Chapter 13 - What Caleb Drew in the Dark
Three weeks had passed since the river.
Caleb still could not say the name.
The therapist Dorian brought in explained why.
“You’re asking him to destroy part of his own world,” Dr. Miriam Cole said.
They sat inside the mansion library.
“When a child is harmed by somebody trusted, identifying that person can feel more dangerous than protecting them.”
Dorian looked toward the ceiling, where Caleb slept.
“He knows the person tried to kill him.”
“Intellectually.”
“And emotionally?”
“Emotionally, he may still love them.”
Dorian looked sick.
Audrey understood.
There were wounds no money could cover.
Dr. Cole continued.
“Stop asking for a name.”
“How do we protect him?”
“Ask for memories instead.”
That evening Audrey sat beside Caleb with paper and crayons.
“No questions tonight.”
Caleb looked suspicious.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“What are we doing?”
“You draw. I’m going to make the worst drawing of a horse in Louisiana.”
He laughed.
Audrey intentionally created something resembling a potato with legs.
“That’s not a horse.”
“His name is Jeffrey. Show respect.”
Caleb laughed harder.
Eventually he began drawing too.
Not wolves.
Rooms.
The basement.
The blue door.
A car.
A bridge.
Audrey didn’t interrupt.
Then Caleb drew the first person.
Tall.
No mask.
A coat.
A watch.
He stopped before drawing the face.
Audrey continued ruining Jeffrey.
Caleb added hair.
Hands.
The silver ring.
Then something new.
A small mark beside the figure’s neck.
Audrey looked.
“What’s that?”
Caleb swallowed.
“A necklace.”
“What kind?”
“Mom’s.”
Audrey froze.
“Your mother’s necklace?”
Caleb nodded.
“Why would this person have Elena’s necklace?”
“He said Mom gave it to him.”
Audrey’s heart pounded.
“What did it look like?”
Caleb drew an oval pendant.
Inside it—
a tiny wolf.
Audrey found Dorian downstairs.
“Did Elena have a necklace?”
“Several.”
“Wolf pendant.”
Dorian’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I buried her wearing it.”
Audrey went cold.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Caleb appeared behind her.
“No.”
Dorian turned.
“What?”
“Mom didn’t have it.”
“At the funeral?”
Caleb nodded.
“I put Arthur beside her.”
Dorian crouched.
“You were four.”
“I remember.”
He whispered, “The necklace was gone.”
Dorian looked at Audrey.
Someone had taken it before Elena was buried.
“Who prepared her body?” Audrey asked.
“Funeral home.”
“Family viewing?”
“Yes.”
“Who was alone with her?”
Dorian tried to remember.
Then his face changed.
“My father.”
Audrey frowned.
“Anyone else?”
“Martin.”
The attorney.
“And?”
Dorian looked toward Adrian’s photograph.
“Adrian.”
Caleb immediately shook his head.
“Not Uncle Adrian.”
The certainty was unmistakable.
Dorian approached slowly.
“How do you know?”
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“Because Uncle Adrian tried to take it back.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“The blue door.”
Audrey’s heartbeat accelerated.
Caleb’s words came faster now.
“He saw us leaving. He yelled. The man hit him.”
“That’s why Adrian knew,” Audrey whispered.
Caleb nodded.
“He said run.”
“Adrian told you to run?”
“Yes.”
“But Nolan caught you.”
“Yes.”
Dorian’s eyes filled with fury.
“Who hit Adrian?”
Caleb opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
His entire body started shaking.
Audrey held him.
“No name.”
Dorian understood.
“No name.”
Caleb relaxed slightly.
Audrey asked, “Can you draw his face?”
A long pause.
Then Caleb nodded.
He picked up a pencil.
Slowly, he began.
Hair.
Eyes.
Nose.
Mouth.
Dorian watched.
The longer the drawing developed, the paler he became.
Audrey looked from the page to him.
“You recognize him.”
Dorian did not answer.
Caleb added one final detail.
A small scar beside the right eyebrow.
Dorian sat down.
“No.”
Audrey touched his shoulder.
“Who is it?”
Dorian stared at the unfinished face.
“My father.”
Audrey’s breath caught.
“But your father is dead.”
“Five years.”
Caleb looked frightened.
“It wasn’t Grandpa.”
Dorian looked at him.
“What?”
“He looked like Grandpa.”
Audrey understood first.
A relative.
Someone with the same features.
Dorian looked at Adrian’s photograph.
But Caleb had already said Adrian was innocent.
Then Audrey remembered the family records.
Dorian’s father had a brother.
“Did your father have siblings?”
“One.”
“Alive?”
Dorian’s face changed.
“No.”
“Name?”
“Gabriel Ashford.”
“How did he die?”
Dorian looked stunned by the question.
“He disappeared thirty years ago.”
“Disappeared isn’t dead.”
“My father declared him dead after seven years.”
Audrey felt the entire mystery rearrange itself.
“What happened between them?”
Dorian stood.
“They hated each other.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel claimed half the company belonged to him.”
“And your father?”
“Said Gabriel stole from the family.”
“How old would Gabriel be now?”
“Sixty-one.”
Audrey looked at Caleb’s drawing.
The man looked younger.
Maybe forty-five.
“Could Gabriel have a son?”
Dorian’s gaze snapped toward her.
“I don’t know.”
The phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dorian answered.
A man spoke.
“You finally remembered Uncle Gabriel.”
Dorian’s face turned white.
The voice laughed.
“Your father erased my family from yours.”
“Who are you?”
“You already know.”
“No.”
“You’ve passed my photograph every day for years without recognizing me.”
The call ended.
Audrey looked toward the hallway.
Family photographs covered the walls.
Dorian walked slowly toward them.
Then stopped in front of an old picture of his father’s executive team.
A young Gabriel Ashford stood near the edge.
Beside him was a teenage boy.
Same scar beside the eyebrow.
Dorian whispered the name printed on the back.
“Elliot Mercer.”
Audrey stared.
Mercer.
Nolan’s original surname.
The mystery had finally found its bloodline.
Elliot Mercer was Gabriel Ashford’s son.
Dorian’s first cousin.
A man erased from the family before Dorian was old enough to remember him.
May you like
And somewhere in the city, Elliot had Adrian tied to a chair.
Waiting for Dorian to understand why.
