Chapter 9 - Twelve Minutes in the Dark
Grant was the first through the study door.
Emergency lights should have activated during a power failure, but the hall remained completely black.
“Lily!”
No answer.
Emma followed the sound of his footsteps.
Mason used his phone flashlight.
Detective Ortiz radioed the officers outside Lily’s room.
Static answered.
The mansion’s electronic locks clicked throughout the house.
Doors sealed one after another.
“The system has taken control,” Grant said.
“How?” Ortiz demanded.
“It must be connected to the old Orpheus network.”
They reached the staircase.
The security shutters had lowered over every window.
Grant tried the wall panel.
Dead.
Emma heard faint music above them.
The lullaby from Lily’s silver music box.
“Her room,” she said.
They climbed.
The music stopped.
Then a child’s voice came through the ceiling speakers.
It was Lily’s voice, but the recording was older.
“Mommy, why is the red light watching me?”
Celeste answered.
“Because someone forgot that a home should keep secrets safe, not steal them.”
Grant stopped on the stairs.
The recording continued.
“Will Daddy make it go away?”
“I hope so.”
“What if he doesn’t believe us?”
Celeste was silent for a long moment.
“Then you must find someone who does.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
Celeste had known Lily might need another protector.
They reached the bedroom door.
Locked.
Grant struck the keypad with his fist.
“Lily!”
A weak sound came from inside.
Emma knelt near the bottom of the door.
“Lily, can you hear me?”
Three taps answered.
Emma remembered the drawings in the notebook.
“Move away from the door.”
Two taps.
She looked at Grant.
“She understands.”
Mason tried to force the lock, but the reinforced frame did not move.
Grant ran to the display panel at the end of the hallway.
“If Orpheus is using the mansion network, I may be able to shut down the core from the security control room.”
“Where is it?” Ortiz asked.
“Basement level.”
Elias shook his head.
“The old control room was sealed after Celeste died.”
Grant looked at him.
“Can you reach it?”
“There’s a service tunnel beneath the wine cellar.”
Grant turned to Emma.
“Stay with Lily.”
“No. She responds to me. If we open the room and she’s injured, I need to be there.”
He hesitated.
Emma stepped closer.
“Your daughter needs both of us.”
The words struck him.
He nodded.
They left Officer Reyes at Lily’s door and descended toward the basement.
As they entered the wine cellar, the speakers activated again.
This time, Renata’s voice played.
“Grant, she’s lying. She attacked me.”
Then Emma’s voice.
“I stopped you from hurting a child.”
The system replayed the bathroom confrontation.
It had captured everything.
Detective Ortiz looked upward.
“This house has recordings of the crime.”
“Then Renata cannot escape responsibility,” Emma said.
“Assuming the evidence remains intact.”
They reached a stone wall behind the wine racks.
Elias pressed a hidden latch.
A narrow tunnel opened.
The air smelled of dust and cold metal.
They moved in single file.
Halfway through, the lights behind them turned red.
The artificial voice returned.
“Grant Callahan, you ignored seventeen warnings from your wife.”
Grant kept walking.
“You trusted Renata because she made grief comfortable.”
He stumbled slightly.
Emma touched his arm.
The voice continued.
“Emma Hart, you entered this home under a false name.”
Everyone stopped.
Grant turned toward her.
“What?”
The red lights flickered.
May you like
The voice spoke almost gently.
“Tell him why you really came.”
