Chapter 6 - The Recording Beneath the Floor
The first recording was only eleven minutes long.
It had been recovered from the damaged device in the basement.
Investigators couldn't yet determine when it had been made.
The voices, however, were unmistakable.
One belonged to Katherine.
The other belonged to Eleanor.
Daniel and I were permitted to listen to a short excerpt that prosecutors considered relevant to my case.
The recording began with a metallic sound.
Then Katherine's voice.
"Please. I just want to go home."
Eleanor answered.
"You had a home."
"Richard knows I'm here."
A pause.
Then Eleanor laughed.
"My son knows whatever I decide he needs to know."
I gripped the arms of my chair.
Katherine continued.
"You can't keep me here forever."
"No," Eleanor replied.
"Eventually, you will make a choice."
"What choice?"
"Disappear quietly, or give me a reason to make your disappearance permanent."
The recording crackled.
Then came a sound I recognized.
Three sharp taps.
Two slower ones.
Katherine stopped speaking.
Eleanor's voice changed.
"Who taught you that?"
Silence.
"Katherine."
More silence.
"Who taught you to knock like that?"
The recording ended.
I turned toward Daniel.
"Mercy."
He nodded.
"That's what investigators suspect."
I stared at the silent speaker.
"Why would Eleanor be frightened by a knocking pattern?"
"Maybe because it proved the women had communicated."
But I thought there was more to it.
Katherine had told us Mercy was taken away.
She had never said she saw Mercy die.
And Eleanor had apparently been afraid that Mercy could communicate through the walls.
I looked at Daniel.
"What if Mercy escaped?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message from Sullivan.
Daniel read it twice.
"What is it?" I asked.
He looked up.
"They found the metal box beneath the greenhouse foundation."
I stood.
"The records?"
"Some documents survived."
"And Mercy?"
Daniel's face tightened.
"There's a photograph inside."
"Of her?"
"Yes."
He turned the phone toward me.
A scanned image showed a woman standing beside a young Eleanor Bennett.
Mercy Bell was smiling.
She held a newborn baby.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message.
For Thomas. The daughter you promised to protect.
I stared at the image.
Then at Daniel.
"Thomas Bennett had a daughter?"
He nodded slowly.
"Apparently."
May you like
I looked back at the photograph.
And realized that the child in Mercy's arms could have been the real reason Eleanor had wanted her erased.
