Chapter 9 - What Was Buried Beneath the HouseThe scratching stopped.
Daniel stood motionless.
Mara whispered, “Don't open anything.”
Sophie stared at the wall.
“Grandma said not to wake him.”
“Who?”
Sophie didn't answer.
Daniel searched the hidden room.
The file cabinets were old.
The floor was newer.
One section of the wooden boards showed fresh scratches.
He knelt.
There was a trapdoor.
Daniel opened it.
A narrow shaft led downward.
The smell of earth rose into the room.
Mara covered her nose.
“We have to call the police.”
Daniel agreed.
But before they could move, Sophie pointed down.
“That's where Grandma took me.”
“Why?”
“To see the box.”
“What box?”
Sophie shook her head.
“The blue one.”
Daniel lowered himself into the shaft.
At the bottom was a small stone chamber.
A blue metal box sat against the wall.
He lifted it.
Inside were photographs.
Letters.
A small tape recorder.
And one object wrapped in cloth.
A child's bracelet.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
It belonged to his younger brother, Samuel.
Samuel had disappeared when Daniel was eleven.
The family had always been told he'd drowned.
Daniel stared.
“Why would Mom keep this?”
Mara descended behind him.
She saw the bracelet.
Her face went white.
“Samuel.”
“You remember him?”
“Of course.”
“What happened to him?”
Mara whispered,
“He wasn't alone the day he disappeared.”
Daniel turned.
“What does that mean?”
“He was with Thomas.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“He was thirteen.”
“Yes.”
“And Thomas was already working for Dad.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Mara shook her head.
“He told us Samuel ran away.”
Daniel opened the tape recorder.
A voice crackled through static.
Young.
Terrified.
“Mom, I found the papers.”
Daniel froze.
It was Samuel.
“I know who Dad is paying.”
Static.
Then another voice.
Thomas.
“You weren't supposed to see that.”
A struggle.
A crash.
Then silence.
Daniel dropped the recorder.
Mara began crying.
“He told us Samuel drowned.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“He lied.”
Inside the blue box was another letter.
Eleanor had written it.
Daniel, if you find this, it means I failed to protect both of you.
Daniel continued reading.
Samuel discovered the first trust transfer. Thomas found him before he could tell anyone.
Then another line.
But Thomas did not kill him.
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Mara stared.
“There must be more.”
The next page was missing.
Only a torn corner remained.
On it were three words.
HE IS ALIVE.
Daniel looked up.
Mara was staring at the wall.
A hidden speaker clicked on.
A man's voice filled the chamber.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Daniel recognized it instantly.
Thomas.
“You've spent your entire life believing your brother was dead.”
A pause.
“He isn't.”
Daniel shouted toward the speaker.
“Where is he?”
Thomas laughed softly.
“Ask your mother.”
The speaker crackled.
Then Thomas whispered,
“Ask Lillian.”
The line died.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“Lillian.”
Daniel understood.
The woman behind the identity scandal.
The woman whose name appeared on the old birth certificate.
The woman who might still be alive.
And possibly the woman pretending to be Eleanor.
Daniel climbed out of the chamber.
Sophie waited above.
“Daddy?”
He knelt.
“Grandma knew Uncle Samuel was alive.”
Sophie stared.
Then quietly said,
“I saw him.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward the basement.
“He was standing behind Aunt Mara.”
Mara turned white.
“I was never in the basement yesterday.”
Sophie nodded.
“He was wearing Grandma's ring.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
Then toward the dark hallway.
A man's footprint marked the dusty floor.
Fresh.
May you like
Someone had been inside the mansion.
And he had left without anyone seeing him.
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