Chapter 4 - Rebecca’s Room
Daniel had avoided the room for eighteen months.
Not because he had forgotten Rebecca.
Because he remembered too much.
Her perfume still lingered faintly inside.
A sweater hung behind the door.
Her books remained stacked beside the bed.
Daniel stood at the threshold with the brass key.
Claire stopped behind him.
“You don’t have to do this tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
He walked toward the walnut desk beneath the window.
His father had given it to Rebecca after she joined the Mercer Foundation.
At the time, Daniel had thought nothing of it.
He inserted the key.
It turned.
Inside the top drawer were ordinary things.
Letters.
Stationery.
Receipts.
A photograph of Lily as a baby.
Daniel searched every compartment.
Nothing.
Then Claire said, “Dad loved hidden mechanisms.”
Daniel looked at her.
She pointed underneath the center drawer.
Daniel reached beneath it.
His fingers found a narrow wooden switch.
Click.
A panel opened at the back.
Inside was a black notebook.
And a USB drive.
Daniel stared.
Rebecca had hidden them.
He opened the notebook.
The first page was dated two months before her death.
I think someone is altering Daniel’s medication.
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
He read further.
Rebecca had documented missing pills.
Changed labels.
Strange invoices.
Unauthorized transfers involving Mercer Biologics.
Her notes became increasingly frantic.
Someone inside the company is using Daniel’s signature.
Later:
Thomas says I’m misunderstanding the paperwork.
And then:
I don’t trust Thomas anymore.
Daniel stopped.
Claire read over his shoulder.
“Keep going.”
Another entry.
Nora believes someone entered the pantry at night.
Then:
Michael asked why Daniel still keeps me as beneficiary. He laughed afterward, but I don’t think it was a joke.
Claire’s face tightened.
Daniel continued.
A final entry had been written one day before Rebecca died.
I finally know who is doing it.
Daniel’s heart pounded.
Below that sentence were three words.
Check the greenhouse.
Nothing else.
Claire whispered, “What greenhouse?”
Daniel looked through the bedroom window.
Beyond the gardens stood an old glass structure near the edge of the property.
His mother had once grown orchids there.
It had been locked for years.
Daniel turned.
“We’re going now.”
Owen refused to let him enter alone.
They crossed the wet lawn with two officers.
The greenhouse door was chained.
Daniel ordered it cut.
Inside, dust covered nearly everything.
Old tables.
Empty pots.
Broken shelves.
The smell of damp wood.
Owen swept his flashlight across the floor.
“Rebecca came here?”
Daniel didn’t know.
They searched for twenty minutes.
Nothing.
Then Daniel noticed one section of floor looked cleaner.
A large planting table had recently been moved.
They pushed it aside.
Underneath was a trapdoor.
Claire whispered, “You’re kidding.”
Owen opened it.
A narrow staircase descended underground.
Daniel went first.
At the bottom was a small concrete room.
There were filing cabinets.
A folding table.
And dozens of boxes.
Daniel opened the nearest one.
Company records.
Old ones.
Invoices.
Clinical contracts.
Payments.
Claire looked over his shoulder.
“What is all this?”
Daniel stared at one recurring vendor.
Aster Research Services.
He knew every major contractor Mercer Holdings used.
He had never heard of Aster.
Owen opened another box.
“Daniel.”
Inside were photographs.
Surveillance photographs.
Daniel leaving the office.
Rebecca picking Lily up from school.
Nora grocery shopping.
Claire entering a restaurant.
Michael outside a hotel.
Someone had been watching all of them.
For years.
Claire stepped backward.
“What the hell?”
Daniel picked up a photograph dated two weeks before Rebecca’s accident.
Rebecca stood outside this very greenhouse.
She was arguing with someone.
The other person’s face was turned away.
But the body shape was unmistakably male.
Daniel looked closer.
The man wore a silver signet ring.
Daniel knew that ring.
Their father had owned three identical rings.
One for each child.
Daniel wore his occasionally.
Claire kept hers in a jewelry box.
Michael wore his every day.
Claire saw it too.
“Oh my God.”
Daniel put down the photograph.
“Michael.”
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Owen raised his weapon.
“Police!”
No answer.
Then the greenhouse door slammed shut.
The lights from outside disappeared.
Claire ran toward the stairs.
Daniel followed.
The chain had been replaced from the outside.
Someone had locked them in.
Owen radioed for help.
Static.
“No signal underground.”
Daniel looked around.
Then he smelled it.
Smoke.
Claire did too.
“Daniel.”
A faint orange glow appeared near the top of the stairs.
May you like
Someone had set the greenhouse on fire.
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