Chapter 5 - The Seventh Cup
Anna could not leave the estate.
The gates required a card. The ground-floor windows were reinforced. Cameras covered every corridor.
But the mansion was old, and old houses kept secrets.
When she was first married, Aaron had shown her a dumbwaiter once used to carry meals from the kitchen to the upper rooms. It had been sealed decades earlier.
Anna pried open the panel inside the laundry room and found an empty shaft.
It led downward.
She climbed inside.
The space was barely wide enough for her shoulders. Dust filled her lungs. Nails tore her palms.
Above her, Aaron shouted her name.
“Anna!”
She continued descending.
At the bottom, she kicked through a rotted wooden panel and fell into a narrow cellar.
Rows of shelves surrounded her.
They held hundreds of silver cups.
Each was engraved with the three-line emblem.
Some had names carved beneath the rim.
Rebecca.
Helen.
Nora.
Camille.
Elise.
Anna searched until she found one marked Sylvia.
Next to it was a cup without a name.
The seventh cup.
It was different from the others. A black stone had been set into its base. When Anna twisted the stone, the bottom opened.
Inside was a small roll of photographic film.
Footsteps sounded overhead.
Anna shoved the film into her bra and searched for another exit.
At the rear of the cellar was a steel door.
It opened into a tunnel.
The air smelled of wet soil. Rusted pipes ran along the ceiling. Anna moved as quickly as she could, one hand protecting her abdomen.
Behind her, the cellar door opened.
Aaron’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
“You can’t go anywhere!”
Anna kept moving.
The passage ended beneath an abandoned greenhouse beyond the estate walls.
She climbed through a hatch and emerged into cold rain.
For the first time in months, there was no fence between her and the road.
She ran.
A delivery truck appeared around the bend.
Anna stepped into its path and waved both arms.
The driver braked hard.
She climbed into the cab before he could ask questions.
“Please drive.”
“Ma’am, are you hurt?”
“My husband is coming.”
The driver looked behind her.
Aaron had emerged from the greenhouse.
His clothes were covered with dirt.
“Anna!” he shouted. “She’s sick! Don’t take her anywhere!”
The driver locked the doors.
“Where do you want to go?”
Anna remembered the appointment card.
“Westbridge Women’s Clinic.”
The driver pulled away.
Aaron chased the truck for several yards before stopping in the road.
Anna watched him disappear through the rain.
She expected relief.
Instead, she felt terror.
Aaron had looked frightened, but not angry.
As though she had escaped into a place even more dangerous than the house.
At Westbridge, Dr. Reed was not available.
A receptionist said she had moved her appointments to another location after receiving threats.
Anna begged for an address.
The receptionist refused.
Then she noticed the name on the old appointment card.
“Rebecca Vale?”
“She was my mother.”
The receptionist’s face changed.
She led Anna into a private office.
“My name is Mara,” she said. “I worked here when your mother came.”
“Did Dr. Reed see her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mara closed the door.
“Rebecca believed someone was poisoning her.”
Anna removed the perfume bottle from her coat.
“They’re poisoning me too.”
Mara stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother-in-law gives it to me.”
“Does she use a silver cup?”
“Yes.”
Mara sat down slowly.
“You need to leave the city.”
“I need to find Dr. Reed.”
“No. You need to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother found her.”
“Found who?”
Mara’s eyes filled with tears.
“The other women.”
A crash sounded in the reception area.
Mara stood.
The office door opened.
Aaron entered with two police officers.
He looked devastated.
“Thank God.”
Anna backed away.
One officer approached carefully.
“Mrs. Vale, your husband reported that you’re experiencing a psychiatric emergency.”
“I’m not.”
Aaron held up a medical document.
“She stopped taking prescribed medication. She’s pregnant and delusional.”
“He forged that.”
“We can discuss everything at the hospital,” the officer said.
Anna looked at Mara.
“Tell them.”
Mara lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Aaron took Anna’s arm.
As they led her away, Mara slipped something into Anna’s pocket.
It was a key.
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Attached to it was a paper tag.
Film locker 7.
