The Silent Trail of Wealth and Secrets That Cost a Family Everything
I pulled it out, expecting a message from Nora.
The screen showed an unknown, restricted number.
I stepped back from the mirror, into the dim corner of the observation room.
I pressed the phone to my ear and answered.
“Madeline,” a voice said.
It was Eleanor Thorne, her tone cold, measured, and entirely devoid of emotion.
“I believe you have something of mine,” she said.
I gripped the phone tighter, my knuckles turning white against the plastic casing.
“If you mean your son, Eleanor, he is currently sitting in an interrogation room,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
A dry, soft chuckle came through the receiver.
“Gareth is a fool, Madeline, but he is still my son,” she said.
“And the toy you took from my house belongs to the Thorne estate.”
I looked through the two-way mirror.
Gareth was wiping his nose with the sleeve of his gray sweatshirt, his shoulders shaking.
Officer Cho stood just inside the door of the interrogation room, holding a folder containing the security camera stills from my ransacked kitchen.
“The footage of the burglary was very clear,” I said to Eleanor.