Chapter 5 - The House Next Door
417 Briar Hollow Road had been abandoned since Emily was eleven.
At least that was what she had always believed.
The old house stood behind a row of dead oak trees on the edge of the neighborhood where Emily had grown up.
As a child, she was told the owner had died.
No family claimed the property.
No one moved in.
The windows were eventually boarded.
Children dared each other to touch the front porch after dark.
Emily never did.
Her mother hated the house.
Once, when Emily was nine, she asked why.
Her mother had said only one sentence.
"Some doors should stay closed."
Twenty-five years later, Emily stood in Lily's ICU while federal agents obtained a search warrant for that same house.
"Why did Daniel have a key?" Emily asked.
Grant couldn't answer.
Her mother could not either.
Helen Carter arrived at Westbridge that afternoon after Emily finally told her Lily had nearly died.
Helen was sixty-three, silver-haired, and usually impossible to unsettle.
When Emily mentioned 417 Briar Hollow Road, all color disappeared from her face.
"Why are you asking about that house?"
Emily noticed immediately.
"You know something."
"No."
"Mom."
"I haven't thought about that place in years."
"Daniel had a key."
Helen's handbag slipped from her lap.
She caught it.
Barely.
Emily leaned forward.
"You know something."
Helen looked toward Lily.
"Not here."
"Here is exactly where we're talking."
"Emily."
"My husband stole medicine from his dying daughter. Federal investigators found a secret file on Lily. He had a key to the abandoned house next to where I grew up."
Helen shut her eyes.
"Please."
"No."
Emily's voice cracked.
"No more protecting people."
Helen looked at her daughter.
Then at her granddaughter.
"I wasn't protecting Daniel."
"Then who?"
Helen's answer took several seconds.
"Your father."
Emily stared.
Her father, Robert Carter, had died seven years earlier.
A heart attack in his garage.
"What does Dad have to do with that house?"
Helen lowered her voice.
"When you were little, Robert worked nights."
"I know."
"He told you he worked security at the county hospital."
"He did."
Helen shook her head.
"Not always."
Emily stopped moving.
"He was doing contract work."
"For who?"
"A medical company."
"What company?"
"I don't remember."
"You remember."
Helen's eyes filled.
"I tried to forget."
Emily stepped closer.
"What happened in that house?"
Helen looked toward the hallway as though someone might be listening.
"When you were ten, I found blood on your father's coat."
Emily felt cold.
"He said there had been an accident."
"What kind?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
Helen's hands trembled.
"A month later, the neighbor disappeared."
"The owner?"
Helen nodded.
"Dr. Samuel Vale."
Emily had heard the name.
Vaguely.
"He was a doctor?"
"A researcher."
"What kind of research?"
"I don't know."
Emily stared at her mother.
"You lived beside him."
"He didn't talk to people."
"Did Dad work for him?"
Helen didn't answer.
That was enough.
Emily sat back.
"Why did you never tell me?"
"Because your father made me promise."
"Why?"
"He said it was over."
"What was over?"
Helen looked at Lily.
Then whispered.
"The children."
Emily's throat tightened.
"What children?"
Before Helen could answer, Detective Morales entered quickly.
"Mrs. Carter."
Emily turned.
Morales looked serious.
"The search team entered 417 Briar Hollow."
"And?"
"They found a basement."
Emily almost laughed.
"Old houses have basements."
"This one wasn't on the property plans."
Helen began crying.
Emily noticed.
"Mom?"
Morales continued.
"The basement contains medical equipment."
Emily felt every muscle in her body tighten.
"What kind?"
"Old equipment. Pediatric restraints. Archived files."
Emily looked at her mother.
Helen covered her mouth.
May you like
Morales took one step closer.
"And several of the files have your maiden name on them."
