Chapter 3 - The police removed the cabinet from the wall.Nobody spoke while they worked.
The photograph lay on the floor between us.
Claire was standing outside a train station.
She looked directly at the camera.
At first, I thought it was just an ordinary family picture.
Then I noticed her expression.
She wasn't smiling.
She looked frightened.
On the back of the photograph was the same handwriting.
SHE FOUND THE FIRST ROOM.
I picked up the notebook.
The cover was worn black leather.
Inside were dates.
Names.
House locations.
Numbers.
Some had been crossed out.
Others had been circled.
On one page, I saw a list of names.
Claire.
Vanessa.
A man named Martin Reeves.
Another name I didn't recognize.
Elias Vale.
At the bottom of the page, written in red ink:
DO NOT LET DANIEL KNOW.
My hands went numb.
One of the officers took the notebook.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was inside the cabinet.”
“Who owns this cabinet?”
“Vanessa.”
“Who is Vanessa?”
“My wife's friend.”
The officer looked at me.
“How close?”
“She moved in after Claire disappeared.”
His expression changed.
“You let someone move into your home after your wife vanished?”
“She said she wanted to help with Lily.”
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
He wrote something down.
I stared at the steel door.
“Open it.”
The officers examined the lock.
One of them called for a specialist.
While we waited, Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Dad.”
“What?”
She pointed at the photograph.
“That's not the picture I saw.”
My stomach tightened.
“What picture?”
“When Mom was talking to Vanessa.”
“When?”
“Before Mom went away.”
I crouched.
“Lily, you told me Mom went away on a train.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
My heart stopped.
“Who told you that?”
“Vanessa.”
I looked at the officer.
Then back at Lily.
“What did you actually see?”
Lily frowned.
“Mom was in the garage.”
“When?”
“Nighttime.”
“Did she have a suitcase?”
“No.”
“Was she alone?”
Lily shook her head.
“Vanessa was there.”
The room became silent.
One officer asked gently:
“What happened?”
Lily looked at the steel door.
“Mom was crying.”
My throat tightened.
“Then what?”
“Vanessa said, ‘He'll never know.’”
“Who is he?”
Lily pointed at me.
My own daughter.
I felt something crack inside me.
The police specialist arrived twenty minutes later.
He examined the lock.
“There’s no conventional keyway.”
“What does that mean?”
“Electronic lock.”
“Can you open it?”
“Eventually.”
“How long?”
He looked at the reinforced steel.
“If I don't damage whatever is inside, several hours.”
Several hours.
Claire had been trapped for eighteen months.
I didn't care.
“Do it.”
The specialist began working.
While he did, I studied the room.
Something bothered me.
The scratches.
I moved closer.
They weren't random.
They formed letters.
At first they looked meaningless.
But when I tilted my head, I saw them.
D
O
N
T
Then deeper.
T
R
U
S
T
I stepped back.
“Don't trust…”
I followed the next scratches.
They continued behind the lower hinge.
…HER.
I looked at the officer.
“There's a message.”
He photographed it.
My pulse accelerated.
“Claire wrote that.”
The specialist stopped.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
He pointed to the scratches.
“Some are very old.”
“How old?”
“Could be months. Could be longer.”
I stared at the door.
“Claire, can you hear me?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
“Did you write these scratches?”
A pause.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
No answer.
The specialist looked at me.
He seemed uneasy.
I asked Claire again.
“Who else is in there?”
Her breathing changed.
“Someone you know.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
“Don't ask me that.”
“Claire.”
“Daniel…”
Her voice cracked.
“He was there the night I disappeared.”
I looked at the officer.
“Who was?”
Claire whispered one final word.
“Your brother.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
My brother Michael had died seven years earlier.
I had attended his funeral.
I had watched his coffin lowered.
I said nothing.
Neither did the police.
Then the lights went out.
Every bulb in the house died at once.
The storage room fell completely dark.
Lily screamed.
The lock on the steel door clicked.
Once.
May you like
Twice.
Then the door began to open by itself.
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