Chapter 8 - The House That RememberedThe Parker house looked exactly as Ethan remembered.
That was what made it terrifying.
The swing on the porch.
The cracked flowerpot.
The blue curtains in his bedroom.
Nothing had changed.
But the place felt wrong.
Ruiz entered first.
Claire followed.
Daniel stayed behind with a flashlight.
Ethan walked slowly through the hallway.
He remembered his mother's voice.
His father's laugh.
Richard carrying groceries.
Christmas mornings.
Movie nights.
Then Ethan stopped.
“Here.”
He pointed toward a wall.
There were three faint scratches beneath the wallpaper.
Claire stared.
“It was here.”
“What?”
“This is where your father taught you the knock code.”
Ethan touched the wall.
“Why?”
Daniel answered.
“Because Richard was listening.”
Ethan pulled the wallpaper away.
Beneath it was a small metal panel.
Ruiz opened it.
Inside was a cassette tape.
An old one.
A label read:
FOR ETHAN.
The tape player still worked.
Claire pressed play.
Daniel's voice filled the room.
But it was a recording from fourteen years earlier.
“If you're hearing this, then I failed.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“Claire, I need you to understand something. Thomas is not working for Morrow.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
The recording continued.
“He is Morrow.”
Silence.
Ethan's heart stopped.
Thomas wasn't an accomplice.
He was the mastermind.
The voice continued.
“He built the organization under another name. Victor Morrow is only the public face.”
Ruiz looked at Daniel.
“Is that true?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
The tape continued.
“They've been watching our family since before Ethan was born.”
A pause.
“Ethan has something they need.”
The tape clicked.
Then another voice appeared.
Claire's.
She sounded terrified.
“What?”
Daniel answered.
“The boy's blood.”
Ethan stared.
“What does that mean?”
The tape continued.
“His blood can prove something Morrow has been hiding.”
The recording stopped.
Ethan looked at his mother.
“What can my blood prove?”
Claire started crying.
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
“I know they tested you when you were a baby.”
“Why?”
“I thought it was routine.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It wasn't.”
Ruiz crouched beside Ethan.
“What did they find?”
Claire whispered:
“A genetic marker.”
“What kind?”
“The kind that can identify whether a person is related to another person.”
Ethan's mind raced.
“Who am I related to?”
Nobody answered.
Then the front door opened.
Slowly.
Three footsteps.
A voice came from the darkness.
“That's the question I've been waiting for you to ask.”
Ethan froze.
A man stepped into the hallway.
Gray hair.
Blue coat.
Scar above his eyebrow.
May you like
Thomas Parker smiled.
“You finally found me.”
