Chapter 3 - someone was watching the house)
Rachel turned off every light in Daniel's office.
She stood in darkness with the phone in her hand.
Another message arrived.
Please don't make this worse.
Rachel stared at the words.
Then she looked toward the ceiling.
The office had no visible security camera.
But Daniel knew she was there.
She opened the camera application on her phone and slowly moved it around the room, searching for small infrared reflections.
Nothing.
She checked the bookshelf.
Nothing.
The smoke detector.
Nothing.
Then she noticed a tiny black opening inside the decorative wooden molding above the desk.
Rachel pulled a chair beneath it.
Hidden behind the molding was a camera no larger than a coin.
Her stomach dropped.
She photographed it.
Then she moved through the house.
There was another camera in the hallway.
Another in the kitchen.
Another above the living room fireplace.
One faced the staircase.
One faced the back door.
None were connected to the home security system Rachel knew about.
She returned to the bedroom.
Oliver was still asleep.
Rachel sat beside him until sunrise.
At seven, she called Angela.
By eight thirty, Angela arrived with Detective Marcus Cole from the county police department.
Cole was broad shouldered, quiet, and careful with his words.
Rachel showed him the camera.
He examined it without touching it.
"Do you know who installed this?"
"No."
"Would your husband?"
"He apparently knew I was in his office last night."
Cole photographed everything.
Then Rachel gave him the folder.
He spent several minutes reading.
When he reached the life insurance policy, his face hardened.
"Did you authorize this?"
"No."
"Do you have other policies?"
"One through work. Nothing like this."
"Do you recognize the insurance agent?"
Rachel looked at the name.
Nolan Briggs.
"No."
Cole closed the folder.
"We'll verify the document."
Rachel looked at him.
"Do you believe me?"
Cole met her eyes.
"I believe physical evidence."
Rachel almost smiled.
"That's not what I asked."
"It's the answer I can give you today."
Oliver woke upstairs.
Rachel left the detective and went to him.
He refused breakfast at the kitchen table.
The pet bowl had been removed as evidence, but the memory of it remained.
Rachel carried him to the living room instead.
He ate toast while sitting against her.
After several minutes, he whispered, "Grandma has another room."
Rachel looked down.
"What room?"
"The downstairs room."
Rachel frowned.
Their house did not have a basement.
At least, that was what Daniel had always told her.
The utility room beneath the stairs was narrow and shallow.
No staircase.
No basement door.
"What downstairs room?"
Oliver pointed toward the laundry room.
Rachel felt her pulse quicken.
She carried him into the hallway.
"Show Mommy."
Oliver slid down.
He walked slowly toward the laundry room.
Behind the black washing machine was a wall covered with simple white paneling.
Oliver pointed.
"There."
Cole joined them.
Rachel explained what Oliver had said.
The detective examined the wall.
At first, it seemed solid.
Then he noticed scrape marks along the floor.
They moved the washing machine.
Behind it was a narrow door painted to match the wall.
Rachel had lived in the house for five years.
She had never seen it.
Cole found the latch.
The door opened inward.
Cold air moved through the laundry room.
Behind it was a staircase descending into darkness.
Rachel whispered Daniel's name.
Cole stopped her from entering.
"I go first."
He turned on his flashlight.
The stairs ended at a concrete corridor.
Rachel remained upstairs with Oliver while Cole called for another officer.
Twenty minutes later, he returned.
His expression had changed.
"What did you find?"
Cole looked at Oliver.
"Can someone watch him?"
Angela took the boy into the living room.
Rachel followed Cole downstairs.
The hidden basement contained a small office.
A steel cabinet stood against one wall.
There were shelves filled with medication bottles.
A portable hospital bed occupied one corner.
On the desk sat several empty glasses and a pill crusher.
Rachel stared at the bed.
"What is this?"
Cole pointed toward a box of medical gloves.
"Do you recognize any of these medications?"
Rachel picked up one bottle.
The label had been removed.
She shook it.
Small white tablets rattled inside.
Her mind returned to the bitter glass of water six weeks earlier.
She nearly dropped the bottle.
Cole stopped her.
"Don't touch anything else."
Rachel stepped backward.
Then she noticed photographs pinned to a corkboard.
Her photographs.
Rachel driving to work.
Rachel entering a supermarket.
Rachel picking Oliver up from preschool.
Rachel asleep on the living room sofa.
Rachel lying in bed.
Rachel unconscious on the basement medical bed.
She stumbled backward.
"No."
Cole looked at the last photograph.
Rachel's eyes were closed.
A medical line ran into her arm.
Beside her stood Daniel.
And beside Daniel stood Evelyn.
Cole removed his phone.
"I'm calling a forensic team."
Rachel could barely hear him.
At the bottom of the corkboard was one more photograph.
It was older.
The date printed in the corner was fourteen years earlier.
It showed Evelyn standing outside the same house beside another woman.
A young woman Rachel had never seen.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a name.
Laura Mercer.
Rachel stared at Cole.
"Daniel doesn't have a sister."
Cole turned the photograph over.
"Are you sure?"
"He's an only child."
May you like
Cole looked toward the hidden medical bed.
"Maybe that's another thing your husband lied about."
