.
Because perhaps Sadie had drawn something besides Elias.
He turned to her.
“Sadie, what else was in the picture?”
“The blue box.”
“What else?”
“The angry man.”
“What was he doing?”
“Talking to Mr. Graham.”
Roman froze.
“When?”
“At your house.”
“Today?”
Sadie nodded.
Roman’s voice dropped.
“You saw Graham upstairs?”
“No.”
“Where?”
Sadie pointed as though the answer were obvious.
“Outside the window.”
Roman remembered Margaret’s room overlooked the east garden.
Graham had supposedly been in the dining room.
But during a break before the meeting, he had disappeared for approximately ten minutes.
Roman stood.
Sadie had seen Elias in Margaret’s room.
Then she had seen Graham outside, speaking to someone.
Perhaps Victor.
Perhaps Elias.
The drawing mattered because it recorded something Graham wanted erased.
Roman looked at Megan.
“You and Sadie aren’t staying here tonight.”
“I’m not going to your house.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
He arranged a hotel suite under another name with security stationed outside.
Before they left, Sadie pulled Roman toward her bedroom.
“I made another one.”
“Another drawing?”
She nodded.
From beneath her pillow, she removed a second sheet.
Roman stared.
Children drew details adults ignored.
The picture showed the mansion.
A blue box.
Three stick figures.
Sadie had labeled one MOMMY, though Megan had not been present upstairs.
Another had gray hair.
ELIAS.
The third wore a black suit.
Above him Sadie had drawn something yellow around his wrist.
A gold watch.
But beside the three figures was something else.
A black rectangle.
“What’s that?”
“A phone.”
“Whose phone?”
“The angry man’s.”
“What did he do with it?”
“He took a picture.”
“Of what?”
Sadie pointed to the blue box.
Roman finally understood.
Victor had not stolen the box to hide evidence.
He had photographed its contents.
Then Elias had taken the box.
Victor was trying to preserve evidence.
Roman called Daniel.
“Stop looking for Victor as a suspect.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s running from Graham.”
Thirty minutes later, Victor called.
His voice shook.
“I know what you think.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“I can’t.”
“Victor.”
“Graham knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I copied Margaret’s records.”
Roman looked toward Sadie.
“Why?”
“Because I’m tired, Roman.”
Victor sounded twenty years older than he had that morning.
“I helped Graham steal from Anthony. I told myself it was business. Then Anthony died. Graham said it was an accident. I believed him because I needed to.”
“And Thomas Cole?”
Silence.
Roman knew.
“You knew Megan’s father.”
Victor whispered, “Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Thomas saw Graham at Pier 14 the night Anthony died.”
Roman’s hand tightened around the phone.
“He was a witness?”
“Yes.”
“Did Graham kill him?”
“I don’t know. But Thomas came to me before he died. He said he had hidden something.”
“What?”
“A marina ledger.”
“Where?”
“I never found it.”
Roman looked at Megan.
Then at Sadie.
Margaret’s message suddenly made sense.
Megan’s family had paid a price without ever knowing why.
“Where would Thomas hide something?”
Victor breathed heavily.
“There’s one person who might know.”
“Who?”
“Margaret.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how does that help?”
Victor answered with six words.
May you like
“Ask Megan what her father left her.”
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