"Daddy, There's Something Under the Table"

CHAPTER 2 - THE MAN UPSTAIRS

Daniel locked the dining room doors and reached for his phone.

There was no signal.

"The storm," Vanessa said. "It always interferes with reception here."

"Then we use the landline."

"The wire was cut."

Her answer came too quickly.

Daniel stared at her.

Vanessa knelt beside Ruby. "My brother-in-law, Grant, has custody of her. My sister Claire died last year."

"You told me you had no family left."

"I said what was necessary to keep you out of this."

Daniel almost laughed. "He's in my house. Sophie is standing three feet away. You didn't keep us out of anything."

Vanessa explained that Ruby had called her two nights earlier from a gas station. Grant had been drinking. He had struck Ruby after she asked what happened the night her mother died.

Vanessa brought Ruby to the mansion and filed for an emergency custody hearing. She planned to tell Daniel after dinner, but Grant had appeared at the side gate before Daniel and Sophie came downstairs.

Ruby had hidden under the table when she heard a window opening.

"Why didn't you call the police?" Daniel demanded.

"Because Grant is a respected paramedic. He told everyone Claire fell down the stairs. They believed him."

Sophie pressed against Daniel's side.

He hated that she was hearing this. He hated even more that Vanessa had dismissed her fear so easily.

"I was scared," Vanessa said. "But what I did to Sophie was wrong."

"Fear may explain a lie, Vanessa, but it doesn't make the lie harmless."

A slow footstep sounded in the hallway.

Daniel picked up the heavy brass candlestick from the sideboard. He moved the girls behind him while Vanessa retrieved Ruby's cracked blue phone.

The dining room handle turned once.

Then again.

A man's voice came through the door.

"Ruby, your aunt doesn't know the whole story."

Ruby began shaking.

"Give me Claire's phone," Grant called, "and maybe nobody else gets hurt."