Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Emily ran.
She reached the top of the basement stairs before Daniel caught her wrist.
He pulled her backward, but Emily twisted free and struck the wall.
“What were you doing down there?” he demanded.
“What is the Laura solution?”
Daniel’s face became still.
“You misunderstood.”
“I heard you.”
“You heard part of a conversation.”
“You have hundreds of recordings of me.”
“They are security archives.”
“There are videos from before I moved here.”
“Vanessa’s office uses our security network.”
“You recorded me signing the wedding documents.”
“For legal protection.”
“Whose protection?”
Daniel stepped between Emily and the front door.
“You are upset. We will discuss this tomorrow.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“I’m leaving.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I am thinking clearly for the first time since I met you.”
Emily reached for the door handle.
Daniel seized both her shoulders.
“You are my wife.”
“And that does not make me your property.”
He pushed her against the wall.
The back of her head struck the plaster.
For a terrifying second, Daniel’s expression contained no love, regret, or restraint. There was only anger at losing control.
Then the security alarm began to sound.
A piercing siren filled the house.
Daniel released her.
Every light turned on at once.
The front door unlocked with a mechanical click.
Emily did not hesitate. She ran outside barefoot, crossed the cold stone path, and reached the road.
Behind her, Daniel shouted her name.
A black car appeared beyond the gate.
Emily waved both arms.
The vehicle stopped.
An elderly man sat behind the wheel.
“Please,” Emily said, pulling open the passenger door. “Just drive.”
He looked toward Daniel running down the driveway.
Then he pressed the accelerator.
The car carried Emily away from Bellweather House.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
The man handed her a wool blanket from the back seat.
“You knew I would be there,” Emily said.
“I hoped you would find the basement tonight.”
She looked at him.
His hair was silver, his face deeply lined. He wore an old brown jacket and leather driving gloves.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Arthur Hale.”
“The landlord?”
He hesitated.
“Not exactly.”
“Were you sending the messages?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the cameras do not belong to Daniel.”
Arthur turned onto a narrow road leading away from the lake.
“They belong to Bellweather House.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“The house was built with a private security network controlled by the original owner. Daniel believes he has complete access, but he only controls the visible system.”
“Who controls the rest?”
Arthur looked at her.
“The trust.”
Emily tightened the blanket around herself.
“What trust?”
“The one Daniel has spent seven years trying to inherit.”
Arthur drove her to a small cottage hidden behind an abandoned orchard. Inside, he gave her tea and allowed her to call her mother.
Rose wanted to contact the police immediately.
Arthur warned them not to.
“Daniel has friends in the department,” he said. “Without verified evidence, he will claim this is a domestic misunderstanding.”
“He attacked me,” Emily said.
“And tomorrow he will cry, apologize, and produce recordings showing you shouting at him. The footage will begin after he provoked you and end before he touched you.”
Emily remembered the folders in the basement.
“He edits everything.”
“Vanessa does.”
Arthur opened a locked drawer and removed an old photograph.
It showed Laura Bennett standing in front of Bellweather House.
She was not alone.
Arthur stood beside her.
“You knew Laura.”
“She contacted me after finding the hidden cameras. Just as you did.”
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily stared at him.
“You helped me escape, but you couldn’t help her?”
“I tried.”
Arthur’s voice broke for the first time.
“The night Laura disappeared, she called me from the kitchen. She said she had discovered why Daniel’s family needed him to marry before his thirty-fifth birthday.”
Emily looked up.
“What happens when he turns thirty-five?”
“The Mercer family trust is reviewed. Daniel must prove he has established a lawful household at Bellweather House.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he needs a wife.”
“For an inheritance?”
“For control of properties worth more than two hundred million dollars.”
Emily felt sick.
“So he married me for money.”
“Money is only part of it.”
Arthur turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back in Laura’s handwriting.
THE HOUSE DOES NOT BELONG TO THE MERCERS.
Below it was a date.
Three days before Laura vanished.
“Who does it belong to?” Emily asked.
Arthur opened his mouth to answer.
Headlights suddenly swept across the cottage windows.
A car stopped outside.
Arthur extinguished the lamp.
“Did anyone follow us?” Emily whispered.
“No.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Three slow knocks.
Then a woman’s voice called from outside.
“Arthur, open the door. I know Emily is with you.”
May you like
Emily recognized the voice.
Vanessa.
