Chapter 4 - The Voice from the Past
My heart leaped into my throat.
Wyatt quickly pushed my chair toward the foot of the stairs as the paramedics brought an elderly man down.
He was thin—so thin his skin looked like yellowed parchment stretched over brittle bone. He was wearing a faded flannel bathrobe that was four sizes too big for him. His hair was long and white, reaching his shoulders, but his blue eyes—the exact same shade of blue as mine—were bright, clear, and wet with tears.
It was Uncle Arthur.
When his eyes landed on me, he stopped on the bottom step. His gaze moved over the heavy bandage on my face, the bruising on my jaw, and the blue hospital blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
"Oh, my sweet girl..." Arthur sobbed, his voice cracking like dry wood. "What did they do to you? What did they do to my little girl?"
He fell to his knees on the carpet, reaching out his frail, bony hands toward me.
Wyatt helped me lean forward out of the chair so I could hold his hands. His fingers were ice-cold, but his grip was surprisingly firm.
"Uncle Arthur," I choked out, tears bursting from my right eye. "I thought you went away... they told me you left for Florida when I was seven!"
"They locked me in the north room, Sadie," Arthur wept, his chin trembling. "They took my glasses. They took my books. Every time I tried to knock on the window, your father... your father would turn off the heat. He said if I ever made a noise when visitors were here, he’d hurt you."
The entire room went deathly cold.
Chief Briggs slowly turned his head to look at my father, who was still pinned to the dining table, his face pressed against the mahogany wood.
"You threatened to hurt the girl if he spoke up?" Briggs asked, his voice deathly quiet.
Gregory didn't answer. He just spat on the floor.
"You bastards," Wyatt growled, taking a step toward my father. Eleanor Vance placed a firm hand on Wyatt’s chest, stopping him before he could ruin our legal standing.
"Let the law handle this, Mr. Campbell," Eleanor said calmly. "They have just added kidnapping, human trafficking, false imprisonment, and extortion to their charges."
My sister Melanie, who had stayed silent through the entire ordeal, suddenly burst into tears. "I didn't know! I swear I didn't know he was up there! Mom told me it was just storage!"
Arthur turned his head slowly toward Melanie. His clear blue eyes hardened with a terrifying clarity.
"You knew, Melanie," Arthur said, his voice ringing through the foyer. "You came up to my room last month to take my mother’s pearl necklace out of my dresser. You told me I’d be dead soon anyway."
Melanie’s face went white. She looked at the police officers, who were already pulling out a second pair of handcuffs.
"Wait! No! I’m a student! I have a degree to finish! You can't arrest me!" Melanie screamed as an officer grabbed her wrists and pulled her off the sofa.
"Melanie Davis, you are under arrest as an accessory to elder abuse and grand larceny," the officer read her rights as she kicked and screamed, her manicured nails scratching at the officer's sleeves.
My mother was already sobbing quietly in the corner, staring at the bundles of cash scattered across the hallway rug. Her grand plan—her perfect scheme to marry Melanie off to a millionaire and absorb Arthur’s fortune—had collapsed into total ruin in less than two hours.
As the paramedics carefully placed Uncle Arthur onto a gurney to take him to the same hospital where I was staying, he reached out and took my hand one more time.
May you like
"Sadie," Arthur whispered, pulling a small, rusted silver key from his bathrobe pocket and slipping it into my palm. "The safe... behind the grandfather clock in the study. Don't let them take it. It has the original records. Everything my brother left for you."
I squeezed the key tightly in my fist. "I won't, Uncle Arthur. I promise."
