“She was eating upstairs.”
“No, she wasn’t.”
“Darius.”
“Vanessa.”
Lily lowered her eyes.
My wife moved closer.
“Can we talk downstairs?”
“Sure.”
I looked at the plate again.
“After Lily tells me where she was going.”
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
That changed everything.
I crouched.
“Hey.”
She immediately looked at me.
“You’re not in trouble.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I promised.”
“Promised who?”
She shook her head.
“Lily.”
Vanessa said her name sharply.
I turned.
My wife’s face had changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Why are you stopping her from talking to me?”
“I’m not.”
“You just did.”
“Darius, please come downstairs.”
I stood.
“No.”
Vanessa’s eyes moved toward the far end of the hallway.
The western wall.
I followed her gaze.
There was nothing obvious there.
White paneling.
Decorative molding.
A narrow console table.
Family photographs.
A brass floor lamp.
Then Lily whispered:
“He gets hungry.”
My heart stopped.
I looked down.
“Who?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Lily started crying.
“The man in the wall.”
For several seconds I could not process the sentence.
Children say strange things.
They invent.
They misunderstand.
But Vanessa’s face told me Lily had not invented anything.
“What man?”
“Daddy…”
“What man is in the wall?”
Vanessa stepped between us.
“Darius, listen to me.”
I moved around her.
She caught my wrist.
I stopped.
“Let go.”
“Please.”
“Let go of me.”
“I can explain.”
“Then start explaining.”
“Not in front of Lily.”
I looked toward our daughter.
She was openly crying now.
I softened my voice.
“Baby, go downstairs.”
She did not move.
“Lily.”
“I don’t want you to hurt him.”
My stomach turned.
“Hurt who?”
“He’s sick.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Oh God.”
I walked toward the western wall.
Vanessa grabbed my sleeve.
“Darius.”
I pulled free.
She stepped in front of me.
“Don’t open it.”
I stared.
There are moments when your brain stops trying to make events normal.
This was one.
“Open what?”
Vanessa said nothing.
I looked at the paneling.
Then the floor.
That was when I saw the key.
Small.
Brass.
Near Lily’s pink shoe.
She must have dropped it.
I bent.
Vanessa moved.
Fast.
She caught my forearm.