Chapter 5 - Adrian Opened the Sealed East Wing—and Found His Wife's Voice on a Recording Nobody Was Meant to Hear
Adrian didn't argue with his son.
He knelt on the carpet.
"Tell me what you remember."
Noah hid his face against my shoulder.
"The blue room smelled funny."
"Like smoke?" Adrian asked.
"Like Grandma's tea."
Adrian stood so quickly the chair moved.
"Stay with him," he told me.
He returned with a ring of keys.
We crossed the eastern corridor together.
The air smelled of dust and old wood.
A chain crossed the final door.
Adrian unlocked it.
Behind it stood a bedroom preserved in silence.
Blue wallpaper.
White curtains.
A child's drawing taped to a mirror.
There was no fire damage.
Not on the walls.
Not on the carpet.
Not even on the lampshade.
"This isn't possible," Adrian whispered.
"The investigators showed me photographs."
I opened the wardrobe.
Women's clothes hung in neat rows.
A cardigan smelled faintly of rose soap.
Adrian touched its sleeve.
"Claire wore this the night she died."
Noah approached the bedside table.
He pressed a carved flower beneath the drawer.
A hidden compartment clicked open.
Inside sat a small digital recorder.
Adrian stared at it.
"Claire used that for her research."
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice spoke.
"If you're hearing this, Eleanor found out."
Adrian covered his mouth.
The voice continued.
"The documents aren't about Noah."
A pause.
"They're about Blackwood Aerospace."
Something struck the corridor door.
A woman's voice shouted outside.
"Adrian, step away from that recorder!"
May you like
Eleanor.
And someone was turning a key in the lock.
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