Chapter 10 - THE VOICE IN THE DARK
Someone moved near the front door.
Margaret heard the quiet scrape of a shoe.
Then Arthur pulled her to the floor.
“Stay down.”
A gunshot shattered the darkness.
The bullet struck the wall above the telephone.
Edward shouted from the staircase.
Ashley screamed upstairs.
Deputy Reynolds drew his weapon.
“Sheriff’s department! Identify yourself!”
A second shot came from the hallway.
Reynolds fired back.
The muzzle flash illuminated a masked figure near the front entrance.
The intruder ran into the dining room.
Arthur followed.
Margaret crawled toward the kitchen, searching for the emergency flashlight Arthur once kept beneath the sink.
Her hand found the metal cylinder.
Light flooded the room.
Edward was crouched beside the staircase.
Evelyn had taken cover behind the sofa.
Deputy Reynolds pressed one hand against his upper arm.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
“Who shot you?” Margaret asked.
“Male. Black clothing.”
Another crash came from the dining room.
Arthur shouted.
Margaret aimed the flashlight toward the hidden chamber.
The intruder was descending the staircase.
Arthur reached the opening and stopped.
The metal doors began closing over the chamber.
“He has the key!” Arthur yelled.
“What key?”
“The brass key.”
Margaret reached into her pocket.
It was empty.
The intruder must have taken it when Arthur pulled her down.
The chamber sealed.
Emergency lights came on a minute later.
Police vehicles surrounded the house.
Deputy Reynolds was treated by paramedics.
No intruder was found.
No exterior door stood open.
The only escape route appeared to be the chamber.
Arthur examined the mechanism beneath the table.
“He cannot remain inside indefinitely,” Edward said.
Arthur looked at him.
“The chamber has another exit.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You built it.”
“I helped finance the renovations. Rebecca designed the later security systems.”
Margaret sat beside the telephone.
The voice had called her Mom.
She refused to believe it was a trick.
Arthur did not share her certainty.
“Calvin could have used voice reconstruction,” he said.
“She knew the deputy had been compromised.”
“Reynolds was shot.”
“That does not prove innocence.”
From the sofa, Evelyn spoke.
“The caller may have meant another deputy.”
Reynolds looked at her while a paramedic bandaged his arm.
“You seem eager to keep suspicion on my department.”
“I am eager to keep Margaret alive.”
Margaret looked at the blood on the wall.
“Whoever called knew an attack was coming.”
Edward sat beside her.
“Did it sound like Rebecca?”
“I do not know her voice.”
The words broke something inside her.
She had a living daughter whose voice she could not recognize.
Ashley came downstairs holding Noah’s hand.
A female officer followed them.
“Grandma,” Ashley said, “someone was in my room.”
Edward stood.
“What?”
Ashley held out a photograph.
It showed Rebecca as an adult standing beside the stone wall behind the house.
On the back, someone had written:
Ask Arthur why she was not alone.
Arthur read the message.
His expression became guarded.
Margaret noticed.
“What does it mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Do not lie to me again.”
Arthur stared at the photograph.
“It was taken the night Rebecca disappeared.”
“Who was with her?”
“The photograph has been cropped.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I have the original.”
He removed his wallet.
Inside was the same photograph, wider.
Beside Rebecca stood Edward.
Edward took the image.
“I don’t remember this.”
Linda’s story about the drugged night returned.
Margaret examined the background.
A third figure was reflected in the dining-room window.
A woman with silver hair.
Evelyn.
Margaret looked up.
May you like
Evelyn was gone.
The front door stood open.
