PART 11: THE SAFE HAROLD NEVER OPENED
For nearly a full minute, nobody moved.
Janice was the first to break the silence.
“We have to leave.”
Linda looked at her.
“Leave?”
“If Richard knows I’m here, he’ll know exactly why.”
Dale shook his head.
“No.”
Janice turned toward him.
“No?”
“You don’t understand him.”
“I understand him better than anyone in this room.”
“He doesn’t threaten people.”
“He waits.”
The kitchen suddenly felt colder.
Paula looked from one face to another.
“Would someone please tell me who this man really is?”
Janice opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
“I can’t.”
Linda’s expression hardened.
“You can.”
“I won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if I say his name out loud…”
“…the first people he’ll come after won’t be me.”
She looked directly at Paula.
“It’ll be you.”
The room fell silent.
I finally pushed my untouched plate away.
“I’ve spent four years listening through a baby monitor because I refused to ignore my instincts.”
I looked at Janice.
“I’m done listening.”
“I’m asking.”
“My husband is dead.”
“My house is gone.”
“My daughter barely knows what happened to either.”
I folded my hands on the table.
“So tell me the truth.”
Janice stared at me for several seconds.
When she finally spoke, her voice had changed.
The confidence was gone.
“Harold tried to stop Richard.”
My heart skipped.
“What?”
“He discovered what the lists were really for.”
“He confronted him.”
“He walked away.”
She swallowed.
“And two weeks later…”
“…Harold called me.”
The room became perfectly still.
“He told me he’d hidden something.”
“What?”
“I never knew.”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“He only said…”
“‘If anything happens to me before I can show Marguerite, promise me you’ll make sure she finds it.’”
Tears blurred my vision.
Harold had been trying to protect me.
All these years…
I never knew.
Linda leaned forward.
“Did he say where he hid it?”
Janice slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
Every person at the table leaned closer.
“He said…”
“‘It’s in the only place Richard never thought to look.’”
Paula whispered,
“Where?”
Janice looked directly at me.
“He said you would understand.”
I searched every memory I had of my husband.
Every habit.
Every joke.
Every Saturday morning.
Every Christmas.
Nothing.
Then Colleen suddenly stood so fast her chair nearly toppled over.
“Oh, my God.”
She pressed both hands over her mouth.
“I know.”
“You know what?” I asked.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“The workshop.”
I frowned.
“What about it?”
“The old workshop behind the Ridgeway house.”
I stared at her.
“It was demolished after I sold the property.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not the workshop.”
“The floor.”
Harold had built that workshop himself.
He had refused to let anyone replace the oak flooring.
He always said,
“A man should have one place nobody touches but him.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“The floor…”
Colleen nodded.
“There was one loose plank.”
My breath caught.
The loose plank.
Every spring, Harold would lift it.
He always sent me inside for lemonade.
I had teased him about it for years.
He only smiled and said,
“Every man deserves one secret.”
I had laughed.
Now…
I wasn’t laughing.
Linda immediately reached for her phone.
“We need to find out who owns the Ridgeway property now.”
Before she could dial, the front door burst open.
A young deputy sheriff stepped inside, breathing hard.
“Mrs. Ellis?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt…”
“…but we’ve just received a report.”
“What kind of report?”
He looked around the room.
His eyes stopped on Janice.
Then he slowly said,
“Someone broke into the old workshop this morning.”
My heart nearly stopped.
The deputy continued.
“They didn’t steal any tools.”
“They didn’t damage the walls.”
“They pried up exactly one floorboard…”
“…and left the rest untouched.”
