Chapter 20 - The Room Behind the Library
They returned to Margaret's estate before sunrise.
The mansion looked untouched.
Too untouched.
Arthur immediately checked the security system.
“No alarms.”
Claire walked toward the library.
Margaret followed.
Claire stopped beside the fireplace.
“Thomas told me there was a room here.”
Margaret frowned.
“I've lived here for decades.”
“Then you've never known the house.”
Claire pressed a carved wooden panel.
A section of wall opened.
Behind it was a narrow staircase.
Margaret stared.
Arthur whispered:
“Your father built this.”
They descended.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
Claire entered a code.
The room opened.
Inside were filing cabinets.
Boxes.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Birth certificates.
And dozens of envelopes.
Margaret's hands went cold.
Claire opened one.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
Margaret recognized the name.
Her own.
Arthur found another box.
It contained two bracelets.
One read:
Emily Ashford.
The other had no name.
Only:
BABY GIRL B.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“My daughters.”
Claire nodded.
“Both of us.”
Then Arthur found something beneath the records.
A recent photograph.
Ryan.
Standing inside the secret room.
The date on the photograph was from four days earlier.
Margaret stared.
“He came here.”
May you like
Claire nodded.
“And he wasn't alone.”
