Chapter 4 - The Woman in the West Wing
Marcus unlocked the west wing for the first time in six years.
The old brass key resisted.
Then the lock gave with a heavy click.
Cold air moved through the opening.
Victoria had always insisted the wing remain closed because of water damage.
That explanation suddenly seemed ridiculous.
The hallway beyond was dry.
Clean.
Recently dusted.
Caleb entered first.
Elena followed despite Marcus telling her to remain downstairs.
“No more rooms I’m not allowed to see.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Marcus knew better than to argue.
The hallway contained four guest rooms, an old library, a sewing room, and a stairwell leading toward the servants’ passages.
Nothing immediately looked suspicious.
Until Elena noticed the smell.
Jasmine.
Victoria’s perfume.
She followed it into the sewing room.
A teacup sat on the windowsill.
Still warm.
Marcus touched it.
His face changed.
“She’s here.”
Caleb checked the closet.
Empty.
Marcus opened the attached bathroom.
Empty.
Elena noticed a small object beneath a chair.
A pearl earring.
Victoria owned a matching pair.
Elena picked it up with a handkerchief.
“She wants us to know.”
Caleb looked toward her.
“What?”
“She could hide better than this.”
Marcus understood.
“This is theater.”
Elena nodded.
“She’s leaving things.”
“For what purpose?”
“To make me follow.”
A faint sound came from the hallway.
A woman humming.
Elena froze.
She knew the tune.
Victoria had hummed it every evening while preparing Elena’s tea.
Marcus heard it too.
He rushed outside.
The humming stopped.
They reached the stairwell.
The door moved slightly.
Caleb pulled it open.
Darkness.
Narrow stone steps descended inside the wall.
Marcus turned on his phone flashlight.
They went down.
At the bottom was a passage barely wide enough for one person.
Electrical wires had been installed recently.
Small speakers appeared every twenty feet.
Elena stared at one.
“The voices.”
Caleb removed the speaker cover.
Wireless receiver.
Remote activation.
Someone could stand miles away and make Elena hear footsteps, whispers, crying, laughter.
Marcus looked sick.
“She made you think you were hearing things.”
Elena shook her head.
“The drugs made me hallucinate.”
“The speakers made it worse.”
“They made me stop knowing which was which.”
That realization was almost more terrifying.
A hallucination could be dismissed as illness.
But Victoria had mixed reality with hallucination deliberately.
A voice could be real.
A woman could be imaginary.
A sound could come from inside Elena’s brain or inside the wall.
Eventually Elena would doubt everything.
That was the point.
The passage ended behind the nursery.
Caleb found a latch.
He pushed.
A section of wallpaper silently opened.
The nursery stood empty beyond it.
Elena’s knees weakened.
Victoria had access to the baby’s room.
She had access to Elena’s bedroom.
She had access everywhere.
Marcus touched the hidden door.
“How long has this been functional?”
Caleb inspected the hardware.
“Months.”
Elena walked into the nursery.
The walls were pale green.
A wooden crib stood beside the window.
Stuffed animals lined one shelf.
Everything had been chosen carefully during the happiest weeks of her pregnancy.
Now the room felt contaminated.
She approached the rocking chair.
Something was sitting on the cushion.
A phone.
Not hers.
Not Marcus’s.
An old black smartphone.
The screen lit when Elena picked it up.
One video file waited.
No password.
Marcus stood beside her.
“Don’t.”
“We need to see.”
Elena pressed play.
The video showed Elena sleeping in bed.
Timestamp.
Three weeks earlier.
The angle came from somewhere near the ceiling.
Elena slept on her side.
Marcus was away on business.
At 2:04 a.m., the hidden panel beside the bed opened.
Victoria stepped into the room.
Elena’s breath stopped.
Victoria approached the bed carrying a small bottle.
She placed several drops into the water on Elena’s nightstand.
Then she leaned close to Elena’s sleeping face.
Very close.
Her lips moved beside Elena’s ear.
The microphone captured the whisper.
“Marcus is afraid of you.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Victoria continued.
“You are hurting the baby.”
A pause.
“You cannot trust what you see.”
Another pause.
“Soon everyone will know what you really are.”
Marcus stumbled backward.
The video continued for twelve minutes.
Victoria whispered sentence after sentence while Elena slept.
Suggestions.
Threats.
False memories.
Fear.
Then Victoria left.
The hidden wall closed.
The screen went black.
Marcus looked physically ill.
Elena had no tears.
Not yet.
She felt too cold.
Caleb took the phone.
“This changes everything.”
A noise came from inside the wall.
Running footsteps.
Marcus lunged toward the hidden passage.
“Victoria!”
He disappeared inside.
Caleb followed.
Elena remained in the nursery.
For three seconds.
Then four.
Then she heard Marcus shout.
She ran after them.
The passage twisted toward the west wing.
A door slammed ahead.
Marcus reached it first.
Locked.
He hit it with his shoulder.
Again.
Caleb kicked near the latch.
Wood cracked.
The door burst open.
Behind it was a small room.
Empty.
One window stood open.
Curtains moved in the wind.
On the floor lay another crimson dress.
Identical to the first.
Marcus stared.
Elena stepped closer.
There was something pinned to the fabric.
A handwritten note.
She removed it.
Three words.
YOU FOUND ONE.
Marcus looked at Elena.
“One what?”
Elena turned the note over.
A photograph was taped to the back.
It showed six identical white vitamin bottles.
Each bottle had Elena’s name printed on the label.
And behind them stood a man Elena recognized.
May you like
Dr. Adrian Kessler.
The fertility specialist Victoria had personally chosen before Elena became pregnant.
