Chapter 14 - The Blue Room|
The door opened with a soft click.
For several seconds, Dominic stood motionless.
I looked over his shoulder.
The room was painted blue.
Not a gentle nursery blue.
A cold, faded color that made the walls seem smaller than they were.
Soft panels covered part of the room.
A small chair stood beneath a ceiling-mounted speaker.
Two cameras faced the chair.
Beside the door was a cabinet filled with clinical folders.
My stomach turned.
“This is where they brought him.”
Dominic walked inside.
His face had become completely expressionless.
He looked at the chair.
Then at the cameras.
Then toward the speaker.
“Adrian told me Noah was receiving treatment in the children's therapy room downstairs.”
I touched the wall.
The blue paint was new.
“Someone renovated this place.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“When I was a child, this wing had a blue nursery. It was closed after my grandmother died.”
He looked around.
“Someone rebuilt it.”
I opened a folder.
Noah's name appeared on the first page.
There were notes describing crying episodes, avoidance, and aggressive behavior.
But some entries were disturbing.
They referred to deliberately introducing sounds associated with Noah's traumatic memories.
Three musical notes.
Repeated during sessions.
Then the staff recorded his panic as evidence of severe behavioral disturbance.
I felt sick.
“They were frightening him.”
Dominic took the folder.
His hands trembled.
“On purpose.”
I turned another page.
There were dates.
Times.
Signatures.
Dr. Adrian Kessler.
A second name appeared beneath several entries.
Marcus Bell.
Dominic stepped backward.
For a moment, I thought he might destroy the room.
Instead, he placed the folder carefully on the desk.
“Don't touch anything else,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because this is evidence.”
He took out his phone.
“I'm calling an outside investigator.”
I watched him.
“You're going to involve the police?”
“Yes.”
I hesitated.
“Even with everything your organization does?”
Dominic looked at me.
For once, he didn't pretend his world was clean.
“I've spent years believing I could protect my family by controlling everything around them.”
His voice broke slightly.
“Look where that got us.”
I nodded.
Then something caught my attention.
A small shelf beside the chair.
On it stood a second bronze horse statue.
Almost identical to the one Noah had used in the foyer.
Except its base was different.
I leaned closer.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Did Noah ever have two of these?”
Dominic frowned.
“No. Evelyn bought one for him when he was a baby.”
I looked at the statue.
“Then why is this one here?”
Dominic examined it.
There was a narrow compartment beneath the base.
Inside was a small electronic device.
A storage card.
Dominic stared.
“Evelyn used to hide family recordings inside decorative boxes.”
My heart began pounding.
“Maybe she hid something in the statue.”
He looked toward the door.
“The original horse.”
The one Noah had carried into the foyer.
The one he had used to strike me.
Suddenly, the attack seemed different.
Noah had taken that statue from its usual place.
He had carried it toward me.
He had been frightened.
And everyone assumed he wanted to hurt someone.
I looked at Dominic.
“What if Noah wasn't simply lashing out?”
Dominic's face changed.
“What do you mean?”
“What if someone had just tried to take the statue away?”
A long silence followed.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“Find the original horse.”
