Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO WANTED CALEB AFRAID
Victor Voss left Rowan House after a tense twenty-minute conversation. He denied knowing anything about the wheelchair, the tracker, or the note. He claimed the paper was a fragment of an old shipping schedule and accused Caleb of letting paranoia interfere with business.
Caleb didn’t stop him.
Instead, he ordered a quiet review of Voss’s recent activity. No confrontation. No threats. Just records, dates, and verification.
That evening, Elise was cleaning the library when she heard Caleb’s voice from the adjoining study.
“Tell me again why the north gate was used.”
Jonah answered, “The schedule fragment matches a private vehicle transfer booked for tonight. The official entry says a replacement wheelchair battery was delivered.”
“By whom?”
“A contractor listed under Voss’s legal office.”
Caleb’s voice went flat. “A lawyer arranging wheelchair parts?”
“That’s what I thought.”
Elise paused with a dust cloth in her hand.
The door opened.
Caleb saw her. “Come in.”
She stepped into the study. A large screen displayed a map of the estate, the north gate, and the underground garage.
“Do you know what the transfer is?” he asked.
“No.”
“Do you know why someone would arrange a delivery at night and disable the camera outside my office?”
Elise looked at the map. “They wanted to move something without being seen.”
“Or someone,” Jonah said.
Caleb’s eyes narrowed.
Elise thought about the tracker, the altered motor, the silicone film, and the note that said no witnesses.
“Maybe the wheelchair wasn’t meant to kill you,” she said. “Maybe it was meant to force you into the SUV or make you dependent on someone else to move you.”
Caleb’s expression changed.
Jonah leaned forward. “Explain.”
“If your chair failed in front of everyone, they’d have to carry you or transfer you. If the motor stopped working at the wrong moment, you’d be vulnerable while people tried to help. Whoever controlled the transfer could take you somewhere else.”
“Kidnapping,” Jonah said.
“Or a staged accident that makes you disappear,” Elise replied.
Caleb stared at the map. His enemies had tried to kill him before, but those attacks had been direct. A bullet, an ambush, a car bomb. This was different. It was designed to make him doubt his own body and the people around him.
“Who benefits if I disappear?” he asked.
Jonah named two rival families, a business partner who had lost a shipping contract, and a former lieutenant who had been expelled from the organization.
Caleb listened, then shook his head.
“None of them could access the house this easily without help.”
He turned to Elise. “You noticed the floor because you clean it. What else have you noticed?”
She hesitated.
“People avoid the west office,” she said. “Not because they’re afraid of you. They’re afraid of what’s inside.”
Jonah frowned. “What does that mean?”
“The house staff talk when they think no one important can hear. They say Mr. Voss has been coming in after midnight. They say the office light stays on, even when you’re away.”
Caleb looked at Jonah. “Did you know?”
“No.”
Elise continued. “And two nights ago, someone moved the tall cabinet near the west corridor. The floor underneath was cleaner than the rest. It had been there long enough to leave a mark, then somebody shifted it.”
Caleb’s eyes sharpened. “What’s behind it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t move it.”
Jonah called a security officer and ordered the corridor cleared. Caleb insisted on going himself, but the technician warned that his chair was still being inspected. After a tense argument, he agreed to use a temporary manual chair until the motorized one was cleared.
They moved the cabinet together. Behind it was a narrow maintenance door, painted the same color as the wall. The lock had fresh scratches.
Jonah drew his weapon.
Caleb stopped him. “No one opens it until the room is secured.”
A technician checked the door and found no alarm. When it opened, the space beyond was a cramped service passage leading to an old storage room.
Inside sat a folding table, a portable monitor, and a small receiver connected to the mansion’s internal camera network.
Someone had been watching Rowan House from inside Rowan House.
On the table lay a printed photograph of Caleb in his wheelchair, taken from the front foyer that morning.
Beside it was a second photograph.
Elise, standing by her cleaning cart.
A red circle had been drawn around her face.
Underneath, someone had written two words:
REMOVE HER.
Elise felt the blood drain from her face.
Caleb saw it. “You’re not going anywhere alone.”
May you like
She forced herself to meet his eyes. “I don’t think they’ll let me leave alone.”
For once, neither Caleb nor Jonah disagreed.
