Chapter 6 - THE FIRE
By the time they returned, flames had consumed most of the east wing of Hawthorne Crest.
Firefighters stood across the lawn.
Smoke poured through the broken roof.
Neighbors crowded behind police tape.
Sarah got out before Torres could stop her.
“My parents?”
“Not inside,” an officer said.
“Where are they?”
“Unknown.”
“What do you mean unknown?”
“They were supposed to stay at a hotel through the investigation.”
“Supposed to?”
The officer exchanged a glance with Torres.
Patricia and Robert had disappeared.
Sarah stared at the burning house.
The upstairs guest room was on the east side.
The room Lily had slept in.
The room with the hidden wall.
Whoever started the fire had targeted that section first.
Torres swore quietly.
“They’re destroying evidence.”
Sarah remembered something.
“The red box.”
“What?”
“Lily said there was a red box behind the wall.”
Torres turned toward the fire commander.
The answer came quickly.
No entry until the structure was safe.
They watched another upstairs window explode.
Sarah’s childhood bedroom burned.
Then Daniel called.
His voice was frantic.
“Sarah, where are you?”
“At the house.”
“Get back to the hospital.”
Her heart jumped.
“Lily?”
“She’s okay.”
“Then what?”
“Mom called me.”
“What did she say?”
“She said we’re making a mistake.”
Sarah looked at the flames.
“She burned the house.”
“She said she didn’t.”
“Of course she did.”
“Sarah, she was crying.”
Sarah almost laughed.
Patricia Collins did not cry.
She performed crying.
Daniel continued.
“She said Dad has lost control.”
“Where is she?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
“What does she want?”
“You.”
“No.”
“She said she’ll tell you what happened to Emily.”
Sarah went silent.
“If?”
“She wants immunity.”
Torres held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Daniel continued before Sarah could.
“And she said Lily wasn’t supposed to get hurt.”
Sarah felt a wave of rage.
“What does that mean?”
“She said the program was never supposed to start again.”
Torres took the phone.
“Daniel, this is Detective Torres. If Patricia contacts you again, do not negotiate. Keep her talking.”
Sarah looked back at the house.
Program.
The word made everything worse.
The fire burned for three hours.
At dusk, investigators entered the safest portion of the east wing.
Behind the ruined bookshelf in the guest room, they found a steel-lined chamber.
The fire had damaged the interior.
But not everything.
There were restraints fixed to the wall.
An old camera mount.
A small table.
And a child-sized chair.
The red box was gone.
Torres found something else in the ashes.
A tiny plastic bead.
Yellow.
Sarah recognized it.
Lily made friendship bracelets at school.
Three weeks earlier, she had come home missing one.
Sarah had asked about it.
Lily said it broke.
Now one of its beads lay inside a hidden punishment room in Patricia’s house.
Sarah wanted to be sick.
An evidence technician called out.
“There’s a hard drive.”
It was damaged but intact enough to recover.
The drive contained security footage.
Not from the home’s visible camera system.
From hidden cameras.
Dining room.
Hallway.
Guest bedrooms.
Staircase.
Secret chamber.
Some files went back fourteen years.
Sarah sat inside a police command vehicle while technicians opened recent recordings.
One showed Patricia leading Lily into the secret room three weeks earlier.
Lily was crying.
Patricia held her by the wrist.
Robert entered behind them.
The video had no sound.
They made Lily stand facing the wall.
For thirty-eight minutes.
When she tried to sit down, Robert pulled her upright.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Torres stopped the video.
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Keep playing.”
The next recording was from the birthday.
2:17 p.m.
Lily entered the guest room holding her stuffed bunny.
She climbed into bed.
She fell asleep.
At 2:42, Robert entered.
He pushed aside the bookshelf.
He disappeared into the hidden chamber.
At 2:44, Lily woke.
She sat up.
She saw the opening.
She climbed out of bed.
At 2:45, she entered the chamber.
At 2:46, Patricia arrived.
Sarah leaned toward the screen.
Patricia entered the hidden space.
Robert came out seconds later holding a red metal box.
He looked angry.
He left.
At 2:48, Patricia dragged Lily back into the bedroom.
Lily was crying.
Patricia raised her hand.
The video glitched.
Static.
Then returned.
Lily was on the floor.
Patricia stood above her.
Sarah stopped breathing.
But the next moment changed everything.
A third person entered.
A man.
Tall.
Gray jacket.
Patricia backed away from him.
The man bent over Lily.
May you like
Then looked directly at the hidden camera.
Dr. Malcolm Voss.
