Chapter 13 - Footsteps in the Courtyard
The sudden blackout settled over the mansion like a suffocating shroud. I stood motionless in the center of the study, every muscle in my body coiled. The manor had an automatic diesel generator designed to kick on within eight seconds of any power interruption. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. The heavy silence was unbroken save for the rhythmic patter of rain against the glass.
The generator hadn't failed; it had been manually bypassed.
Reaching into the locked drawer beneath my desk, I drew out my licensed revolver, thumbing back the hammer with a faint, oiled click. I slipped the antique key into my pocket and moved swiftly down the carpeted hallway toward Lily’s bedroom. The floral handbag sat on a side table near the corridor’s archway; I snatched it up by the strap and slung it across my chest.
As I neared Lily’s door, the faint squeak of rubber against wet marble drifted up from the grand foyer downstairs. Someone was inside the house.
I eased the nursery door open without making a sound. Lily was still fast asleep, curled beneath her down comforter, clutching her stuffed rabbit. Stepping silently into the room, I scooped her up with one arm, pressing a hand gently over her mouth to prevent her from crying out in alarm. Her eyes fluttered open in the dim shadows, wide with confusion.
"Shh, sweetheart. It’s just Daddy. We’re playing a quiet game," I whispered directly against her ear.
She nodded faintly, wrapping her little arms around my neck. Instead of risking the grand staircase, I slipped into the servant’s passage concealed behind the vintage bookshelf in the nursery closet—a narrow stairway built into the outer walls during the nineteenth century.
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As I closed the hidden door behind us, the heavy sound of Lily’s primary bedroom door being kicked open echoed through the hollow wall. Heavy, disciplined footsteps marched into the room, followed by the harsh sweep of a high-powered flashlight.
"Clear," a rough, unfamiliar voice muttered through a radio transmitter. "The girl isn't in her bed. Search the master wing. He knows we're here."
