Trigger warning - abuse
Chapter 21 The Key
Emma had made the last minute decision to plant a bug in Leopold's office the day he was supposed to return home. She needed to wait till Sunday, when city hall was empty and no one was around to see her slipping into the mayor's office. She also wanted to look around in the hopes of finding the evidence she needed in proving that Leopold had something to do with Kurt Flynn's disappearance. Not only did she want to bring him down for abusing Regina, but she wanted him to go down for tampering with Regina's documents and the possibility of him being responsible for another man's disappearance. A man who had been willing to stand up for Regina's freedom.
She quietly slipped into the office. It was dark, the sun had barely started rising, casting a soft gray light through the windows. She closed the curtains, and shut the door to prevent anyone from seeing her. She pulled her flashlight out and immediately placed the bug under his desk in a corner where it was nearly impossible to find even if you were to look under it. When she was confident it was secure and working, she immediately started snooping through the drawers, working by flashlight. She didn't want to risk putting the lights on or opening the curtains in case someone noticed.
She wasn't finding anything in the desk other than official documents, most of them she happened to notice were in Regina's writing. She had scoffed in disgust when she realized Regina really did do most of his paperwork. She moved over to the file cabinet and started shifting through the files. There wasn't really anything of importance there and she started to get frustrated. She shut the cabinet and looked around the office for anything that might look as if it could contain anything important. The office was pristine and really didn't contain a lot of clutter. There was nowhere else that he could be hiding anything. With a sinking feeling she realized if there was any evidence on Kurt's disappearance, it wasn't here. Maybe she should have searched his home office when she had the chance.
Just before she could leave, something on the mantle of the fireplace caught her eye. For some reason her gut was telling her to open it. She went over to the fireplace, her fingers gently reaching out and tracing the gold lining of the wooden decorative box. It looked out of place with its weathered wooden decor and gold lining in an office furnished in white and black accents. Her heart started racing with anticipation as she opened the clasp and lifted the lid. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to find, but it definitely wasn't a black metal key that looked as if it came from the middle ages.
"What the hell does this open?" she murmured, observing it for a moment and then shoving it in her pocket and closing the box. She knew it was risky to take it. She knew if he saw it was missing then it meant someone was on to him, but she knew this just might be the evidence she needed to bring him down.
She left the office and immediately went back to the loft, driving quickly and putting as much distance as she could between Leopold's office and herself. She had a foreboding feeling that something dark and sinister was hiding somewhere and the key, that was heavy in her pocket, would unlock everything that Leopold was hiding.
She made it into the loft just as Mary Margaret was getting up and making breakfast. She was making coffee at the breakfast bar, already dressed and ready for the day.
"Hey, I was worried," she said as Emma shut the door and came over to the breakfast bar where she was pouring some coffee. She slipped the key from her pocket and held it up.
"Any idea what this opens?"
She nearly dropped the coffee pot as she set it shakily back into the machine. Her eyes widened in shock as if she had just seen a ghost.
"That's the key to the mausoleum that my mother is laid to rest in. Emma, he's going to know it's missing."
"I know, but I have a feeling he might be hiding something there. His office was empty, no sign of anything suspicious, no evidence but a wooden out of place box with this key inside it. There has to be something in there."
"Well then, we need to go search it now and then get the key back in its box before he comes home."
"He's due this afternoon, we need to leave now. If we find any kind of evidence down there, then we'll need to get Regina and Henry somewhere safe before he finds out we're on to him."
The fear in Mary Margaret's face turned to determination as she nodded and completely abandoned the breakfast she had been working on. "Come on," she said, heading to the door and grabbing her coat as she led Emma out the door.
They drove quickly to the cemetery where Mary Margaret led her to a large stone mausoleum that said Blanchard on the front. It was full of vines and webs, looking as deteriorated as the graves around them.
Emma shivered at the sight of it.
Mary Margaret took the key and turned it into the old lock. They could see the dust clouding around them as she pulled open the door.
"He hasn't been here in years," Emma observed as they walked inside to see dust and debris covering every inch of the place. A coffin laid right in the center, covered in dust and old dried and dead roses. Mary Margaret slowly stepped forward, putting a hand out on her mother's name plaque, and trying to visibly suppress the tears that were threatening to come out.
"I haven't been able to come inside. I'll bring her flowers and talk to her out on the steps, but coming inside… I haven't been able to since I was a child. Something about just seeing her coffin..." She trailed off, not finishing that thought.
"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, stopping their rush to give her friend a moment to pay her respects to her mother. Mary Margaret nodded, closing her eyes for a moment and bowing her head, giving her mother a quick moment of silence. Emma did the same, asking her for strength in rescuing the woman she had considered her daughter. She didn't know Eva, but she had a feeling they would have gotten along.
After a moment, Mary Margaret opened her eyes and looked over at Emma, nodding her permission to start ransacking the place. Emma immediately got to work. There wasn't much and she quickly became disheartened when they didn't find anything but empty shelves and melted candle stubs. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this was just the key to the mausoleum that held nothing but the dead.
"I was so sure there might be something here," she let out a sigh of defeat.
"We tried," Mary Margaret whispered, putting a hand on her back in comfort. "I'm sure we'll catch something on the bug you planted in his office."
"Yeah, maybe," she sighed in defeat. There was nothing here so she needed to get the key back before Leopold came home. Or maybe not. From the looks of this place, clearly Leopold didn't come down here a lot. Maybe he wouldn't even know it's missing. Despite not finding anything, she still had a feeling there was something here, something she was missing.
She decided to come back later. For now she needed to get to the diner. Regina and Henry were having breakfast with her before Leopold would come home this afternoon.
She made it to the diner just in time. Regina and Henry were already seated at a booth looking over the menu. Regina already had a cup of coffee and to her surprise, one set aside for Emma as well.
"Emma!" Henry exclaimed excitedly, scooting over on his side of the booth to make room for her. He hugged her and Emma affectionately messed up his hair which had him scowling. Emma laughed and then eyed her cup of coffee, just realizing how much she needed the caffeine after an early morning of investigating.
"I hope you don't mind, I ordered for you?" Regina asked, looking up at her with uncertainty shining in her eyes.
"Of course not!" she assured her, pouring some half and half in it and then taking an appreciative sip. She closed her eyes for a moment, appreciating the warm caffeine waking up her system. She really needed this and was so grateful Regina ordered it for her. "Thank you," she smiled, setting it down. Regina nodded and then resumed looking at the menu.
"Grown ups are so weird when it comes to coffee," Henry mumbled, which made both women smile.
Once they ordered their food, chocolate chip pancakes for both Emma and Henry and apple pancakes for Regina, the menus were taken and their coffees were refilled. Henry was given orange juice.
"So there's a few things I want to update you on," Emma started, gaining both Regina and Henry's attention. "I wanted to search Leopold's office before he came home and in doing that I planted a bug under his desk."
"Cool!"
Regina scowled.
"What if he finds it?"
"He won't," Emma assured her. "It's so hidden that he won't find it even if he's looking for it. Trust me on this. This is the way to gain evidence."
Regina let out an irritated sigh.
"And if it doesn't work?" she asked.
"We need to try something," Emma replied. "Don't you want him to pay for altering your records, and for…" She stopped. She couldn't bring up the fact that Leopold might have had a hand in making Kurt Flynn disappear with Henry present.
"Well did you find anything?" Regina asked, and Emma glanced around the diner, making sure no one was paying attention to them before slipping the heavy metal key from her pocket.
"I found this!"
"What does that open?" Henry asked curiously. Regina's eyes widened, telling Emma she already knew what it was.
"The key to the mausoleum. He hasn't been down there in years."
"So you don't think he'd notice if the key is missing?" Emma asked, because she really wanted to go back and make sure she really didn't miss anything.
"No," Regina shook her head. "You think he's hiding something in there?"
"Possibly," Emma nodded, slipping the key back into her pocket. "I searched it early this morning with Mary Margaret, but we didn't find anything. I don't know… I feel like I missed something. I want to go back later."
"Just be careful, and if you don't find anything, give it to me so I could put it back in case he actually does notice it missing," Regina said just as a waiter came with their plates. They remained quiet on the subject as their breakfast was being laid out before them. When they were finally alone, Henry was whipping out his storybook from his backpack.
"I think I know where I've seen that key!"
Emma and Regina shared a look. This wasn't some fairytale story, but they didn't stop him as he flipped open the book. He found the page he was looking for and to both of their surprise, he turned it around to show them an illustration of the key that opened the Evil Queen's vault where she kept her hearts.
"What the hell!"
"Emma!" Regina reprimanded her for shouting.
"Sorry," she murmured, taking the book and looking at the eerily similar illustration. She slipped the key out from her pocket and laid it on the page. They were identical.
"Regina, where did this book come from?" she asked.
"I… I don't know…" she stammered.
"Mary Margaret gave it to me," Henry piped up, oblivious to the fact that it had once belonged to his adoptive mother. He had no idea it was Regina's when she had been a little girl. The question was, where did Henry Sr. get what seemed to be some kind of enchanted book.
"Put it away," Regina ordered, her tone final and Henry for once didn't argue. Clearly she didn't want to talk about this anymore. As they dug into their food, Emma noticed Regina's eyes were nervously flickering towards the door again, a nervous habit she hasn't had since Leopold left for the weekend. She reached out, placing an assuring hand on Regina's.
"You're ok," she whispered, meeting dark anxious eyes. For a moment Emma thought she was gonna shoot her a glare and pull her hand away, but to her surprise, Regina turned her hand in hers and squeezed, looking at her with so much emotion, she thought she might just start crying.
They held their gaze for a long moment before Regina pulled her hand away and started eating her pancakes again. She didn't glance at the door anymore.
It had just been the two of them after they were done and Henry had gone to the bathroom, when Regina questioned her.
"You want him to say something on the recorder that will prove he had something to do with altering my records and for Sheriff Flynn's disappearance?" she asked. "What if I were to question him? Goad him into revealing something?"
Emma was a bit shocked that she was offering to goad him into revealing something. It was a bit risky. She didn't want him losing his temper and hurting her. If he was capable of making a man disappear, and he got suspicious that Regina was on to him, that would put her in danger and Emma wasn't risking that.
"No," she shook her head. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want him becoming suspicious of you."
"I'll be careful," she insisted. "You need the evidence."
"But not at your expense," she argued. "Regina, this could be dangerous."
"Well then how else are you going to get him to say something!" she snapped in frustration.
"I'll figure it out, but it's definitely not going to be you goading him. There's no way in hell I'm risking that. He'll hurt you!"
"He's going to hurt me anyway," she mumbled, looking down at her suddenly fidgeting hands. Emma searched her gaze until Regina finally made eye contact.
"It's not a reason to put yourself in danger. Please don't goad him. Please trust me to get the evidence from him without putting yourself at risk."
Regina sighed, not looking entirely convinced as Henry rushed to the table and ended the conversation. She could only hope she would listen to her pleas in not putting herself in the line of fire. Her number one priority was keeping Regina safe, even if it delayed getting any type of evidence on Leopold.
Regina was on edge the minute she and Henry made it back to the mansion after breakfast. Leopold was coming home today after a whole weekend of him gone, of not having to look over her shoulder or walking on eggshells, he was finally coming home and her anxiety was skyrocketing. Her hands shook and her heart was beating fast in her chest. She felt as if she could barely breathe from how constricted her chest felt. She needed to keep busy so she grabbed a basket from the shed and picked some apples. She chose the ripest ones and then brought them into the kitchen. She set up her work station on the kitchen island and got to work making several bottles of cider.
She couldn't stop thinking about Emma's pleas. She didn't just want to get away from Leopold. She wanted him to pay. She wanted him to suffer like he made her suffer. If there was any chance of her getting any type of justice, then she would make sure he paid his dues. He altered her records so that she was guilty in front of the court. If she could get Leopold to admit his involvement, then Emma would have the evidence to reopen her case and prove she was innocent. Leopold would go to prison and she would truly be free of him.
She was so lost in her thoughts, she lost track of time and barely even heard the front door open until she could hear the sound of a suitcase being dumped on the hardwood floor in the foyer. He was home, her hands shook, and the anxiety she had felt this morning was back and much more overwhelming. She stumbled with the juicer as he came in, his strong cologne encompassing the air around her making her nauseous as he came up behind her.
"Look at me," he demanded, his tone cold and hard. She wiped her hands with a towel and then slowly faced him only for him to smack her across the face. The sound of his palm against her cheek resonated loudly through the silent kitchen. She brought a hand to her stinging cheek, desperately trying to hold in her tears. Her breaths were labored, and it took everything she had to not let out a fearful sob.
"I may have been intoxicated, but it's not an excuse for you to be running your mouth at me." He didn't yell, but he dangerously lowered his tone which usually meant he was only inches away from completely losing his temper with her. She just froze, too afraid to move at this point, too afraid to say anything. She had way too much confidence after spending a night out with Emma that she didn't even care for snapping at her husband. He was so gone she honestly didn't even think he would remember.
"I apologize for letting my temper get the best of me," she whispered, unable to look at him. As strong as she was, sometimes her fear froze her. He smirked and then grabbed her face and forced her to meet his dark cruel gaze.
"Apparently you seem to forget your place when I'm not home," he reprimanded her. "Maybe next time I should just take you with me." She didn't respond, because there was no way in hell there would be a next time when Emma was helping to free her.
"Now give your husband a kiss and tell him how much you missed him," he ordered, finally letting go of her face. She had to suppress the urge to snarl at him. She swallowed the hot rage building inside her and hesitantly gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"I missed you," she whispered quickly in a tone that was anything but believable. He let out an irritated sigh and started loosening his tie and taking off his jacket and practically shoving it into her arms.
"Put my jacket and suitcase away and then get me a drink," he dismissed her, leaving her alone and heading for his study. She practically growled, her anger rising as she stomped into the foyer with jacket in hand and grabbed his suitcase. She lugged the heavy thing upstairs and brought it into the bedroom. She just wanted to throw it, to smack his pathetic face and see how he likes being treated like a punching bag.
She put his stuff away, and instead of going down to make his drink, she took her cell and then locked herself in the bathroom. He could make his own drink and she could care less if he smacked her again for not doing as he asked. She wasn't enabling his drinking problem.
She sat on the floor, back against the door and sent a text to Emma.
He's home.
She answered immediately.
Are you safe?
Yes, although he remembered me snapping at him over the phone. He's angry at me right now. I'm just sitting in the bathroom until he cools down. Henry is safe in his room, oblivious to his anger. She couldn't tell her that he had smacked her. For some reason she just couldn't bring herself to admit some of the abuse to Emma, like she was ashamed of it even happening in the first place.
Where is he?
Down in his office, probably nursing a drink.
Can I call you? I'll talk quietly, and you can hang up if needed.
She took a moment to think. Leopold was downstairs, most likely drinking already. She doubted he waited this long for her to get it for him. Both the bedroom and bathroom door were closed. She'd just have to keep an ear out in case he came looking for her. She hit Emma's number and held it to her ear. For some reason she felt a threatening sob choking her the moment she heard Emma's voice and she forced herself to swallow it.
"Hey," the blonde deputy whispered. "I just don't want you to feel alone."
She took a shaky breath, unsure why she was suddenly feeling so emotional. All he did was slap her. He could have done so much worse. Perhaps, she was just tired of being treated so badly, of being hurt, and brutalized by the man who dared call himself her husband.
"He hasn't really done anything," she slightly evaded the truth. "I think I'm just having an anxiety attack from him being back."
"He's done plenty if you're having an anxiety attack from him just being in the house. Take a deep breath, you're safe in that bathroom."
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, taking in air and releasing it until her lungs no longer felt constricted. Her cheek was throbbing from where he smacked her, and she was sure it was going to leave a mark.
"That's it, deep breaths," Emma whispered into her ear. She couldn't help the sob from escaping her lips this time. She didn't want to cry on the phone. She didn't want to show Emma how vulnerable she felt, but for some reason, as she learned to trust her, she learned to let her see past the walls she placed around her heart.
