Chapter 3 - THE ROOM BENEATH THE ROOMThe secret passage was barely wide enough for one person.
Shawn entered first.
His phone flashlight illuminated stone walls coated in dust.
Brenda followed.
Their parents remained behind the gate.
“Don't go too far,” Don warned.
Shawn ignored him.
The beeping grew louder.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
At the end of the passage was a steel door.
There was no handle.
Only a keypad.
Shawn touched it.
The screen turned on.
ENTER ACCESS CODE.
He stepped back.
“Dad?”
Don stared at the keypad through the bars.
“I don't know it.”
“You've been here before.”
“Yes.”
“So how did you open it?”
“I didn't.”
Shawn looked at Brenda.
She was staring at the floor.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You know the code.”
“No.”
“You do.”
She remained silent.
Shawn turned to the keypad.
A small symbol appeared beneath the screen.
A carved Miller family crest.
He remembered something.
His father used to tell him:
“Every Miller has one number that matters.”
Shawn entered his birthday.
Wrong.
His mother's birthday.
Wrong.
His father's birthday.
Wrong.
Then he remembered the number written on an old photograph.
The date his grandfather disappeared.
He entered it.
The screen flashed green.
The door unlocked.
Brenda gasped.
Inside was a room unlike anything Shawn had ever seen.
Computers covered one wall.
Metal filing cabinets filled another.
A large desk sat in the center.
Old photographs covered the walls.
His grandfather.
His father.
Brenda as a child.
Shawn as a baby.
Then he saw something that made him stop.
Photographs of Kane.
Dozens of them.
Kane with politicians.
Kane with police officers.
Kane beside businessmen.
Kane standing beside Shawn's grandfather.
Shawn picked one up.
On the back was a date.
His father had been twenty-six.
“Dad worked for him.”
Don's voice came from behind.
“Yes.”
“As what?”
“Accountant.”
Shawn stared.
Then another photograph.
His father shaking hands with Kane.
The same scar.
But younger.
Shawn felt sick.
“You knew him.”
“I did.”
“You worked for him.”
“I did.”
“You lied to me.”
Don's eyes filled with tears.
“I lied because I wanted you to have a normal life.”
A printer suddenly activated.
Both men froze.
Paper began sliding out.
Shawn walked toward it.
One document.
Two.
Three.
At the top of each was the same title:
MILLER FAMILY TRUST
Shawn read the first page.
Then stopped.
His name appeared.
Beneficiary: Shawn Miller.
He stared.
“What is this?”
Brenda rushed toward him.
“Don't touch anything.”
“Why?”
“Because that's what Kane wants.”
Shawn looked at her.
“He wants me to find this?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She didn't answer.
A second printer began running.
Shawn turned.
Another document emerged.
This one was recent.
Six days old.
The date of his mother's medication prescription.
At the bottom was a signature.
His mother's.
But Maria stared at it in shock.
“That isn't my signature.”
Shawn turned.
“What?”
Maria's voice shook.
“I never signed that.”
A third printer activated.
One page appeared.
Shawn took it.
It contained a list of bank transfers.
Every month.
For nearly three years.
Amounts ranging from five thousand to fifteen thousand dollars.
Sent to the Miller household.
At the top was Shawn's name.
Shawn stared.
“I sent these.”
Brenda whispered:
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You said they received nothing.”
“I said they didn't.”
“Then where did the money go?”
Silence.
Shawn looked at the bank account number.
It was not his parents' account.
It belonged to a company.
MILLER PROPERTY HOLDINGS LLC.
Shawn's breathing stopped.
“Who owns this?”
Brenda looked away.
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Who?”
She finally whispered:
“Kane.”
Shawn released her.
Three years.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Gone.
Then the room's computer monitor suddenly turned on.
A live camera feed appeared.
It showed the cellar.
Kane stood outside the gate.
Watching them.
He smiled directly into the camera.
A microphone activated.
“You finally found the room.”
Shawn stepped toward the screen.
“What do you want?”
Kane leaned closer.
“What every thief wants.”
“I didn't steal anything.”
“No.”
Kane smiled.
“Your father did.”
Don suddenly slammed his fist against the gate.
“Kane, leave my son out of this.”
“You should have thought of that twenty years ago.”
“What happened twenty years ago?” Shawn demanded.
Kane looked at the camera.
“Ask your father about the woman named Evelyn.”
Don went completely still.
Maria's face turned pale.
Brenda whispered:
“No.”
Shawn turned.
“Who is Evelyn?”
Nobody answered.
Then Kane said:
May you like
“She was supposed to die in 1991.”
The screen went black.
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