Chapter 6 - The staircase went deeper than the house should have allowed.The air became colder with every step.
The walls changed from brick to poured concrete.
At the bottom was a steel corridor lined with old fluorescent lights.
Half of them still worked.
The others flickered.
Detective Sarah Cole stood beside me.
“Stay behind me.”
I nodded.
Lily was upstairs with officers.
For once, I was grateful.
The corridor ended at a locked door.
On it was a number.
01
Sarah opened it.
The room beyond was larger than the one upstairs.
There was a desk.
Three monitors.
Shelves filled with files.
And a wall covered in photographs.
My family.
My father.
My grandfather.
Michael.
Me.
Claire.
Lily.
Hundreds of photographs.
Taken from a distance.
At restaurants.
Outside schools.
Inside our own house.
Sarah walked toward the wall.
“This isn't surveillance.”
“What is it?”
“An archive.”
I stepped closer.
Every photograph had a date.
Some went back forty years.
Then I saw one that made my blood stop.
Michael.
He was standing beside Claire.
The date was six months after his supposed death.
I stared at it.
“No.”
Sarah looked at me.
“That's your brother.”
“That photo is impossible.”
She examined the date.
Then the image.
“Are you sure he died?”
“Yes.”
“Completely?”
“I was at the funeral.”
She said nothing.
I moved closer.
There was another photograph.
Michael standing in this very room.
Next to him was Vanessa.
My pulse thundered.
Beneath the photograph was a note.
M + V + C
I felt sick.
“Claire knew.”
Sarah looked at me.
“That's why she disappeared.”
I shook my head.
“No. She didn't disappear.”
I pointed toward the photograph.
“They took her.”
We searched the room.
Hidden behind the desk was a stack of files.
One folder carried Claire's name.
Inside were dozens of handwritten pages.
Her handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
The first page was dated eleven days before she vanished.
Daniel is not the problem.
I turned the page.
The problem is what his family built.
Next.
Room One is only storage.
Next.
Room Two is containment.
Next.
There is a third room.
I looked at Sarah.
“There's another one.”
She nodded.
The next page was almost unreadable.
Tears had blurred the ink.
If I disappear, Daniel must never trust Vanessa. But he also must never assume she is the person controlling this.
I stared at the sentence.
“What does that mean?”
Sarah continued reading.
The next line was circled.
Vanessa is being watched too.
Then another.
She is afraid of Michael.
My fingers tightened.
Michael.
The dead brother.
I turned the page.
Nothing.
Another.
Blank.
Then, inside the back cover, I found a small photograph.
Claire and Vanessa together.
Both crying.
Written on the back:
WE MADE A DEAL TO KEEP LILY ALIVE.
My chest tightened.
“A deal?”
Sarah took the photograph.
“Who did they make it with?”
Before I could answer, one of the monitors turned on.
The screen showed a live feed.
Our kitchen.
Someone was standing there.
A man.
Dark coat.
Gray hair.
He turned toward the camera.
I didn't recognize him.
Then he lifted something.
A photograph.
It was a picture of me.
He held it against his chest.
And smiled.
Sarah reached for her radio.
“Units to the kitchen. Now.”
The screen went black.
A second monitor activated.
This time it showed Lily upstairs.
She was sitting on the bed.
An officer stood beside her.
Then the camera angle changed.
Someone was behind the officer.
A hand covered his mouth.
The screen cut out.
I ran for the stairs.
Sarah shouted after me.
“Daniel, wait!”
I didn't.
I had only one thought.
Lily.
When I reached the bedroom, the officer was unconscious.
The bed was empty.
The window was closed.
There was no one else in the room.
Then I heard Lily's voice from the hallway.
“Dad?”
I turned.
She was standing at the end of the corridor.
Barefoot.
Holding something in her hand.
She walked toward me.
“Where were you?”
She looked confused.
“I was here.”
I stared at her.
“What are you holding?”
She opened her hand.
A brass key.
Old.
Heavy.
Stamped with a single number.
03
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And then Lily said something that made every hair on my arms rise.
“Mom told me where to put it.”
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