Chapter 7 - The Eyes of a Child
While the storm gathered across the parish, life inside the main house moved at a strange, quiet pace.
Adeline did not understand the concept of security details or parish rivalries. To her, the two tall men in dark suits who now followed her and her mother through the long corridors were simply new, quiet additions to her daily landscape.
She called them "The Tall Men."
One afternoon, while Camille was supervising the deep cleaning of the grand ballroom, Adeline sat on the broad windowsill overlooking the front driveway, her stuffed alligator resting in her lap.
One of her security guards, a large man named Frank who usually spoke only in gruff monosyllables, stood three feet away, his eyes scanning the courtyard outside.
Adeline looked up at him. "Frank?"
Frank glanced down, surprised that the toddler knew his name. "Yeah, kid?"
"The black car is back," she said plainly, pointing her small finger through the glass.
Frank’s posture instantly stiffened. He stepped close to the window, keeping low, looking out through the sheer lace curtains toward the tree line at the edge of the long driveway.
Tucked beneath the wide branches of an ancient live oak, partially hidden by the hanging Spanish moss, was a dark sedan. Its engine was idling quietly, dark smoke rising from the exhaust pipe.
Frank reached for the radio on his shoulder, his thumb pressing the transmit button. "Control, this is Post Four. We have an unidentified black sedan parked in the north driveway cut, fifty yards past the main gate. Advise Marcus."
Through the radio, Marcus’s voice came back instantly, cold and sharp: Hold position. Do not engage. We are moving in from behind.
Frank looked down at Adeline, who was watching him with her large, calm eyes.
"Good eyes, kid," Frank whispered, a rare, genuine grin touching his rugged face. "You see things most people miss."
"Uncle Vincent says you have to look at everything," she replied simply, hugging her alligator close. "Otherwise you don't know where the blood is."
Frank blinked, taken aback by the chilling simplicity of her logic. Before he could respond, two heavy SUV’s swept around the bend of the driveway, blocking the black sedan from the front and rear.
Six armed men spilled out of the vehicles, weapons drawn, surrounding the parked car before the driver could even throw the vehicle into reverse.
Within two minutes, the sedan’s doors were yanked open, and two men in leather jackets were pulled out onto the gravel drive and cuffed.
From her high windowsill, Adeline watched the entire scene with quiet, detachment.
She turned her head as the ballroom door opened and Vincent walked in, leaning lightly on his cane, accompanied by Marcus.
Vincent walked over to the window, looked out at the scene on the driveway, then looked down at Adeline.
"Was that your catch, Addy?" Vincent asked gently.
"Frank called it on the radio," she said. "I just saw the black car."
Vincent rested his hand gently on her small shoulder. "You are turning out to be the best security officer I have on this estate."
Adeline looked up at him, her small face serious. "Can I have another chocolate coin now?"
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Vincent chuckled softly—a rare, sound that surprised even Marcus—and reached into his pocket, pulling out a foil-wrapped coin.
"You earned it," he said, handing it to her. "You earn it every single day."
