Chapter 6 - THE DEAD WOMANThomas couldn't move.
Every instinct told him the voice was impossible.
Rebecca was dead.
He had held her hand in a hospital room.
He had watched the monitor flatline.
He had kissed her forehead.
He had buried her.
But that voice was hers.
Exactly hers.
"Thomas."
Sarah looked up.
"Daddy?"
Evelyn slowly raised her gun.
Daniel whispered:
"It's a recording."
Thomas felt something crack inside him.
A recording.
Of course.
Someone had manipulated the hallway speakers.
But the voice continued.
"Thomas, if you can hear this, don't trust the people around you."
The recording was distorted.
"Especially the woman who calls herself Evelyn."
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Rebecca knew I was trying to help her."
"Then why did she write the letter?" Thomas demanded.
"I don't know."
The voice continued.
"You need to find the red room."
A pause.
"Not the archive."
"The red room."
"Only there will you learn why I really died."
The recording ended.
The lights came back.
Julian Cross stood at the end of the hallway.
He was dressed perfectly.
Gray suit.
Silver tie.
Calm smile.
Two armed men stood behind him.
Julian looked at Thomas.
"You've become inconvenient."
Thomas stepped forward.
"You killed my wife."
Julian smiled.
"No."
"You were there."
"I was there when she made her choice."
"What choice?"
"She chose to protect you."
Thomas's fists tightened.
Julian looked at Evelyn.
"And you still haven't told him the truth."
Evelyn raised the weapon.
Julian laughed.
"You think one bullet solves this?"
Daniel stepped forward.
Julian's smile disappeared.
"Daniel."
"Julian."
"I thought you were dead."
"You've been disappointed before."
Julian looked at Thomas.
"Ask your grandfather what he did in 1995."
Thomas turned.
Daniel's expression hardened.
"What happened in 1995?"
"Nothing."
Julian smiled.
"That's what he told your mother."
Thomas stared at Daniel.
"What happened?"
Daniel said nothing.
Julian continued.
"Ask him about the warehouse."
Thomas looked at him.
Julian took one step forward.
"Ask him how many people died."
Evelyn fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Julian.
He stepped backward.
"Run."
Evelyn grabbed Thomas.
They escaped through the rear entrance.
Daniel stayed behind.
Thomas turned.
"Grandpa!"
Daniel shouted:
"Get Sarah out!"
The door slammed.
They ran.
Minutes later, Thomas, Sarah, and Evelyn were inside an underground parking garage.
Thomas slammed the car door.
"What happened in 1995?"
Daniel wasn't with them.
Evelyn drove.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie."
"I'm not."
Thomas stared at her.
"Everyone keeps telling me my life isn't what I thought it was."
Evelyn said nothing.
Sarah was sleeping in the back seat.
Thomas lowered his voice.
"What is the red room?"
"I don't know."
"You know something."
"I know there are rooms beneath Apex."
"How many?"
"Nine."
"Why did Rebecca say red room?"
"Because it may be where your family history is stored."
Thomas looked out the window.
"We're going there."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
"We're going."
"It's too dangerous."
"My wife died because of this."
"And my mother died because of it."
They looked at each other.
For the first time, their grief was the same language.
Evelyn drove to an abandoned property outside the city.
They waited until dawn.
Then returned to Apex through an underground tunnel.
Thomas followed Evelyn beneath the building.
They reached a corridor marked with numbers.
Then another door.
No number.
Only a red circle.
Thomas's heart pounded.
"This is it."
Evelyn inserted the key.
The door opened.
The red room was not a room.
It was an archive.
Red lights illuminated thousands of shelves.
Boxes filled the walls.
Thomas searched.
Miller.
Miller.
Miller.
He found one.
MILLER FAMILY, CONFIDENTIAL.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Birth records.
Medical charts.
Photographs.
Psychological evaluations.
Thomas's childhood.
His mother's.
His father's.
Rebecca's.
And Sarah's.
Then he found something unexpected.
A photograph of Rebecca.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Evelyn.
Thomas stared.
Evelyn looked at the image.
"I don't remember this."
"You were there."
"Yes."
"When?"
"Five years ago."
Thomas felt sick.
"Why was my wife pregnant?"
Evelyn's eyes widened.
"Thomas."
He looked down.
The photograph date was six years earlier.
One year before Sarah's birth.
Rebecca was pregnant.
But Sarah was seven.
The dates did not make sense.
Then Thomas noticed another photograph.
A baby.
A hospital bracelet.
The name was visible.
Not Sarah Miller.
Emily Croft.
Thomas's blood turned cold.
He turned toward Evelyn.
"What is this?"
Evelyn couldn't answer.
Her face had gone completely white.
Because she recognized the baby.
She whispered:
"That was my daughter."
Thomas stared.
"You had a daughter?"
"I was told she died."
Evelyn touched the photograph.
"But she didn't."
Suddenly the lights went out.
A monitor flickered on.
A live video appeared.
Julian Cross sat in a chair.
Beside him was Daniel Miller.
Alive.
Bleeding.
Julian looked into the camera.
"Now that you've found the red room..."
He smiled.
"...I think it's time you met the woman who gave birth to Sarah."
Thomas stared.
The camera moved.
A woman was dragged into view.
Thomas stopped breathing.
It was Rebecca.
Older.
May you like
Alive.
And looking directly at him.
