Chapter 4 - What Ellie Drew in BlueOn the third morning after the freezer incident, Ellie refused to eat breakfast.
Adrian found her sitting at the dining table with an untouched bowl of oatmeal.
The elaborate room seemed ridiculous around her.
Twenty-four chairs.
A crystal chandelier.
Fresh roses arranged in a silver vase.
And one little girl who would not lift her spoon.
Victoria stood beside the windows speaking on her phone.
“We need to be proactive,” she said. “People always believe the first version of a story.”
Adrian caught the final sentence.
“Who are you talking to?”
Victoria ended the call.
“Our public relations adviser.”
“About Ellie?”
“About protecting our family.”
He looked at his daughter.
“I don't want her name in the newspapers.”
“Neither do I.”
But Victoria had already authorized a carefully worded statement claiming that an employee had been dismissed following a serious child-safety incident.
It named no child.
It named no father.
It did identify Claire Bennett as the dismissed employee.
Adrian did not know that yet.
He sat beside Ellie.
“Would you like something different?”
She shook her head.
“Pancakes?”
Another shake.
He remembered Claire making pancakes shaped like rabbits.
The memory made him uncomfortable.
“Maybe we could draw together,” he suggested.
Ellie glanced toward Victoria.
“Just us?”
Something in her voice caught him.
“Of course.”
Victoria smiled.
“I'll give you two some time.”
She left, although Adrian noticed that Ellie did not begin breathing normally until her footsteps faded.
He carried the art supplies into the morning room.
For half an hour, they drew houses, flowers, and animals.
Adrian produced a terrible-looking horse.
Ellie almost smiled.
Then she selected a blue crayon.
She began drawing a woman.
The figure wore a blue shirt.
Beside her stood a large rectangle with a handle.
Inside the rectangle was a much smaller figure.
Adrian watched.
“What is that, sweetheart?”
“The cold room.”
His hand stopped moving.
“And who's this?”
Ellie pressed the crayon so hard its tip broke.
“The lady.”
“What lady?”
She looked toward the doorway.
Adrian understood that he was getting close to something important.
He forced himself to speak gently.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Ellie's breathing quickened.
“Did I do something bad?”
“No.”
“Because I didn't listen?”
Adrian felt an unpleasant pressure behind his ribs.
“Who told you that?”
The child lowered her head.
He waited.
Then she whispered, “The door has a silver tooth.”
Adrian looked at the drawing again.
Beside the large rectangle, Ellie had drawn a small horizontal line.
A latch.
An exterior latch.
He knew the freezer door had one.
He had seen it on the night of the incident.
But Ellie was five.
Perhaps she had noticed it before.
Perhaps she was simply remembering something frightening.
He could not tell.
“Ellie, did Claire close the door?”
The child did not answer.
Instead, she covered the drawing with both hands.
Adrian immediately regretted asking.
Dr. Harris had warned him not to pressure her.
He pulled her gently onto his lap.
“You don't have to answer anything right now.”
She rested her head against him.
After a while, she asked, “Does Claire hate us?”
The question nearly broke him.
“I don't think so.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Hate Claire?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
He remembered the sound of his hand striking her face.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Then why did you make her cry?”
There it was.
The question he had been avoiding.
He could not offer his daughter a truthful explanation that also made him look innocent.
So he gave her the only answer he could.
“Because I made a terrible choice.”
Ellie remained quiet.
Outside the room, Victoria listened from the corridor.
She had not heard every word.
But she had heard Claire's name.
And she had seen the drawing.
When Adrian took Ellie upstairs for her afternoon rest, Victoria returned to the morning room.
The blue crayon lay beside the paper.
She picked up the drawing.
Her eyes settled on the rectangular door.
The silver tooth.
The woman in blue.
For the first time since the incident, Victoria felt something colder than satisfaction.
Fear.
She folded the paper and slipped it into her handbag.
Then she walked upstairs to Ellie's bedroom.
The child was awake, holding a stuffed rabbit.
Victoria closed the door behind her.
“Your father showed me your picture.”
Ellie sat up.
“I made it for Daddy.”
“I know.”
Victoria sat at the edge of the bed.
“You remember what happened when you didn't listen to me?”
Ellie stared at her.
Victoria smoothed the blanket.
“Your father became angry. Claire lost her job. Everyone was upset.”
Tears appeared in Ellie's eyes.
Victoria lowered her voice.
“We don't want that to happen again, do we?”
Ellie shook her head.
“Then you must be very careful about the stories you tell.”
The little girl clutched the rabbit tighter.
“Okay.”
Victoria kissed her forehead.
When she left, Ellie crawled beneath her blanket and began crying without making a sound.
Downstairs, Adrian searched the morning room for the drawing.
He wanted to show it to Dr. Harris.
The crayons remained.
The paper did not.
He checked beneath the table.
Behind the sofa.
Inside the art box.
Nothing.
At first, he assumed a housekeeper had tidied the room.
Then he remembered that Victoria had been the only other adult nearby.
He took out his phone.
Before he could call her, a message arrived from the foundation's board secretary, Ruth Ellis.
Adrian, why is Victoria asking us to approve an emergency $6 million transfer to repair Rose House? We were told the building was already renovated.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Six million dollars.
May you like
The first he had heard of it.
And the building named in the message was the same one Ellie had mentioned before the freezer incident.
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