Chapter 6 - The House With No Windows
Richard moved Sophie that same night.
He did not take her to a hotel.
He did not take her to another Hale property.
Every location connected to him could already be known.
Instead, Nathan arranged for them to stay at his late father’s farmhouse seventy miles outside the city.
No public records connected Richard to it.
No staff.
No neighbors within half a mile.
Detective Briggs approved the location after two officers inspected it.
Sophie thought they were going on an adventure.
Richard let her believe that.
“Can Maria come?”
“Yes.”
“Can Bunny come?”
She held up a stuffed rabbit.
“Bunny is essential.”
Sophie smiled.
It was the first genuine smile Richard had seen since the kitchen.
He nearly cried.
The farmhouse was small compared with the Hale mansion.
Three bedrooms.
Old wooden floors.
A deep porch.
A kitchen where the cabinets did not match.
Sophie loved it immediately.
“There are cows!”
Richard looked through the window.
“There are.”
“Do they know us?”
“Not yet.”
“Can I tell them my name?”
“Tomorrow.”
She seemed satisfied.
That night, Richard cooked spaghetti.
Badly.
Maria tried to help.
He refused.
“I need to learn.”
“You have a chef.”
“Not here.”
Sophie sat at the kitchen table watching him burn garlic.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Smoke.”
He turned.
The pan was smoking.
Maria burst out laughing.
Then Sophie laughed.
Richard laughed too.
For a few minutes, they were a normal family in a normal kitchen.
No empire.
No lawyers.
No threats.
Just burnt garlic.
After dinner, Sophie spilled water.
The glass tipped from her hand.
Water spread across the table.
Her entire body stiffened.
Richard saw it happen.
The joy vanished from her face.
She whispered, “Sorry.”
Maria stopped moving.
Richard took a cloth.
He deliberately knocked over his own glass.
Water ran across the other side.
Sophie stared.
“Oh no,” Richard said dramatically. “Daddy spilled too.”
Sophie’s mouth opened.
“What happens now?”
Richard wiped the table.
“We clean it.”
She blinked.
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
She watched him for several seconds.
Then she slowly climbed from her chair.
“I help.”
Together, they wiped the water.
Richard knew he would remember that moment forever.
Because Sophie was not learning how to clean a table.
She was learning that mistakes did not always lead to fear.
Later, after she fell asleep, Nathan arrived.
He carried three folders.
“We found something.”
Richard closed the bedroom door quietly.
“What?”
Nathan spread documents across the kitchen table.
“Camille had a private company.”
Richard frowned.
“I know about her interior design firm.”
“Not that one.”
Nathan pointed to a Nevada registration.
“Bright Shore Consulting.”
“What does it do?”
“Apparently nothing.”
“Then why have it?”
“To receive money.”
Richard looked at the transactions.
“From Victor?”
“No.”
Nathan pointed to another name.
“Elliot Crane.”
Richard’s expression changed.
His half brother.
Elliot was Richard’s father’s son from his first marriage.
They had never been close.
But they were not enemies.
At least Richard had never thought so.
“What does Elliot have to do with this?”
Nathan pulled out bank records.
“Over the past eighteen months, companies tied to Elliot transferred nearly four million dollars into Bright Shore.”
Richard stared.
“No.”
“I checked twice.”
“He hates Camille.”
“Maybe publicly.”
Richard stood.
“Call him.”
“I already did.”
“And?”
“No answer.”
Richard walked toward the window.
His father, Henry Hale, had built the original company.
When Henry died, seventy percent went to Richard.
Twenty percent went to Elliot.
Ten percent remained in a charitable trust.
Elliot never forgave him.
He believed Richard had been chosen because he was the favorite.
Richard believed their father chose based on who had worked inside the company.
It had caused years of distance.
But conspiracy?
Poisoning?
Abuse of a child?
Richard could not imagine it.
Then again, he had not imagined Camille either.
Nathan’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
“Briggs.”
He answered.
After one minute, his face changed.
“What?”
Richard stepped closer.
Nathan listened.
Then hung up.
“What happened?”
“Victor was attacked.”
Richard stared.
“In jail?”
“During transport back from the courthouse.”
“How?”
“Vehicle collision. Someone hit the transport van.”
“Victor?”
“Alive.”
Richard exhaled.
Nathan continued.
“But the attacker escaped.”
Richard looked at the bank transfer.
“Elliot.”
“We don’t know that.”
“No.”
Richard looked through the dark farmhouse window.
“But somebody is cleaning up.”
At midnight, Richard checked every lock.
At one, he checked again.
At two, he heard Sophie crying.
He entered her room.
She was sitting upright.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
She reached for him.
He lay beside her.
“Bad dream?”
She nodded.
“What happened?”
“Mommy Camille came back.”
Richard stroked her hair.
“She isn’t here.”
Sophie whispered, “She said the man will take me.”
Richard froze.
“What man?”
Sophie squeezed Bunny tighter.
“The man from the stairs.”
Richard sat up.
“What stairs?”
“At our big house.”
His pulse quickened.
“Sweetheart, did a man come to the house?”
Sophie nodded.
“When?”
“When Daddy airplane.”
Richard’s business trip to London.
Two months earlier.
“What did he look like?”
Sophie frowned.
“Old.”
“Like Grandpa?”
“No.”
“Hair?”
“Gray.”
“What did he do?”
“He talked to Mommy Camille.”
Richard’s voice was barely steady.
“Where?”
“Daddy room.”
The study.
Nobody was allowed in there without Richard.
“What did the man say?”
Sophie looked frightened.
Richard softened immediately.
“You’re not in trouble.”
She whispered.
“He said Daddy has to sign.”
Richard stopped breathing.
“Sign what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What else?”
The child closed her eyes.
“He said if Daddy says no, make Daddy sleepy again.”
Richard’s blood turned to ice.
Again.
Not for the first time.
Again.
“Sophie, did you see the man’s face?”
She nodded.
Richard reached for his phone.
He opened family photographs.
Business events.
Old company pictures.
Then Sophie touched the screen.
“That man.”
Richard stared.
The photograph was twenty years old.
His father stood in the center.
Richard beside him.
Elliot on the other side.
Behind them stood the Hale family attorney at the time.
Samuel Voss.
The man who had drafted Richard’s earliest trusts.
The man who had retired twelve years ago.
The man Richard had believed was living quietly in Arizona.
Richard looked at Sophie.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“That man said make Daddy sleepy.”
Richard slowly stood.
Because suddenly the conspiracy was older than Camille.
May you like
Older than Victor.
And possibly connected to the one person who knew every weakness in the Hale empire.
