Chapter 4 - Nathan arrived at the school in less than ten minutes.Lily was sitting in the counselor's office.
Her knees were pulled to her chest.
The moment she saw Nathan, she ran into his arms.
“Daddy!”
He held her tightly.
“I'm here.”
She was trembling.
The counselor quietly explained what happened.
During a drawing exercise, Lily had drawn a black car beside a lake.
Then she had drawn Emma.
Not in a grave.
Inside a room.
A locked room.
Nathan stared at the picture.
“Lily, sweetheart…”
She looked at him.
“Mommy wasn't in the car when she died.”
Nathan swallowed.
“Who told you that?”
“Mommy.”
His heart nearly stopped.
“When?”
“Before she went away.”
Nathan's face tightened.
“Mommy didn't go away.”
Lily nodded slowly.
“She did.”
Nathan looked at the counselor.
The woman exchanged a worried glance with him.
“What room?” Nathan asked.
Lily pointed to the picture.
“This one.”
“Where is it?”
She hesitated.
“At the old house.”
“What old house?”
“The big one.”
Nathan knew immediately.
His father's abandoned estate.
It had been empty for fifteen years.
Victoria had always told Nathan to sell it.
He had never understood why she was so insistent.
Now he did.
Nathan drove there.
Victoria followed him.
He didn't want her there.
But she insisted.
The estate stood beyond a long iron gate.
The property had not been maintained in years.
Windows were boarded.
Grass covered the driveway.
Nathan unlocked the front door.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Lily clutched Nathan's hand.
She pointed toward the basement.
“There.”
Nathan stopped.
“What?”
“That’s where Mommy cried.”
Victoria whispered:
“Lily, don't.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Don't what?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Nathan opened the basement door.
The stairs creaked beneath their feet.
At the bottom was a corridor.
Three doors.
One locked.
He tried the handle.
Nothing.
Nathan kicked it.
The wood cracked.
Again.
The door burst open.
Inside was a small room.
No windows.
A chair.
A table.
And marks scratched into the wall.
Nathan stepped closer.
There were dates.
Names.
Numbers.
One name appeared repeatedly.
EMMA.
Lily pointed.
“That one.”
Nathan looked down.
On the floor was a rusted metal box.
He opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Emma.
Nathan's father.
Victoria.
And another man Nathan didn't recognize.
The photographs had dates.
Every one of them was taken before Emma's death.
Nathan picked up one.
Emma was standing beside a car.
The man beside her was handing her an envelope.
On the back someone had written:
THE TRANSFER WAS COMPLETED.
Nathan turned to Victoria.
“Who is he?”
She stared at the photograph.
Then she whispered:
“Daniel Voss.”
“Who is Daniel Voss?”
Victoria looked terrified.
“He's dead.”
Nathan frowned.
“Everybody in your stories is dead.”
“He was your father's lawyer.”
Nathan looked at the photographs again.
“Then why was he meeting Emma?”
“He knew she had found the accounts.”
Nathan knelt beside the box.
At the bottom was a newspaper clipping.
Headline:
LOCAL ATTORNEY KILLED IN CAR FIRE.
Nathan read the date.
Three days after Emma's death.
A pattern emerged.
People were dying.
One after another.
Everyone connected to the accounts.
And Emma had been next.
Nathan's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said:
“You opened the basement.”
Nathan froze.
“Who are you?”
“You shouldn't have.”
“Where is Emma?”
The man laughed softly.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What is the right one?”
A pause.
“Ask why Victoria survived.”
Nathan slowly turned.
Victoria was standing behind him.
The caller continued:
“She wasn't supposed to.”
Nathan ended the call.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria said nothing.
“Victoria.”
Still nothing.
Nathan grabbed her shoulders.
“Why were you supposed to die?”
Victoria burst into tears.
“Because I was supposed to be in the car with Emma.”
Nathan's grip loosened.
“What?”
“We planned to disappear together.”
“Why?”
“Because Emma knew she couldn't trust anyone.”
“Then what happened?”
Victoria whispered:
“I changed my mind.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You left her.”
“Yes.”
“And she died.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“She didn't die that night.”
Nathan's face went numb.
Victoria pointed toward the locked wall behind the room.
“She was alive when I left.”
Nathan turned.
There was a hidden seam in the wall.
He ran his fingers over it.
Pressed.
A section moved.
A narrow passage opened behind the wall.
Cold air rushed out.
Inside was another room.
And on the wall was a security photograph.
Emma.
Alive.
Taken the morning after the supposed accident.
Nathan stared at the date.
Four years ago.
Then he saw the person standing beside her.
Nathan stopped breathing.
It was Victoria.
But Victoria was wearing the exact same clothes she had worn to Nathan's house that morning.
Meaning she had lied about where she had been.
And Emma had survived long enough to be photographed.
Nathan turned toward Victoria.
“What happened to her?”
Victoria whispered:
“She was taken.”
“By who?”
Victoria looked at the photograph.
May you like
Then at Nathan.
“By the people who thought you were next.”
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