The Room Without Windows
Chapter 04 - The Room Without Windows
Ethan searched Blackwood House from the attic to the wine cellar. He remembered Lily’s phrase: the room with no windows.
The mansion contained several interior storage rooms, but only one had been sealed after Anna’s death—the old music room beneath the east staircase. Celeste claimed moisture had damaged it.
The lock was new.
Detective Torres obtained permission to inspect the room because the missing key had been reported during an active guardianship investigation. Celeste protested, but the door was opened before her attorneys could stop it.
The room did not contain musical instruments.
It contained filing cabinets, medication boxes, a video monitor, and a desk covered in school reports bearing Lily’s name. Each report described declining performance, aggression, and confusion. Ethan knew the claims were false.
A camera feed showed the sunroom table where Celeste had forced Lily to write.
In one cabinet, Torres found forged letters from teachers recommending residential placement. Another drawer held invoices from the Cole Family Trust. Large payments had been sent to Fairmont Institute even though Lily had never stayed there.
The trust had been created by Anna’s father. Its money was intended for Lily’s education, care, and future independence.
Ethan opened a locked metal box using a spare key from the desk. Inside were photographs of Anna’s blue journal, but the journal itself was gone.
Celeste entered behind them.
“You have no idea what Anna was doing,” she said.
Ethan held up an invoice. “She was protecting Lily’s money.”
“She was destroying this family.”
Celeste claimed Anna had accused her of stealing from the trust and planned to report her. According to Celeste, Anna became unstable during her final illness and hid documents throughout the house.
Anna had died after a rapid neurological decline. Doctors called it an autoimmune complication. Ethan had accepted the diagnosis because Dr. Vale repeated it with certainty.
Torres examined the medicine boxes and found several expired sedatives registered to Anna.
One label had been altered.
Beneath the printed name, faint letters showed the original patient: LILY COLE.
Ethan turned toward Dr. Vale, who had just entered with Celeste’s attorney.
“Why was my daughter prescribed Anna’s medication?”
The doctor’s confidence cracked.
Before he answered, the monitor on the desk flickered. A recorded image appeared: Anna sitting in the same room, pale but alert.
May you like
She looked directly into the camera.
“If Ethan is watching this,” she said, “then Celeste found the trust clause—and Lily is in danger.”
