Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER IN THE DARK
Arthur returned home after midnight with Detective Reed.
Elena came with them.
Leo stayed at the hospital under police protection.
The backyard was lit by portable floodlights.
Nolan’s black pickup had been discovered behind a row of trees near the old service road, less than two hundred yards from Arthur’s property line.
Its doors were unlocked.
The keys were gone.
There was blood on the passenger seat.
Arthur stared through the window.
“Is that Victoria’s?”
“We don’t know yet,” Reed said.
“What about Nolan?”
“Nothing.”
Arthur rubbed both hands over his face.
“My brother helped lock up my son.”
“We don’t know exactly what he did.”
“Leo saw him.”
“Seeing him doesn’t tell us why he was there.”
Arthur turned sharply.
“Are you defending him?”
“I’m investigating.”
Elena walked toward the tree line.
“Arthur.”
He looked over.
She was staring at the ground.
A thin trail of flattened weeds led from the truck toward the house.
Reed called two officers.
They followed it.
Twenty yards later, they found a rusted metal hatch under dead leaves.
Arthur felt cold all over.
“What is that?”
Elena crouched.
“Basement access.”
They opened it.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Reed drew his weapon.
“Nobody moves until we clear it.”
The officers went first.
Arthur waited thirty endless seconds.
Then a voice called up.
“Clear!”
They entered.
The basement smelled like mold, bleach, and something worse.
Old concrete rooms stretched beneath the house.
Electric cables had been run through the ceiling.
There were canned foods.
Bottled water.
A folding table.
A mattress.
And restraints.
Arthur turned away.
“Oh God.”
Elena noticed a laptop on the table.
Reed stopped her before she touched it.
“Evidence.”
Another officer called from the next room.
“Detective?”
Reed went inside.
Arthur followed.
The room contained six television screens.
Each screen showed a security-camera feed.
The driveway.
The kitchen.
Arthur’s bedroom.
Leo’s hidden room.
Elena’s renovation area.
Arthur felt nauseated.
“They watched us.”
Reed pointed to one black screen.
“What was Camera Six?”
Elena studied the wiring.
“Basement corridor.”
Reed found a small control box.
The recording system still worked.
He rewound the footage.
They watched Victoria walk through the basement twelve hours earlier.
Nolan followed.
They were arguing.
No sound.
Victoria shoved him.
Nolan grabbed her arm.
Then another figure entered the frame.
A tall person wearing a gray hoodie.
Arthur moved closer.
“Who’s that?”
The figure turned slightly toward the camera.
Arthur stopped breathing.
“No.”
Reed looked at him.
“You recognize him?”
Arthur shook his head.
“That’s not possible.”
“Who is it?”
Arthur stared at the screen.
“My father.”
Elena frowned.
“Your father?”
Arthur whispered, “He died nine years ago.”
On the recording, the supposedly dead man looked directly into the camera.
May you like
Then reached up and switched it off.
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