Chapter 2 - the envelope beneath the bed)
Daniel read the message three times.
CHECK WHAT YOUR WIFE HID UNDER LILY'S BED.
Mrs. Bell noticed his face.
"Mr. Hale?"
He locked the phone.
"Nothing."
She knew immediately that it was not nothing.
Mrs. Bell had worked for the Hale family for twelve years. She had been there when Daniel's father died. She had organized the wedding breakfast when Daniel married Rachel. She had held Lily before almost anyone outside the family.
She rarely questioned him.
This time she did.
"Who sent that?"
"I don't know."
"Was it about Mrs. Hale?"
Daniel looked toward Lily.
The child had fallen asleep again.
"I need you to stay here."
Mrs. Bell frowned.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Now?"
"Someone told me Rachel hid something in Lily's room."
Mrs. Bell became very still.
"You knew?"
Daniel caught the wording.
"Knew what?"
Mrs. Bell looked away.
His voice sharpened.
"Mrs. Bell."
She sighed.
"Your wife had been frightened lately."
Daniel's chest tightened.
"Frightened of Vanessa?"
"I don't know."
"Did she tell you that?"
"No."
"Then what did she say?"
"She asked me whether the alarm system logs could be deleted."
Daniel stared at her.
"When?"
"Last Tuesday."
"Why would she ask that?"
"I asked the same thing."
"What did she say?"
Mrs. Bell hesitated.
"She said someone had been moving through the house at night."
Daniel's blood turned cold.
"Who?"
"She didn't know."
"You didn't tell me?"
"She asked me not to."
"Why?"
"Because she thought you would confront the wrong person."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
He didn't believe her.
Not fully.
But Rachel was unconscious.
Lily was exhausted.
The police were already searching the mansion.
And someone had just texted him information that suggested Rachel had hidden evidence before she collapsed.
Daniel handed Lily gently to Mrs. Bell.
"If Rachel wakes up, call me immediately."
"Mr. Hale."
"What?"
"Be careful."
He drove home through a blur of traffic.
Police vehicles still stood outside the mansion.
Vanessa was gone.
An officer informed Daniel she had been taken to the station voluntarily for questioning.
The cream handbag had been collected as evidence.
So had the orange bottle.
Daniel walked upstairs.
The bedroom still looked almost exactly as he had left it.
One indentation remained in the white bedding where Rachel's body had been.
Lily's small handprint was visible on the gray sheet.
Daniel could not look at it for long.
He crossed the hall into Lily's bedroom.
Pink curtains.
White shelves.
Stuffed animals arranged beside a miniature reading chair.
Nothing looked disturbed.
He knelt beside the bed.
Nothing underneath except two slippers and a wooden puzzle piece.
He checked the mattress.
The drawers.
Behind the toy chest.
Then he noticed the lower fabric panel beneath the bed had been fastened with Velcro.
Daniel pulled it loose.
An envelope dropped onto the carpet.
His name was written across it.
DANIEL.
Rachel's handwriting.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note and a small black memory card.
The note began with a sentence that made his stomach turn.
Daniel, if you are reading this because something happened to me, do not trust the first explanation anyone gives you.
He sat on Lily's floor.
Rachel continued.
I wanted to tell you everything, but I was afraid that whoever is watching me is also watching you.
For three weeks I have been experiencing dizziness, confusion, and gaps in my memory. At first I thought I was exhausted. Then I found a camera hidden inside the upstairs hallway smoke detector.
Daniel looked toward Lily's ceiling.
His skin prickled.
I removed it. The next morning it had been replaced.
I did not tell you because I wanted to know who was doing it.
I started recording my own video.
The memory card contains everything I found.
One more thing.
Vanessa is involved.
But I don't think Vanessa is the person in control.
Daniel stopped.
His eyes returned to the sentence.
Vanessa is involved.
But I don't think Vanessa is the person in control.
He continued reading.
If Lily says she saw something, believe her.
She notices more than adults realize.
And Daniel, if someone mentions Graybridge, do not go there alone.
Rachel
Daniel inserted the memory card into his laptop.
There were nine video files.
The first had been recorded nineteen days earlier.
Rachel appeared on screen sitting in the same bedroom where she had nearly died.
She looked tired.
"This is ridiculous," she said quietly. "But if I don't record it, I'm going to convince myself I'm imagining things."
She held up a small black object.
A camera.
"I found this in the hallway smoke detector."
She looked toward the bedroom door.
"I asked Daniel if he installed anything new. He said no."
The next video was dated two days later.
Rachel looked worse.
"I woke up at two fourteen in the morning. The kitchen light was on. I found a glass beside the sink."
She held the glass toward the camera.
"There was white residue at the bottom."
The third recording showed Rachel standing in a storage room.
"I checked the household delivery receipts. Someone has been receiving packages using the initials V.C."
Daniel leaned closer.
Vanessa Cole.
But Rachel continued.
"I thought it meant Vanessa. Then I found another name."
She held a paper toward the camera.
The resolution was poor.
Daniel paused the video.
Zoomed in.
The name was barely visible.
Victor Caine.
He had never heard of him.
In the fourth video, Rachel looked frightened.
"I called Vanessa this morning."
Daniel's chest tightened.
"She denied everything. Then she told me something strange."
Rachel glanced behind herself.
"She said, 'You should stop asking questions about Graybridge.'"
Daniel remembered the warning in Rachel's note.
The fifth recording began in darkness.
Rachel whispered.
"Someone is downstairs."
The camera moved.
A door opened somewhere in the mansion.
Rachel approached the upstairs railing.
A figure crossed the foyer below.
Tall.
Male.
Wearing dark clothing.
Daniel froze the frame.
He could not see the man's face.
Rachel whispered.
"That isn't Daniel."
The sixth file showed a black SUV parked outside the gates.
The seventh showed an envelope containing photographs of Daniel, Rachel, and Lily.
The eighth showed Vanessa.
Rachel had filmed through the library door.
Vanessa stood near the fireplace speaking on the phone.
Her voice was low.
Daniel increased the volume.
"I told you I'm handling it."
Pause.
"No, she hasn't found it."
Pause.
"I don't care what Victor said."
Pause.
Then Vanessa turned.
Rachel moved away before she could be seen.
The final recording lasted only thirty-two seconds.
Rachel sat close to the camera.
She looked directly into it.
"If something happens to me today, the milk is important."
Daniel's hands went cold.
She continued.
"I replaced the carton after breakfast and marked the bottom with blue ink. If someone switches it, I'll know."
Rachel looked toward the door.
Footsteps approached.
She whispered.
"Vanessa just arrived."
The recording ended.
Daniel sat completely still.
A floorboard creaked behind him.
He turned.
Nobody.
Then his phone rang.
Dr. Patel.
Daniel answered immediately.
"Doctor?"
"Mr. Hale, your wife is awake."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Thank God."
"She's confused, but responsive."
"I'm coming."
"There is something you should know before you arrive."
Daniel stood.
"What?"
"Your wife woke up asking for Lily."
"That's normal."
"Yes."
"But then she asked us not to allow a man named Victor anywhere near her daughter."
Daniel looked back at the frozen image of the shadowy man inside his home.
"Did she say Victor Caine?"
The doctor paused.
"Yes."
Daniel's eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"Who is he?"
"She wouldn't tell us."
At that exact moment, Daniel's laptop went black.
The files disappeared.
A new line of white text appeared across the screen.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR WIFE.
Daniel stepped backward.
May you like
Then another line appeared.
GRAYBRIDGE IS ALREADY INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
