Chapter 5 - The Brother Beneath the Lake
Daniel Bennett drowned when he was twelve.
Alexander was seventeen.
The family had been spending August at Blackridge.
Daniel disappeared after dinner.
His shoes were found beside the lake.
Divers recovered his body the following morning.
Alexander remembered the funeral more clearly than he wanted.
His mother collapsing.
His father standing rigid beside the grave.
Alexander blaming himself because Daniel had asked him to go swimming that night and Alexander had refused.
For twenty-two years, guilt had followed him.
Now Claire’s words turned memory into suspicion.
Ask Evelyn about Daniel.
Alexander returned to the mansion after midnight.
Lily was asleep.
Evelyn waited in the library.
He closed the door.
“Who was buried in Daniel’s grave?”
Evelyn went pale.
Alexander knew before she spoke.
“Oh, God.”
“Answer me.”
She sat down slowly.
“You were supposed to never learn this.”
“Who was buried?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it Daniel?”
“No.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Alexander grabbed the desk.
“You knew my brother was alive?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“Your father sent him away.”
“Why?”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“Daniel was different.”
Alexander laughed bitterly.
“He was twelve.”
“He had seizures. Rage episodes. Long periods where he wouldn’t speak.”
“I remember.”
“William thought weakness damaged the family image.”
Alexander stared.
“He put him in Blackridge.”
“Not the mansion. The center.”
The center.
Alexander felt nauseated.
“How long?”
“Years.”
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Claire?”
“Eventually.”
Alexander walked away.
Every memory of his childhood was changing.
“Where is Daniel now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“The last time I saw him, he was seventeen.”
“Five years after his funeral.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He looked older. Thin. He asked about you.”
Alexander swallowed.
“What did you tell him?”
“That you thought he was dead.”
Evelyn began crying.
“He said that was better.”
“Better?”
“He said if you knew the truth, William would make you disappear too.”
Alexander sank into a chair.
“My father imprisoned his own son.”
“He called it treatment.”
“And then he used my daughter.”
“I didn’t know about Lily until Claire discovered it.”
Alexander’s anger returned.
“You knew Blackridge existed.”
“I knew part of it.”
“You said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was Claire.”
“I know.”
The words hung heavily.
Alexander took out the blue key.
“Why seventeen?”
Evelyn stared at it.
“Daniel’s room.”
“What?”
“In the old center. Room seventeen.”
Alexander thought of the steel door beneath the mansion.
The office.
The photographs.
“Claire used his room number?”
“She believed Daniel was helping her.”
“Helping her expose the program?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Then Daniel may still be alive.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“He is.”
Alexander turned.
Lily sat in her wheelchair.
Her eyes were red from sleep.
Evelyn rushed toward her.
“Honey, you should be in bed.”
Lily looked at Alexander.
“Rebecca showed me a picture.”
“What picture?”
“A man.”
“What man?”
“She said he was Uncle Daniel.”
Alexander froze.
“What did he look like?”
Lily frowned.
“Like you.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Lily continued.
“But older than the pictures upstairs.”
Alexander crouched beside her.
“When did Rebecca show you?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
“She said he was coming home.”
A sound echoed outside.
Glass breaking.
Security alarms erupted.
Alexander stood.
Evelyn pulled Lily backward.
A guard ran into the library.
“Sir, someone breached the east wing.”
Alexander opened the surveillance feed on his phone.
One camera showed a man walking through the dark hall.
Tall.
Thin.
Gray at his temples.
He looked directly into the camera.
Alexander’s breath stopped.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
May you like
The stranger lifted one finger to his lips.
Then the camera went black.
