CHAPTER 10 The Voice Behind the Wall
The hidden stone door remained half open.
No one moved.
Rachel's breathing became shallow.
Natalie instinctively stepped in front of Emma despite the pain shooting through her wounded shoulder.
Adrian tightened his grip on the flashlight.
Claire's voice had been unmistakable.
Not similar.
Not distorted.
It was her.
Exactly as he remembered it.
Warm.
Calm.
Gentle.
Impossible.
He took one cautious step toward the doorway.
"Claire?"
Silence.
Then the voice came again.
"Come inside."
Emma smiled.
"I told you she was waiting."
Rachel whispered desperately,
"Emma, stop saying that."
Adrian crossed the threshold first.
The beam of his flashlight swept across another hidden chamber.
Unlike the archive room, this one wasn't filled with boxes.
It was a workshop.
Blueprints covered one wall.
Electronic equipment filled another.
Several dismantled security cameras lay on a long workbench.
Claire hadn't just been collecting evidence.
She had been building something.
At the center of the room stood a single office chair.
Facing away from the door.
Someone was sitting in it.
Every muscle in Adrian's body tensed.
Slowly...
The chair turned.
His breath caught.
Not Claire.
A life-sized silicone mannequin.
Made to resemble her.
From the back, in dim light, it could easily fool anyone.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Natalie let out the breath she'd been holding.
The mannequin wore one of Claire's blue sweaters.
A tiny speaker was hidden beneath the collar.
The voice came from there.
"Adrian."
The speaker activated automatically.
"If you're hearing this..."
"...then you've reached the last place I believed they'd never find."
Adrian stepped closer.
The message continued.
"I know what you're thinking."
"No..."
"I'm not alive."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
A part of him had known.
Another part had hoped.
The recording continued.
"I recorded these messages in stages."
"Each room unlocks the next."
"I needed to know that whoever reached this place had followed the trail correctly."
Natalie looked around.
"So this entire investigation..."
"...was designed like a puzzle."
Claire answered as if she had heard her.
"Because anyone who skipped a step..."
"...couldn't be trusted."
Adrian frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The speaker clicked.
A small projector hidden in the ceiling came to life.
A map of the mansion appeared on the opposite wall.
Hidden passages glowed in red.
Secret rooms in blue.
Then...
One section flashed gold.
"The final cache," Claire said.
"I never wrote its location."
"I never recorded it."
"I only hid the key."
Adrian instinctively reached into his pocket.
The silver key.
Claire's voice continued.
"No."
"Not that key."
"The other one."
He froze.
"The other..."
Before he could finish the sentence, Emma quietly walked toward the mannequin.
She reached beneath its left sleeve.
Everyone watched in silence.
Her tiny fingers felt along the fabric.
Then...
She pulled out a thin silver chain.
Dangling from it...
Was another key.
Smaller.
Older.
Rachel stared in disbelief.
"How did you know?"
Emma looked genuinely puzzled.
"She always kept it there."
A heavy silence filled the room.
Natalie slowly looked at Adrian.
"Claire never wore necklaces."
He nodded.
"Not after our honeymoon."
Yet somehow...
Emma knew exactly where to reach.
Claire's recording resumed.
"If Emma found the key..."
"...then she remembered."
Rachel whispered,
"Remembered what?"
No answer.
Instead...
The projector changed.
A photograph filled the wall.
Claire.
Rachel.
Baby Emma.
Taken in the mansion garden.
Below it appeared another photograph.
Claire and Emma alone.
Then another.
And another.
Dozens of pictures.
Claire had spent time with Emma.
Not once.
Not twice.
For months.
Rachel stared through tears.
"I don't understand..."
"I thought I met Claire only briefly."
The recording clicked again.
"You didn't."
"You worked for me."
"You became my friend."
"You trusted me enough..."
"...to tell me who Emma's father really was."
The room went still.
Rachel's face lost all color.
"My..."
"...father?"
Emma looked up at her mother.
"You never told me."
Rachel shook her head violently.
"I don't know."
"I swear I don't know."
Claire's voice softened.
"They made sure you wouldn't."
Adrian frowned.
"What is she talking about?"
The projector advanced to the next image.
A DNA laboratory report.
This time complete.
No pages missing.
Across the top:
PATERNITY ANALYSIS
Two names had been blacked out.
Only the result remained.
Probability of paternity: 99.998%
Rachel covered her mouth.
Natalie whispered,
"Whose test was this?"
Claire answered.
"I made two copies."
"They stole one."
"This is the second."
The projector zoomed toward the section where the names should have been.
Only fragments remained after someone had tried to erase them.
Sample A:
E...A BENNETT
Emma Bennett.
Sample B:
The first name was gone.
Only the surname remained.
...WESTWOOD
Adrian's blood ran cold.
Westwood.
His own surname.
His voice barely escaped.
"No..."
Rachel looked at him in horror.
"No..."
Neither of them finished the sentence.
Then the projector abruptly shut off.
The speaker emitted a harsh burst of static.
A new voice replaced Claire's.
Cold.
Male.
Unfamiliar.
"End of recording."
"You've seen enough."
Every monitor in the workshop sprang to life.
One screen showed the underground staircase.
Black-clad men were descending.
Another showed the archive room.
More armed figures.
Another displayed the mansion above.
Every exit was occupied.
They were surrounded.
The male voice spoke again.
"Mr. Westwood..."
"...please leave the key on the table."
"You have sixty seconds."
A countdown appeared on every monitor.
00:59
00:58
00:57
Then, on the final screen...
The hooded intruder from the previous night slowly removed his mask for the first time.
Adrian stared.
The man's face wasn't familiar.
But the scar running across his right cheek was.
He had seen it once before.
In an old wedding photograph.
Standing in the background.
Beside Claire.
May you like
Smiling.
END OF CHAPTER 10
