Chapter 14 - the woman behind room six)
Ellen Price remembered more slowly than Mara.
Years of medication had left gaps in her memory.
Some days she knew exactly where she was.
Other days she believed it was still six years earlier.
But one afternoon Ellen asked specifically for Daniel.
He visited her at the rehabilitation center.
She was thinner than the woman in Mara's wedding photograph.
Her blonde hair had gone almost completely gray.
But her eyes were clear.
"You look like him."
Daniel sat beside the bed.
"My father?"
Ellen nodded.
"Samuel."
Daniel leaned forward.
"You knew him."
"Everyone knew Samuel eventually."
"What happened to him?"
Ellen looked toward the door.
"Is Mara here?"
"No."
"Good."
Daniel frowned.
"Why?"
Ellen lowered her voice.
"Because I don't know what Mara remembers."
Daniel thought of the warning recording.
"What aren't you telling her?"
Ellen stared at him.
"Samuel wasn't trying to destroy the network."
Daniel felt cold.
"Thomas said he was."
"Thomas only knew part of it."
"What was my father doing?"
Ellen struggled to sit upright.
"He wanted control."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"You don't know him."
"He was my father."
"You were a child."
Daniel remembered the closed coffin.
The funeral.
His mother's silence.
"Is he alive?"
Ellen looked frightened.
"I don't know."
"Did you see him after his supposed death?"
"Once."
"When?"
"Nine years ago."
The accident.
Daniel's attempted confinement.
"Did he get me out of Keene's facility?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Ellen gave him a strange look.
"Because Keene took you without permission."
Daniel's pulse quickened.
"Whose permission?"
Ellen did not answer.
Daniel leaned closer.
"Whose permission?"
A nurse entered.
"Ellen needs rest."
Ellen grabbed Daniel's wrist.
Her grip was surprisingly strong.
"Your father had a room too."
Daniel stared.
"Room Six?"
Ellen shook her head.
"No."
"What room?"
The nurse tried to calm her.
Ellen whispered one word.
"Seven."
Daniel left the rehabilitation center with more questions than answers.
He called Ava.
She searched the Saint Gabriel archive.
Room Seven did not appear anywhere.
No category.
No file.
No label.
Nothing.
Then Ava examined photographs taken before the archive was removed.
One cabinet stood at the end of the underground corridor.
Unlike the others, it had no number.
But the floor beneath it showed scratches.
The cabinet had been moved.
Police returned to the church.
Behind the cabinet they found another door.
Small.
Steel.
Locked.
None of the keys recovered from Lydia worked.
Daniel thought about the freezer keyring.
B17.
The freezer.
Several house keys.
One unidentified black key.
Ava tested it.
The black key opened the steel door.
Behind it was a narrow tunnel.
At the end stood a second archive.
Smaller than the first.
Almost empty.
One shelf.
Seven folders.
The first six had names.
The seventh did not.
Folder 1 contained Lydia's father.
Folder 2 contained Silas Keene.
Folder 3 contained Thomas Vane's father.
Folder 4 contained Ellen Price.
Folder 5 contained Mara.
Folder 6 contained Samuel Reed.
Folder 7 was blank.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a single recent photograph.
Lily.
Walking into school.
Taken three days earlier.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Someone had photographed his daughter after Lydia was already in jail.
Ava looked at the back.
There was writing.
PHASE SEVEN READY.
Daniel immediately called Mara.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
He called Hannah.
Nothing.
Then Lily's school.
The administrator answered.
Daniel identified himself.
"I need to confirm Lily is there."
A pause.
Keyboard sounds.
Then the woman said, "Mr. Reed, Lily was signed out twenty minutes ago."
Daniel stood.
"By who?"
"Her mother."
Daniel felt the room disappear around him.
"Mara?"
"Yes."
Daniel called Mara again.
This time someone answered.
No one spoke.
Daniel could hear a car engine.
"Mara?"
Silence.
Then Lily's voice.
"Daddy?"
Daniel gripped the phone.
"Lily, where are you?"
"I don't know."
"Are you with Mommy?"
"Yes."
Daniel looked at Ava.
"Put her on."
Lily whispered.
"She can't talk."
Daniel's blood went cold.
"Why?"
There was movement.
A door closing.
Then Lily spoke again.
"Daddy, there's another lady here."
"What lady?"
Lily's voice became frightened.
"The lady from Mommy's wedding picture."
Ellen.
But Ellen was still inside the rehabilitation center.
Daniel stared at Ava.
May you like
"Lily, listen carefully. What does the woman look like?"
Before Lily could answer, the call ended.
