Chapter 4 - The Locked Room Beneath the HouseBy sunrise, Alexander had searched every room in Sterling House.
Except one.
The basement.
The west basement had been sealed for years.
According to Eleanor, it contained nothing but old plumbing and storage.
According to the house plans, it did not exist.
That contradiction made Alexander uncomfortable.
It made me terrified.
We found the entrance behind a wine cabinet.
Noah wasn't with us.
He was asleep upstairs.
Alexander moved the cabinet.
A narrow staircase appeared.
Dust covered every step except one.
A fresh footprint.
Alexander looked at me.
“Someone has been down there.”
I nodded.
We descended.
The air became colder.
At the bottom was a steel door.
No handle.
Only a keypad.
Alexander tried his birthday.
Nothing.
His wife's birthday.
Nothing.
The family anniversary.
Nothing.
I remembered the letter.
I reached toward the keypad.
“Try Noah's birthday.”
Alexander stared at me.
“Why?”
“Because your wife wrote that Noah was the only person she trusted completely.”
He entered the date.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a room filled with boxes.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
Documents.
And one enormous wall covered with names.
Sterling family members.
Employees.
Business partners.
Politicians.
Judges.
Bankers.
Doctors.
Every name had a date beside it.
Some were crossed out.
Some were circled.
Alexander stepped closer.
His own name was there.
So was mine.
He looked at me.
“Why are you on this wall?”
“I don't know.”
Then I saw another name.
My sister.
LUCY HARPER.
My knees weakened.
“No.”
Alexander noticed.
“That's your sister?”
I nodded.
“She disappeared when I was seventeen.”
“You told everyone she ran away?”
“Yes.”
“You never found her?”
“No.”
He looked back at the wall.
Lucy’s name had a date beside it.
Seven years earlier.
The exact year Alexander’s wife died.
My hands started shaking.
“She was here.”
Alexander picked up a folder.
“There's more.”
He opened it.
A photograph fell out.
Lucy was standing beside Alexander’s late wife.
Both were smiling.
On the back was one sentence.
The Harpers know the truth.
Alexander turned toward me.
“You said you'd never met my wife.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucy made me promise.”
He stared.
“What truth?”
Before I could answer, something moved behind the shelves.
Alexander drew his gun.
“Come out.”
Silence.
He moved closer.
I heard a breath.
Then a voice.
“You shouldn't have opened that room.”
Alexander raised the weapon.
A figure stepped from the darkness.
It was Halbrook.
His hands were raised.
“I came to warn you.”
Alexander didn't lower the gun.
“You set the archive fire.”
“No.”
“You have access to the security system.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about the investigation.”
“Yes.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“So why should I believe anything you say?”
Halbrook looked at me.
“Because your wife's death wasn't the only death.”
Silence.
He pulled a photograph from inside his jacket.
Four women.
Standing outside Sterling House.
One was Alexander's wife.
One was Lucy.
One was Eleanor.
And one was me.
My breath stopped.
I recognized the picture.
I was fourteen.
I had been told that photograph never existed.
Halbrook whispered:
“Your sister didn't disappear.”
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
He looked at Alexander.
Then toward the ceiling.
“By the same man who has controlled this family for twenty years.”
Alexander's voice was cold.
“Name him.”
Halbrook swallowed.
“Your father.”
Alexander went still.
“My father is dead.”
Halbrook shook his head.
“His body is.”
Then the basement lights turned off.
A gunshot exploded in the dark.
Halbrook screamed.
When the emergency light returned, he was on the floor.
May you like
Blood spreading across his shirt.
And the steel door was locked from the outside.
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