Chapter 10 - The Room Beneath the House
Daniel had searched hospitals.
He had driven forty miles through the darkness.
He had watched his daughter nearly die in a booby-trapped room.
And all that time, his wife had been hidden inside the house where they had built their life together.
The thought nearly broke him.
He looked at Detective Ruiz.
"She's at the estate."
Ruiz studied the photograph.
"That could be an old image."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
He enlarged the screen.
On the dining table stood a silver flower vase.
He remembered Catherine buying it during their honeymoon.
But the flowers inside were fresh white roses.
His housekeeper had arranged them that morning for the engagement celebration.
"The picture is recent."
Ruiz looked closer.
Daniel pointed toward the far wall.
"And that painting."
A large abstract canvas hung above the sideboard.
"Catherine hated it."
Vanessa frowned.
"What?"
"I bought it at an auction two months ago."
Daniel looked up.
"There's no way this picture is eleven months old."
Ruiz issued instructions to her officers.
A police team was already at the estate.
They would secure the grounds and search for Catherine.
Daniel insisted on returning.
This time, he made one decision without argument.
"Lily goes somewhere safe."
His daughter immediately shook her head.
"No."
Daniel knelt beside her.
"Sweetheart, I need you to stay with Mrs. Alvarez."
"Martin hurt her."
"She's at the hospital, being looked after."
"Then who?"
Daniel looked toward Ruiz.
The detective nodded.
"We have officers who can take Lily to a secure location."
Lily began to cry.
"Daddy, please."
Daniel took her hands.
"I know you're scared."
"Everybody keeps leaving."
He felt the full weight of that sentence.
He had spent eleven months telling himself he was being strong for his daughter.
But he had been absent in ways money could never repair.
He had let other people decide what she needed.
Other people tell her what to believe.
Other people take her to places he knew nothing about.
He touched her cheek.
"Listen to me, Lily."
She looked at him.
"You don't have to be brave for me anymore."
Her lower lip trembled.
"Really?"
"Really."
"You can be scared?"
"Yes."
"You can cry?"
"Yes."
"And you can tell me when something hurts?"
Daniel nodded.
"Always."
She threw her arms around him.
He held her until she stopped shaking.
Then he watched as a uniformed policewoman named Officer Bennett led her toward a waiting vehicle.
Lily carried her burned teddy bear.
She refused to leave without it.
Daniel understood.
He would have done the same.
The drive back to the estate took forty minutes.
Daniel spent most of it reviewing photographs of his house.
Floor plans.
Renovation documents.
Security schematics.
Catherine had overseen a major renovation two years before Lily was born.
She had designed a wine cellar, a small theater, and a basement storage system.
Then Daniel remembered something.
A disagreement.
Catherine had wanted to preserve an old service corridor beneath the east wing.
Daniel thought it was unnecessary.
She insisted.
"It's part of the house's history," she'd said.
He laughed and accused her of being sentimental.
She told him buildings should never forget the people who had lived inside them.
Eventually, he agreed.
Now he wondered whether someone had used that forgotten corridor to bring her home.
He opened the renovation plans.
The east wing basement.
A service passage.
A sealed maintenance room.
And an old freight lift connecting the sublevel to the pantry.
Daniel leaned forward.
"Detective."
Ruiz looked over.
"Yes?"
"There's another way into the house."
He showed her the plans.
"Here."
Ruiz studied them.
"Why isn't this on the current security map?"
"Because the corridor was sealed during renovation."
"Sealed how?"
"A removable wall panel."
"Who knew?"
"Catherine."
Daniel hesitated.
"And the contractor."
"Name?"
"Whitmore Construction Services."
Ruiz looked up.
"Your brother's division?"
Daniel nodded.
The estate appeared beyond the trees.
Police vehicles lined the circular driveway.
The front doors stood open.
Officers moved through the garden with flashlights.
Daniel entered through the kitchen.
Ruiz ordered him to remain behind the officers.
He obeyed until they reached the basement.
Then he led them toward the old pantry.
The walls were lined with wine racks and storage cabinets.
Daniel pointed toward a narrow section of paneling.
"Here."
An officer tapped the wall.
The sound was hollow.
They removed the decorative trim.
Behind it stood a steel maintenance door.
The lock was electronic.
Ruiz called for technical support.
Daniel stared at the keypad.
Four digits.
His hands began to shake.
He entered Catherine's birthday.
Nothing.
Their wedding anniversary.
Nothing.
Lily's birthday.
The panel flashed red.
Then he remembered something else.
Catherine's favorite number.
She used to write it in the margins of her architectural sketches.
Fourteen.
When he asked why, she'd smile and say it reminded her that everything could change in fourteen seconds.
Fourteen seconds was how long it had taken her to decide to marry him after his awkward proposal.
Daniel entered 0014.
The lock clicked.
Ruiz looked at him.
"How did you know?"
Daniel swallowed.
"She designed the room."
The door opened into darkness.
A stale smell drifted from the passage.
Something chemical.
Something metallic.
Officers entered first.
The corridor stretched beneath the east wing.
At its end stood a second door.
This one was open.
Inside was a small room furnished with a bed, a sink, and a table.
A plastic water bottle sat beside the bed.
A blanket lay on the floor.
The room was empty.
Daniel moved toward the table.
There was a photograph of Catherine and Lily.
He recognized it.
He had taken it at the county fair three summers earlier.
Catherine was laughing.
Lily was holding a giant stuffed rabbit.
Someone had folded the photograph so Daniel's face was hidden.
His stomach tightened.
Ruiz examined the room.
"Someone's been kept here."
Daniel turned toward a small window set high in the wall.
It looked into the old drainage tunnel.
There were footprints in the dust.
Fresh.
Then an officer called from the corridor.
"Detective, over here."
They followed him to another door.
Behind it was a small monitoring station.
Six screens.
Cameras covered the kitchen, dining room, garage, garden, and Lily's bedroom.
Daniel stared at the last screen.
His daughter's room.
Her bed.
Her little desk.
Her favorite books.
Someone had been watching her sleep.
He felt sick.
Ruiz pointed toward a computer.
"Preserve everything."
An officer began photographing the equipment.
Daniel stepped toward the desk.
A notebook lay open beside the keyboard.
Most of the pages contained dates and surveillance notes.
Then he saw a sentence written in Catherine's handwriting.
If Daniel finds this, tell him the truth about the night I disappeared.
Daniel reached for the notebook.
Beneath the sentence was another line.
I was not the person they meant to kill.
He froze.
Ruiz approached.
"What did you find?"
Daniel pointed.
The detective read the page.
Then she looked at him.
"Who was?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
A voice came from the doorway.
"I do."
Vanessa stood in the entrance.
Her face was ashen.
Daniel turned toward her.
She looked at the notebook.
Then at the surveillance screens.
And finally at the photograph of Catherine.
"The car accident was staged to kill Rebecca."
Daniel stared.
"Your sister?"
Vanessa nodded.
"Catherine was supposed to survive."
"Why?"
Vanessa's voice broke.
"Because Nathan needed her alive."
Daniel took a step closer.
"For what?"
Vanessa looked toward Lily's bedroom on the monitor.
"For the one thing he couldn't steal from your company."
Daniel's pulse hammered.
May you like
"What?"
She whispered, "Your daughter."
