The House Where Nobody Could Tell Them No
Chapter 3
By Wednesday, Elena had learned three things.
First, Iris and June never slept at the same time.
Second, they hated closed doors.
Third, every room in Bellweather House contained cameras except the bedrooms and bathrooms.
The cameras were supposed to protect them.
Instead, Elena noticed that the girls constantly checked where the lenses pointed.
Someone had taught them to monitor the adults.
On Thursday morning, Elena found June sitting beneath the dining table.
“Why are you hiding?”
“I’m not.”
“You’re under a table.”
“It’s a very large table.”
Elena crouched.
June held the porcelain rabbit against her chest.
“Did someone yell at you?”
“No.”
“Did Iris?”
“No.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
June looked toward the hallway.
“Nothing.”
Elena sat on the floor beside her.
She didn’t touch June.
She didn’t ask another question.
After several minutes, June whispered, “Dad has a meeting today.”
“I know.”
“When he has meetings, people disappear.”
Elena looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
June shook her head.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to ask?”
“No.”
June looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because if you want to tell me, you will.”
June stared at the rabbit.
“My old tutor disappeared.”
“What was her name?”
“Ms. Bell.”
“She quit?”
June nodded.
“That’s what Dad said.”
“But?”
June looked up.
“She didn’t say goodbye.”
Before Elena could respond, footsteps sounded outside.
June immediately crawled out.
Her expression changed.
By the time Adrian entered, she looked perfectly normal.
“Morning,” he said.
Elena watched him.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Who was Ms. Bell?”
Adrian’s face changed almost imperceptibly.
“An employee.”
“Former employee?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she leave voluntarily?”
Adrian looked at June.
Then Iris appeared in the doorway.
“Why are you asking?”
Elena turned.
“Because your sister mentioned her.”
Iris’s eyes flashed.
“June talks too much.”
June lowered her head.
Elena stood.
“Don’t blame her.”
“Why not?”
“Because she didn’t do anything wrong.”
Iris looked at her for several seconds.
Then she walked away.
Adrian sighed.
“You’ll learn not to chase every story they tell.”
“I’m not chasing stories.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Listening.”
He gave her a tired look.
“There’s a difference.”
“I know.”
That afternoon, Elena received an anonymous envelope.
It had no stamp.
No name.
Only her initials.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Bellweather House four years earlier.
Adrian stood beside his wife, Celia.
The twins were six.
Celia was smiling.
But Elena noticed something strange.
June was holding the porcelain rabbit.
The same rabbit she carried now.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written:
Ask why Celia stopped trusting her husband.
Elena stared at the sentence.
She knew Celia had died after a sudden illness.
That was the official story.
She also knew Adrian never spoke about her.
At dinner, Elena watched him carefully.
“Where did the rabbit come from?”
Adrian’s fork stopped.
“What rabbit?”
“June’s.”
His face became unreadable.
“Her mother gave it to her.”
“When?”
“The week before Celia died.”
Elena nodded.
June’s fingers tightened around the rabbit.
Iris looked at her sister.
And for the first time, Elena realized the twins weren’t protecting themselves from their father.
They were protecting him from something.
