Chapter 3 - The Basement Memory)
Rachel returned home at eight fifteen that evening.
Daniel was furious.
He stood in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up and a half-empty glass of bourbon in his hand.
"Where were you?"
"Hospital."
The word almost escaped.
Rachel corrected herself.
"Helping someone."
Daniel laughed.
"Of course."
Brooke sat on the staircase pretending not to listen.
Rachel removed her coat.
"What's wrong?"
"My father came by."
Rachel's body tightened.
"When?"
"Two hours ago."
"What did he want?"
"He wanted to know where you were."
Rachel looked toward the front windows.
"Did he say why?"
"No. But he asked specifically whether you were home on Tuesdays."
Rachel slowly turned back.
Daniel noticed her reaction.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Jesus, Rachel. Everything is nothing with you."
She walked toward the kitchen.
"Did Walter go upstairs?"
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
"Did he go anywhere in the house?"
"No."
"Did you leave him alone?"
"Maybe five minutes."
Rachel dropped her handbag.
She ran upstairs.
"Rachel!"
She reached the bedroom.
The closet door was open.
Inside, a storage box had been moved.
She pulled it down.
Opened it.
Clothes.
Documents.
Photographs.
The small metal case at the bottom was missing.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel appeared.
"What are you doing?"
She stood.
"Where's the case?"
"What case?"
"The gray metal case."
"I have no idea."
"It was here."
"Maybe you moved it."
"I didn't."
Brooke appeared behind Daniel.
"Grandpa went upstairs."
Daniel turned.
"You said he stayed downstairs."
"I forgot."
Rachel looked at Brooke.
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know. He said he needed the bathroom."
Rachel grabbed her coat.
Daniel blocked the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To your father's house."
"Why?"
"He took something."
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
"My father doesn't steal."
Rachel stared at him.
"You don't know your father."
Something in her tone silenced him.
Rachel drove across Fairview in freezing rain.
Walter lived twelve minutes away.
The house was dark except for the study.
Rachel didn't knock.
She used the family key Daniel had given her years ago.
"Walter?"
No response.
She entered the study.
Walter sat behind his desk.
The gray metal case was open.
Photographs covered the table.
Rachel stopped in the doorway.
Walter looked up.
"You shouldn't have kept these."
Rachel's voice shook.
"You shouldn't have taken them."
He looked back down.
One photograph showed Mercer House.
Another showed Emily.
Walter picked it up.
"You really did remember her."
Rachel approached slowly.
"You told me we'd never met."
"We hadn't."
"You signed the ledger."
Walter's eyes lifted.
Rachel knew immediately.
He had not expected her to know about it.
"So Thomas found Edward's records."
Rachel's stomach twisted.
"You knew Thomas was helping me."
"I suspected."
"Where is Emily?"
Walter stood.
"I don't know."
"Liar."
"I don't."
"You approved her transfer."
"I signed dozens of documents."
"She was fifteen!"
Walter flinched.
Rachel slammed the photograph down.
"Where did you send her?"
"I didn't send her anywhere."
"Then what did you do?"
Walter looked exhausted.
"For years I've wondered when this day would come."
Rachel stared.
"You remembered me the first time Daniel brought me home."
Walter closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The word landed harder than Rachel expected.
She stepped back.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I wanted to know how much you remembered."
Rachel's face went cold.
"You watched me."
"I protected my family."
"From me?"
"From what happened."
"What happened to us?"
Walter's voice sharpened.
"You think I built that place?"
"Your name was on it."
"My company owned the property. That isn't the same thing."
"Then explain the basement."
Walter went still.
Rachel stepped closer.
"The locked rooms."
No answer.
"The cameras."
His jaw tightened.
"The medication."
"Rachel."
"The night Emily disappeared."
Walter turned away.
Rachel whispered, "I remember the blood."
Walter closed his eyes.
For nineteen years, Rachel had doubted that memory.
A red streak across the basement floor.
Emily's torn sleeve.
A man shouting.
Then darkness.
Rachel continued.
"I remember someone carrying her."
Walter said nothing.
"I remember a silver watch."
His hand moved instinctively toward his left wrist.
Rachel saw it.
Walter saw that she saw it.
They stared at each other.
Then a car pulled into the driveway.
Daniel.
Walter whispered, "You need to leave."
Rachel laughed once.
"No."
"If Daniel learns about this before we understand what Thomas found, everything gets worse."
"Everything is already worse."
Headlights moved across the study wall.
Walter grabbed Rachel's wrist.
"Listen to me."
She stared at his hand.
He released her.
"Emily survived that night."
Rachel's knees weakened.
"You know that?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Walter looked toward the hallway.
Daniel's car door slammed.
May you like
Walter leaned close.
"Because I was the one who carried her out of the basement."
