Chapter 2 - SOMEONE WAS STILL INSIDE
Detective Maya Brooks arrived eleven minutes after the first patrol car.
By then the Hale residence looked nothing like a birthday party.
Guests had been moved to the dining room.
Uniformed officers stood at every exterior door.
Paramedics were examining Elena in the study while Lily refused to let go of her hand.
Victoria sat in the marble foyer with her wrists cuffed behind her back.
She had stopped crying.
That frightened Richard more than the tears had.
Detective Brooks was forty-three, compact, calm, and famous in the county for making people uncomfortable without raising her voice.
She stood at the edge of the open hatch and looked down.
“How long have you owned this house?”
“Six years.”
“You knew this space existed?”
“No.”
Brooks glanced at him.
“You bought a ninety-year-old estate without knowing there was a basement under the west wing?”
“The plans showed a sealed utility cavity.”
“Who handled the renovation?”
“Victoria.”
Richard stopped.
Brooks noticed.
“Victoria Crane?”
Richard looked toward the foyer.
“Yes.”
Brooks descended the stairs.
Richard started after her.
She raised one hand.
“Stay here.”
“That’s my wife down there.”
“And this is now a crime scene.”
Richard wanted to argue.
Then Lily called his name.
He returned to her.
Elena was wrapped in a thermal blanket.
A paramedic had inserted an IV.
There were abrasions around her ankle.
Lily sat beside her with one hand tucked into Elena’s palm.
“Mommy says she doesn’t want to go to the hospital without me.”
Richard looked at Elena.
“You’re going to the hospital.”
“I know.”
Her eyes moved toward the hatch.
“But you need to listen to me first.”
Richard crouched.
“What happened?”
Elena glanced at Lily.
Richard understood.
“Sweetheart, go with Mrs. Palmer for a minute.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“No one is taking Mommy away again.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Richard felt something break inside him.
He had spent two years telling Lily that accepting the truth was part of growing up.
He had allowed counselors to tell her she had abandonment anxiety.
He had removed Elena’s photographs from Lily’s bedroom because a therapist recommended it.
Now his daughter was sitting beside the woman who had been fifteen feet beneath those same rooms.
“I’m sorry.”
Richard said it quietly.
Lily looked at him.
“I’m so sorry.”
Elena squeezed his hand.
“Later.”
Richard nodded.
Elena lowered her voice.
“The man came every few weeks.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe him.”
“I never saw his face.”
“You must have seen something.”
“Boots.”
She swallowed.
“Black leather gloves.”
“A wedding ring?”
“No.”
“A watch?”
“Sometimes.”
“What kind?”
“Silver.”
Her breathing changed.
“And he smelled like cedar.”
Richard frowned.
“Cedar?”
“Cologne.”
She nodded.
“He always wore the same cologne.”
Brooks climbed out of the cellar.
“Mr. Hale.”
Richard stood.
“What did you find?”
“A second door.”
Richard stared at her.
“There’s a tunnel behind the south wall.”
“Where does it go?”
“We don’t know yet.”
One of the officers approached quickly.
“Detective.”
Brooks turned.
“What?”
“We have an exterior camera outage.”
Richard frowned.
“All cameras?”
“West side only.”
Brooks looked toward the hallway.
“When?”
“Three minutes ago.”
Every officer in the room became alert.
Brooks pointed at two patrolmen.
“Lock down the property.”
She turned to Richard.
“Where does the west side lead?”
“The guesthouse.”
“Anyone staying there?”
Richard hesitated.
“Our family physician sometimes uses it when he works late with my mother.”
Brooks’s expression sharpened.
“What’s his name?”
“Dr. Adrian Mercer.”
Elena made a sound.
Not a word.
A gasp.
Richard turned.
Her face had lost what little color remained.
“Elena?”
She stared at him.
“What did you say?”
“Adrian.”
Elena pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
“No.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What?”
“Don’t let him near me.”
“Why?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“That smell.”
Richard remembered her description.
Cedar.
Elena whispered, “That was his cologne.”
A crash came from upstairs.
Brooks drew her weapon.
Every officer turned toward the ceiling.
Another crash followed.
Then the lights went out.
Lily screamed.
Richard grabbed her.
Emergency lights flickered red along the hallway.
Someone shouted near the back entrance.
“Officer down!”
Brooks ran toward the sound.
Richard held Lily against him.
“Elena?”
No answer.
“Elena!”
The paramedic’s flashlight swept across the couch.
The blanket lay there.
Empty.
Richard’s blood went cold.
Then he heard a scrape below him.
From the hatch.
He looked down.
A shadow moved through the hidden cellar.
May you like
Someone had taken Elena back underground.
And this time, the chain around her ankle was gone.
