Chapter 4 - Evan's SecretRebecca told me everything.
Or at least she claimed she did.
Twenty years ago, she had been Margaret's closest friend.
Their husbands worked together.
Their children grew up together.
Rebecca's daughter Lily spent almost every weekend at Margaret's house.
Until one night, Lily disappeared.
Margaret told everyone she had wandered outside.
The police searched for weeks.
No body was found.
No evidence.
Nothing.
Rebecca never accepted the story.
“I knew my daughter,” she said.
“She would never leave without her favorite stuffed rabbit.”
I looked at Margaret.
“What happened to the rabbit?”
Margaret's lips trembled.
Rebecca answered.
“It was found inside Margaret's house.”
Silence.
I looked at Evan.
“You knew all this?”
He shook his head.
“I was eight.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“What do you remember?”
He looked at the floor.
“I remember Lily crying.”
My heart stopped.
“What was she crying about?”
“My mother.”
Margaret stood up.
“Evan.”
He flinched.
She looked at him.
“Don't.”
That one word contained decades of fear.
I understood something then.
Margaret wasn't controlling Evan because she simply enjoyed control.
She had trained him to obey.
She had built his entire childhood around silence.
I asked:
“What did Lily see?”
Evan's hands began shaking.
“I don't know.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“You do.”
Evan looked at her.
“I remember a door.”
“What door?”
“A basement door.”
Margaret suddenly screamed:
“Stop!”
Detective Harris moved toward her.
“Mrs. Hale.”
Margaret grabbed the table.
“I don't want to talk about this.”
I stared at her.
“What's in your basement?”
She didn't answer.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
There was one photograph.
It showed a little girl.
Six years old.
Standing beside a wooden basement door.
Under the photograph were four words:
Ask Evan about midnight.
I looked at my husband.
His face drained of color.
“Evan.”
He stared at the photograph.
Then whispered:
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The door opened at midnight.”
“And?”
He looked at Margaret.
“She told me never to ask where Lily went.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Detective Harris asked:
“Did you see Lily after midnight?”
Evan nodded.
“Yes.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where?”
He whispered:
“In the basement.”
Margaret suddenly lunged toward him.
“No!”
Detective Harris restrained her.
I stepped backward.
“Was she alive?”
Evan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“Then what happened?”
Evan opened his eyes.
And before he could answer, the lights in the house went out.
Someone screamed.
Then we heard a child's voice from upstairs.
“Mommy?”
I froze.
Maisie was beside me.
May you like
The voice wasn't hers.
It came from the empty hallway.
