Chapter 6 - The Locked Room
Ethan carried Margaret into the mansion.
She protested weakly, but her legs could barely support her.
Victoria followed behind him.
“You’re making this worse,” she said. “She needs discipline, not attention.”
Ethan stopped so suddenly that Victoria nearly walked into him.
“Do not speak to her.”
The coldness in his voice silenced the entire hallway.
He placed Margaret on a sofa and asked Lauren to bring water.
Then he walked toward the guest suite.
The room was immaculate.
Fresh flowers.
Clean sheets.
A tray holding fruit and bottled water.
It looked exactly like the photographs Victoria had sent him.
But there were no personal belongings.
No slippers.
No medicine.
No gray cardigan Margaret wore every morning.
Ethan opened the closet.
Empty.
“Where does she sleep?” he asked.
Victoria stayed near the doorway.
“Here.”
Ethan looked at her.
Then he saw a tiny purple thread caught beneath the closet door.
It matched Margaret’s torn robe.
He followed the hallway toward the laundry room.
Victoria rushed after him.
“Ethan, stop.”
At the far end was a narrow door with a lock mounted on the outside.
Ethan stared at it.
His hand slowly closed around the handle.
“Why is this locked?”
“It’s storage.”
He pulled.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow cot, a thin blanket, an empty water bottle, and a plastic container containing two pieces of stale toast.
Margaret’s medication bottles sat on a high shelf, out of her reach.
A small camera faced the bed.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Behind him, one of the guests whispered, “Oh my God.”
Victoria’s face turned pale.
“That camera was for her safety.”
Ethan lifted one of the pill bottles.
The prescription had been filled three weeks earlier.
Almost every tablet remained inside.
His mother had not been receiving her medication.
Then Ethan noticed scratches on the inside of the door.
Not random scratches.
Words.
May you like
PLEASE CALL MY SON.
👉 Victoria could explain away the room, the lock, and the medication—but she could not explain the camera pointed at Margaret’s bed.
