Chapter 4
The hidden passage went farther than I remembered.
As a child, I knew there were old service corridors behind parts of the mansion. Most had been sealed decades ago.
This one had not.
Behind the portrait, the passage turned left and opened into three narrow rooms.
One held old serving equipment.
One held linen.
The third had been changed recently.
A small cot.
Child’s slippers.
Two dresses.
A toothbrush.
A box of crackers.
I stood in the doorway and said nothing.
Margaret came beside me.
Her face went white.
“She’s slept here.”
I looked at her.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
I believed her.
“When would this happen?”
Margaret thought.
“Some nights Isabella was already asleep when I returned from my evening break.”
“Who covered for you?”
“Victoria’s housemaid.”
Of course.
The schedule had been designed.
Margaret out.
Me in council rooms.
Victoria controlling the corridor.
We found something else beneath the cot.
A paper card.
Three rules written in block letters with simple drawings so a toddler could understand.
BELL RINGS — BE QUIET.
PARTY — STAY BEHIND WALL.
CRYING — NO SWEETS.
I stared at the drawings.
Not impulsive.
Not occasional.
A system built for a child who could barely read.
Margaret started crying.
“I should have seen this.”
I looked at her.
“Maybe.”
She flinched.
I continued.
“But the people who did it are responsible for doing it.”
That distinction mattered.
Otherwise Victoria’s next defense would be that everyone else should have stopped her.
May you like
No.
She should not have done it.
