Chapter 2 - The Locked Room Upstairs
The officers drew their weapons and ordered everyone away from the house.
One remained with Gage while the other approached the porch.
Arthur kept Emily behind him.
“Who is inside?” he asked.
Emily’s lips trembled. “A woman named Nora.”
Gage began shouting.
“There is no Nora. She’s hallucinating.”
Emily flinched at his voice but continued.
“She worked for Margaret. She cleaned the house and helped with her medication. Three days ago, she saw Gage hit me.”
Margaret stared at the grass.
“What happened to her?” Arthur asked.
“They locked her in the upstairs guest room.”
The officer restraining Gage tightened his grip.
“You’re saying someone is being held against her will?”
Emily nodded.
“I tried to let her out this morning. Margaret caught me. Gage took my phone, but I had already called Dad.”
Margaret stood abruptly.
“That woman stole from me.”
“Then why didn’t you call the police?” Arthur asked.
“Because it was a family decision.”
“She isn’t family.”
Margaret looked toward Gage, waiting for him to rescue her from the conversation.
For the first time, he could not.
The officers entered the mansion.
A minute later, a woman screamed from inside.
Emily buried her face against Arthur’s uniform.
“I should have helped her sooner.”
“You called for help,” Arthur said. “That matters.”
“I waited three days.”
“Because you were afraid.”
“I was always afraid.”
Arthur looked at the bruises along her cheek.
“How long has he been hurting you?”
Emily did not answer immediately.
Gage did.
“She hurts herself when she gets angry.”
Arthur took one step toward him.
Emily caught his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
She was protecting him from making a mistake, even while barely able to stand.
Arthur stopped.
“Tell me,” he said gently.
“Two years.”
The words hollowed him out.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Emily looked down.
“I did.”
Arthur’s breath caught.
“What?”
“Last March. After he broke my wrist.”
Arthur remembered the injury. Emily claimed she slipped on ice.
“You never called.”
“I left a voicemail. The next day, Gage played me a message from your number. You said I had made my choice and needed to live with it.”
Arthur stared at her.
“I never sent that.”
Gage’s head turned sharply.
Emily saw the movement.
“He told me you were done with me.”
“I would never say that.”
“I know that now.”
Arthur looked toward Gage.
“You accessed my phone?”
Gage laughed. “You’re sixty-three and use the same password for everything.”
The confession slipped out because he was arrogant enough to believe it did not matter.
The body camera on the officer restraining him captured every word.
Two more police vehicles arrived, followed by paramedics.
The officers emerged from the house supporting a thin woman in sweatpants and a torn housekeeping uniform. Her wrists were marked from being bound with electrical cord.
Margaret began crying.
“Gage told me she was dangerous.”
Nora looked directly at her.
“You brought me food.”
Margaret went silent.
“You heard me begging,” Nora continued. “You told me your son would ruin my immigration case if I spoke.”
Margaret’s false tears stopped.
One officer turned to Gage.
“Place your hands behind your back.”
“On what charge?”
“We’ll start with unlawful imprisonment and assault.”
“You can’t arrest me based on the word of two unstable women.”
Emily looked at Arthur.
“The recording.”
“What recording?”
“The one on your phone.”
Arthur showed it to the detective who had just arrived.
The file contained only eleven minutes of video. Emily had activated an emergency recording app during the attack, but Gage discovered the phone and destroyed it.
The video had uploaded automatically to Arthur because Emily had secretly listed him as her emergency contact.
It showed Margaret blocking the front door while Gage dragged Emily through the foyer.
It captured Nora screaming from upstairs.
And it recorded Gage saying, “No one is coming for you. Your father already chose me.”
Arthur watched that section twice.
The detective noticed.
“You need to let us handle this,” she said.
“I intend to.”
Gage laughed as the officers cuffed him.
“You think one recording proves anything? Ask Emily why she was trying to steal my mother’s medication.”
Emily’s face changed.
Arthur felt her pull away from him.
“What is he talking about?”
Margaret suddenly found her voice.
“She was taking pills from my safe.”
Gage smiled at Emily.
“Tell your father why.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“I wasn’t stealing them.”
“Then what were you doing?”
May you like
She looked at Margaret.
“I was trying to prove she wasn’t sick.”
