Chapter 5 - Nobody moved.The image on the monitors remained frozen.
A little boy.
Dark hair.
Bare feet.
One hand pressed against a wall.
Calla stepped closer.
“That's him?”
Emma covered her mouth.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Who recorded this?”
Detective Hayes asked the technician to replay the footage.
The video began.
The boy was walking through a hallway.
An unknown woman held his hand.
He looked back.
His lips moved.
The audio was too faint.
The technician increased the volume.
The boy whispered:
“Mom?”
Emma broke down.
Calla grabbed her.
Daniel's hands shook.
Then the woman in the video turned toward the camera.
The image became clear for only two seconds.
A silver ring.
Black stone.
The same ring Emma had described.
Then the screen went black.
Detective Hayes looked at the technician.
“Can you recover the footage source?”
He nodded.
“The file came from an archived camera.”
“From where?”
He typed rapidly.
Then froze.
“It's from this property.”
Daniel stared.
“That's impossible.”
The technician pointed to the location code.
“Old east corridor.”
Daniel looked confused.
“This house didn't have an east corridor six years ago.”
Emma whispered:
“Yes, it did.”
Everyone turned.
She pointed toward the pool house.
“Underground.”
Daniel went silent.
The old property had once belonged to his father.
There were rumors about underground storage tunnels.
He had never believed them.
He suddenly grabbed a flashlight.
“Show me.”
Emma followed.
Detective Hayes ordered two officers to accompany them.
Behind the pool house was a concrete foundation partially hidden by ivy.
Emma stopped.
“There.”
Daniel brushed the vines away.
A steel hatch appeared.
The lock was newer than the rest.
He opened it.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Calla stood at the top.
“No.”
Her father looked back.
“You stay here.”
“But that's where my brother was.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then Emma squeezed Calla's shoulder.
“We'll find him.”
The underground corridor smelled of dust and damp concrete.
Old pipes ran along the ceiling.
At the end was a heavy steel door.
The door was unlocked.
Inside were shelves filled with boxes.
Photographs.
Medical files.
Clothes.
Children's toys.
Calla saw a red stuffed rabbit.
She recognized it.
Her mother had given that rabbit to her when she was four.
It had disappeared the night Emma vanished.
Calla picked it up.
“Mom?”
Emma covered her mouth.
Then she spotted a wall.
Names had been written on it.
Dates.
Room numbers.
Calla stepped closer.
Her own name was there.
CALLA HALE.
Beside it:
AGE 4.
And beneath that:
SUBJECT A.
Emma screamed.
“No!”
Daniel rushed toward her.
“What is this?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then Daniel found another file.
SUBJECT B.
Inside was a photograph.
A baby.
Underneath the photograph was a date.
Calla stared.
The date matched the day her mother disappeared.
Daniel looked at Emma.
“You said you gave birth?”
Emma nodded.
“But the baby was taken.”
“By who?”
Emma pointed at the file.
There was a signature.
Daniel read it.
Then his face drained.
The signature belonged to his own father.
Daniel's father had died four years ago.
Yet the file showed him authorizing the child's transfer.
Daniel dropped the paper.
“No.”
Detective Hayes took it.
“This could be forged.”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed to the bottom.
“There.”
A handwritten note:
THE GIRL MUST NEVER KNOW SHE HAS A BROTHER.
Calla felt the floor tilt beneath her.
“She?”
Daniel turned to Emma.
“What girl?”
Emma looked at Calla.
“You.”
The underground room suddenly felt too small.
Calla backed away.
“Why?”
Emma struggled to answer.
“I thought they wanted the baby.”
“What did they want from me?”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“They didn't want you dead.”
She whispered:
“They wanted you to disappear too.”
A noise came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Everyone turned.
Someone had entered the underground tunnel.
Detective Hayes raised her weapon.
“Police! Identify yourself!”
No answer.
Then the lights went out.
A child's voice echoed through the darkness.
“Mom?”
May you like
Emma screamed.
“CALEB?”
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