Chapter 9 - ClaireThe police reopened Claire Mercer's disappearance.
Within six hours, the case became national news.
Daniel's attorney immediately released a statement accusing authorities of turning an old family mystery into "a media circus."
Daniel himself remained silent.
Too silent.
Hale found that suspicious.
Meanwhile, Ava kept thinking about Claire.
Sixteen.
Missing.
A photograph taken three days later.
A lake house.
A red door.
A machine.
She couldn't remember why she had forgotten.
Then something clicked.
She had been there with her father.
She had heard crying.
But it hadn't come from the television.
It had come from behind the red door.
She told Hale.
He stared at her.
"Are you certain?"
"I am now."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I was twelve."
"Did Daniel say anything?"
"He said Claire had run away."
"Did you believe him?"
Ava whispered:
"I believed everything he told me."
The police obtained a warrant for the lake house.
When they arrived, the property appeared abandoned.
Dust on the furniture.
Dead leaves in the hallway.
A broken clock.
The red door was still there.
Locked.
Hale opened it.
Behind the door was a staircase.
Down.
Into darkness.
The officers descended.
At the bottom was a room.
Empty.
Almost.
There was a chair.
A table.
And a tape recorder.
Ava wasn't there.
But Elena was.
She stood beside Hale as he examined it.
A cassette sat inside.
Old-fashioned.
Labeled:
CLAIRE.
Elena started crying.
"Play it."
Hale hesitated.
Then pressed the button.
Static.
A teenage girl's voice.
"Mom?"
Elena covered her mouth.
Then Claire spoke again.
"If anyone finds this..."
The recording crackled.
"I didn't run away."
Silence.
Then another voice.
Daniel.
"You don't need to be afraid."
Claire cried.
"I want to go home."
Daniel's voice remained calm.
"You are home."
The tape stopped.
Elena turned away.
Hale immediately shut it off.
Another officer found a hidden compartment beneath the floor.
Inside was a notebook.
Claire's handwriting.
The first page said:
I finally understand what he does.
The next page was torn out.
Then another.
Then another.
Only one full page remained.
It contained a single sentence.
Ava is next.
Hale's face hardened.
"How old was Ava when this was written?"
The officer checked the date.
"Fourteen."
Elena stared at him.
"That's when it started."
Nobody spoke.
Then Hale's phone rang.
A local hospital.
A nurse had found an unidentified woman matching Claire's description.
Alive.
Admitted three hours earlier.
No identification.
No family.
No explanation.
Elena's heart raced.
Ava whispered:
"Claire."
Hale nodded.
"We're going."
They arrived twenty minutes later.
A woman sat alone in a hospital room.
Older.
Thin.
Exhausted.
But unmistakable.
Claire lifted her head.
Her eyes met Ava's.
May you like
And she said:
"I knew he'd come for you eventually."
