Chapter 5 - THE ROOM BENEATH THE HOUSE
Police discovered the hidden stairwell at 4:23 p.m.
It began behind a climate-controlled wine rack.
The mechanism was simple enough once officers knew where to look.
A wooden panel slid aside.
Behind it, narrow concrete steps descended beneath the Carter house.
Detective Morales refused to allow Emma near the scene.
Emma argued.
Morales won.
Instead, Caleb drove to the property with permission from investigators while Emma remained under hospital observation.
He kept her connected by video call.
“Show me everything,” Emma said.
“Morales said not to.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“Caleb.”
He sighed.
Then turned the camera.
The backyard no longer resembled a graduation celebration.
Yellow evidence markers covered the patio.
The cake table was gone.
Emma’s ruined cap had been bagged.
Investigators moved between rooms.
Caleb entered the basement.
Morales stood near the open panel.
“You’re not crossing the tape.”
“I know.”
She looked at his phone.
“Is Emma watching?”
“No.”
Emma said loudly through the speaker, “Hi, Detective.”
Morales closed her eyes.
Caleb almost smiled.
Morales pointed at him.
“Stay behind me.”
They descended.
The air changed immediately.
Cooler.
Damp.
Older.
The passage ran beneath the back portion of the property.
At the end stood a metal door.
Police had forced it open.
Beyond it was a room.
Emma stopped breathing.
It looked like a bedroom.
A narrow bed.
A sink.
A table.
A dead security camera.
Scratches covered one wall.
Caleb moved closer.
“What is this place?”
Morales’s voice was low.
“We’re still determining that.”
Emma stared at the screen.
The scratches were not random.
They were letters.
Someone had carved words repeatedly.
E.
M.
M.
A.
Her name.
Caleb whispered, “Emma.”
She could not speak.
An investigator lifted a floor panel.
Inside were dozens of cassette tapes sealed in plastic.
Another officer found medical restraints in a cabinet.
A third discovered prescription bottles.
Most were empty.
Many had labels removed.
One still had a name.
EMMA LAWSON.
The alias used at the psychiatric facility.
Emma felt cold.
“My mother was down there.”
No one corrected her.
Morales turned toward Caleb’s phone.
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Yes, you do.”
Morales said nothing.
Caleb walked closer to the carved wall.
Beneath EMMA, another line appeared.
It was harder to read.
Caleb brushed his flashlight across it.
TRUST NO ONE WHO CALLS YOU FAMILY.
Emma’s eyes filled.
Her mother had been there.
She knew it.
Not from evidence.
From something deeper.
Laura had carved her daughter’s name into that wall because she expected Emma to find it one day.
Morales’s radio crackled.
“Detective, we found blood.”
The call went silent.
Caleb turned.
Morales disappeared into an adjoining alcove.
Seconds later she returned.
Her expression had changed.
“Caleb, go upstairs.”
“What did they find?”
“Now.”
Emma said, “Tell me.”
Morales looked at the phone.
“A bloodstain beneath the flooring.”
“How old?”
“We don’t know.”
“Is it my mother’s?”
“We don’t know.”
Emma’s voice broke.
“Stop saying that.”
Morales softened slightly.
“Emma, forensic science takes time.”
Caleb started upstairs.
Then an officer called after them.
“Detective!”
Morales turned.
The officer held a small metal object with gloved fingers.
A locket.
Gold.
Oval.
Emma’s breath disappeared.
“My mother’s.”
The officer placed it into a bag.
But the chain was missing.
Morales studied the locket.
“There’s something engraved.”
She held it beneath the light.
Emma leaned toward her screen.
Inside the back panel were four words.
FOR EMMA. OPEN AT 22.
Emma looked at Caleb.
“I’m twenty-two.”
Morales frowned.
“The locket appears sealed.”
“Can you open it?”
“We need to process it first.”
Emma’s frustration exploded.
“That thing belonged to my mother.”
“And if it contains evidence, I need to preserve it.”
Emma closed her eyes.
She knew Morales was right.
That did not make it easier.
Then footsteps pounded down the stairs.
Another officer appeared.
“We have a problem.”
Morales looked at him.
“What?”
“The evidence inventory from Richard’s study.”
“What about it?”
“The blue pouch contained three items when the first officer photographed it.”
Morales froze.
Emma whispered, “Three?”
The officer nodded.
“The vial, the pouch, and a folded piece of paper.”
Morales’s eyes narrowed.
“What paper?”
“No one knows.”
“Why?”
The officer swallowed.
“Because it’s gone.”
Caleb looked at the camera.
Emma stared back.
Someone had removed evidence after police entered the house.
May you like
Which meant the Carter family conspiracy was not limited to the people already in handcuffs.
Someone connected to the investigation was helping them.
