CHAPTER 3 The Voice From the Night Arthur Died
The brass doorknob turned slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Clara tightened her grip on the iron fireplace poker until her knuckles turned white. Leo clung to the edge of the bed, struggling to breathe after the tape had been ripped from his mouth.
Neither of them made a sound.
Outside the bedroom, the man chuckled.
"You've always been stubborn, Miss Hayes."
Clara's stomach lurched.
He knew her name.
Not "housekeeper."
Not "maid."
Her name.
That meant he had known exactly who was inside the burning mansion.
"You'll never get out," the voice continued. "The staircase is already gone."
Leo whispered, "Don't answer him."
Clara nodded.
The room fell silent again.
Only the crackling of flames and the groaning timbers broke the stillness.
Then came the sound of footsteps.
Walking away.
Slowly.
Unhurried.
As if the man believed there was no need to finish the job himself.
The fire would do it for him.
Clara rushed to the door and slammed the poker into the shattered lock.
Nothing.
She struck it again.
The warped wood held firm.
Smoke seeped through the widening cracks.
They were trapped.
She spun toward the broken window.
The ground looked impossibly far below.
Three stories.
The fire engines had gathered on the opposite side of the estate, where the west wing had collapsed.
No ladder reached this side of the mansion.
She searched the room frantically.
Bookshelves.
Wardrobe.
Desk.
Then she noticed something strange.
The fireplace.
No fire burned inside it.
Only cold black stone.
Despite the inferno surrounding the house, the chimney remained untouched.
Leo saw her staring.
"My dad used it."
"For what?"
"He said it was our secret."
Clara frowned.
"Your father never liked fireplaces."
"He never lit it."
Leo pointed weakly.
"He opened it."
Clara knelt beside the old stone hearth.
At first glance, it looked ordinary.
But Arthur Sterling had been an engineer before joining the family business. He loved hidden compartments, clever locks, and mechanical puzzles.
She ran her hands across the carved limestone.
Dust.
Soot.
Then...
A tiny brass screw.
Far too polished to be original.
She twisted it.
Nothing happened.
She pushed instead.
Click.
The entire back wall of the fireplace shifted with a low rumble.
A narrow passage opened behind it.
Cold air rushed into the room.
Leo smiled through the fear.
"I told you."
Clara stared in disbelief.
"A secret tunnel..."
Arthur had built one.
The passage was barely wide enough for one person.
Old electric bulbs lined the ceiling.
Most had burned out years ago.
The remaining lights flickered weakly.
Clara helped Leo onto her back.
He was eleven now.
Older.
Heavier than he had been when she used to carry him after physical therapy.
But adrenaline drowned out the pain.
She stepped inside.
The hidden door closed behind them.
Immediately, the roar of the fire became muffled.
The tunnel stretched into darkness.
Concrete walls.
Iron pipes overhead.
It felt less like an escape route and more like a bunker.
Arthur had planned this carefully.
But why?
They had walked perhaps fifty yards when Leo whispered,
"Stop."
"What is it?"
"Listen."
Clara held her breath.
Far ahead...
Footsteps.
Someone else was inside the tunnel.
Coming toward them.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Steady.
She switched off the flashlight she'd found hanging near the entrance.
Darkness swallowed them.
The footsteps grew louder.
Closer.
Closer still.
A beam of light swept around the bend.
Someone carrying a lantern.
Clara gently lowered Leo behind an old storage crate.
She lifted the poker once more.
The figure approached.
A man.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
Wearing the dark green uniform of the estate maintenance staff.
His face looked familiar.
Then he gasped.
"Miss Hayes?"
Clara blinked.
"Mr. Benson?"
Harold Benson had been Sterling Manor's chief groundskeeper for nearly thirty years.
Everyone believed he had retired six months earlier.
"What are you doing here?" Clara asked.
His expression hardened.
"What are you doing here?"
"They tried to kill Leo."
"I know."
"You know?"
"I've been waiting."
Benson glanced nervously behind him before pulling a ring of ancient keys from his pocket.
"We don't have much time."
"What is this place?"
He looked at Leo.
"Your father never told you?"
Leo shook his head.
Benson sighed.
"Arthur built these tunnels after your first kidnapping attempt."
Clara felt the world tilt.
"Kidnapping?"
Leo stared.
"I was kidnapped?"
"For fourteen minutes."
Neither of them spoke.
Benson continued.
"You were four years old. Someone dressed as a paramedic wheeled you out of a children's hospital."
Leo's face had gone pale.
"My dad never told me."
"He didn't want you remembering."
"What happened?"
"Arthur caught them before they reached the ambulance."
Clara whispered,
"The police never reported that."
"They weren't allowed to."
"Why?"
"Because the kidnapper worked for the Sterling family."
Silence filled the tunnel.
Leo finally asked,
"Who?"
Benson hesitated.
"I don't know."
"You said they worked here."
"I knew someone did."
"How?"
"Arthur told me never to trust anyone inside the mansion."
"Anyone?"
"Anyone."
Even Richard?
Even Eleanor?
Arthur hadn't said.
He hadn't needed to.
Benson unlocked another heavy steel door.
Behind it lay a hidden room.
Dust covered everything.
Maps.
Blueprints.
Shelves stacked with boxes.
Old surveillance monitors.
Telephone equipment.
A small generator hummed quietly in one corner.
"This was Arthur's safe room," Benson explained.
"He watched the entire estate from here."
Clara looked toward the wall of monitors.
Most screens were dead.
One still flickered.
Its image came from the mansion's security system.
The fire continued to spread.
Firefighters battled the flames outside.
Richard Sterling stood beside several police officers, giving interviews.
Eleanor cried dramatically into a television camera.
"There was nothing we could do..."
Clara nearly laughed.
Nothing?
Leo whispered,
"They're lying."
Then...
Another monitor suddenly turned on by itself.
Static.
Then video.
Not live.
Recorded.
The timestamp read:
October 14. Eleven Years Ago.
The day Leo was born.
Arthur Sterling appeared on screen, sitting in this very room.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this..."
He paused.
"...then I've already failed."
Leo's breathing stopped.
Arthur continued,
"My son..."
"If you're old enough to understand these recordings, it means the people I feared have finally made their move."
Clara exchanged a stunned glance with Benson.
Arthur knew.
He had known all along.
On the screen, Arthur leaned closer.
"There is something inside Sterling Manor worth killing for."
"And if anyone besides Leo is watching this..."
His eyes seemed to pierce straight through the screen.
"...then one of you is already standing beside my enemy."
The lights inside the bunker suddenly went out.
Total darkness.
The generator had stopped.
Then, somewhere in the tunnel outside...
A steel door slammed shut.
Heavy footsteps echoed toward them.
Not one person.
Several.
And someone shouted,
May you like
"They're in here! Seal every exit!"
END OF CHAPTER 3
