Chapter 3 - The Minor Punishment
Conrad would remember individual details of the next minute for the rest of his life.
The garden shears.
Elliot’s shaking hands.
Julian’s voice.
The crack of the trellis breaking.
Agatha’s pearls swinging when Conrad slapped her.
The silence afterward.
But what he remembered most clearly was the brass key.
Because the moment Agatha saw it, she stopped caring that Julian was injured.
She stopped caring about the guests.
She stopped caring about the broken pots.
She cared about that key.
Conrad noticed.
He noticed everything now.
“Everybody leave,” Agatha ordered.
Nobody moved.
She raised her voice.
“The party is over.”
Guests began collecting bags and jackets.
Whispers spread rapidly.
Nathan remained.
Julian staggered to his feet.
Blood ran from his lower lip.
“You’re insane.”
Conrad kept Elliot behind him.
“You chained my son to a pillar.”
“He broke into a locked room.”
“So you chained him?”
“It was ten minutes.”
Elliot cried harder.
Conrad looked at Julian.
“Ten minutes?”
Julian hesitated.
Agatha interrupted.
“It was intended to teach him that actions have consequences.”
Conrad turned toward his mother.
“You approved it.”
Her silence answered.
Nathan looked horrified.
“Agatha, tell me that isn’t true.”
She straightened her gown.
“No child was harmed.”
Conrad nearly moved toward her again.
Nathan caught his arm.
“Conrad.”
The attorney’s grip brought him back.
Elliot needed him calm.
Conrad crouched.
“Buddy, look at me.”
Elliot tried.
“Did Uncle Julian put the chain on you?”
A small nod.
“Was Grandma there?”
Another nod.
Agatha stepped forward.
“Do not interrogate him.”
Conrad ignored her.
“Why?”
Elliot wiped his nose.
“I opened the greenhouse.”
“With the key?”
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
Elliot looked toward Agatha.
She frightened him.
Conrad shifted so his body blocked her.
“You can tell me.”
“There’s another room.”
“Inside the greenhouse?”
Elliot nodded.
“Behind the shelf with the flower pots.”
Conrad remembered a tall cedar shelving unit against the greenhouse’s north wall.
Caroline had stored seed trays there.
“There was a little door.”
“What was inside?”
“A red coat.”
Conrad felt a chill.
Caroline had owned a red wool coat.
She wore it constantly during the last winter of her life.
Conrad remembered helping her search for it two weeks before she died.
Caroline had insisted she left it at Hayes Manor.
Agatha claimed she had never seen it.
“What else?”
“A box.”
Agatha moved.
Conrad immediately stood.
“Stay there.”
“Conrad, this has gone far enough.”
“No. It started three years ago.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You hit your head on something?”
Conrad held up Caroline’s note.
“Explain this.”
Julian stopped laughing.
Nathan stared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Elliot.”
Nathan looked at Agatha.
His face changed.
“You told me everything had been destroyed.”
Silence.
Conrad turned slowly.
“What did she tell you had been destroyed?”
Nathan realized what he had said.
Agatha’s voice became sharp.
“Do not answer.”
Nathan stared at her.
Then at Elliot.
Then at the broken chain on the ground.
Something inside the older man seemed to make a decision.
“Caroline left documents with me.”
Conrad forgot how to breathe.
“What documents?”
“She believed someone at Hayes Development was diverting money from the family trust.”
Julian scoffed.
“Ridiculous.”
Nathan continued.
“She gave me copies of account statements, property transfers, and internal authorizations.”
“When?”
“Four days before she died.”
Conrad looked toward his brother.
Julian’s expression was unreadable.
“What happened to them?”
Nathan swallowed.
“Agatha told me Caroline had withdrawn the allegations.”
Conrad looked at his mother.
“Did she?”
Agatha said nothing.
Nathan continued.
“She produced a signed statement supposedly from Caroline instructing me to destroy everything.”
“Did you?”
“I destroyed the copies she gave me.”
Conrad felt sick.
“But Caroline told me something else,” Nathan said.
“What?”
“That she had hidden the originals somewhere no Hayes would think to look.”
Conrad looked at the greenhouse.
Agatha immediately moved toward the path.
Conrad stepped in front of her.
“No.”
“This is my property.”
“Not today.”
“You have no authority to stop me.”
Nathan cleared his throat.
“Actually, he may.”
Agatha turned.
Nathan looked almost apologetic.
“Under the current trust, Conrad remains a co-beneficiary with inspection rights over trust-owned real property.”
Julian’s face darkened.
“Then we’ll call security.”
Conrad took out his phone.
“Good idea.”
He dialed 911.
Agatha’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
“Reporting what you did to my son.”
For the first time, Julian seemed genuinely concerned.
“This is a family issue.”
“You chained a seven-year-old child to a pillar.”
Conrad raised the phone.
“Explain ‘family issue’ to the police.”
Agatha lowered her voice.
“If you bring authorities into this house, everything changes.”
Conrad stared at her.
“That’s the first thing you’ve said today that makes me hopeful.”
Then a sound came from inside the mansion.
Glass breaking.
Everyone turned.
The upstairs curtain moved again.
Conrad remembered the figure at the window.
“Someone’s inside.”
Julian looked toward the house.
This time his fear was unmistakable.
Conrad grabbed Elliot’s hand.
“Stay with Nathan.”
“No.”
“Elliot.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
Conrad crouched.
“I’ll be where you can see me.”
The boy reluctantly took Nathan’s hand.
Conrad walked toward the mansion.
Behind him, Julian shouted.
“Don’t go upstairs.”
Conrad stopped.
Slowly turned.
“Why?”
May you like
Julian had no answer.
That was answer enough.
