Chapter 2 - The House With Two Floor Plans
Daniel did not return home until sunrise.
A child welfare officer remained with Emily while detectives visited the suburban property. Evelyn had left before they arrived. Taylor claimed she did not know where her mother had gone.
Daniel no longer believed anything his wife said.
Detective Lena Ortiz met him in the driveway. She was in her early forties, with tired eyes and a calm voice that made every question sound less dangerous than it was.
“We examined the freezer,” she said. “There are marks on the inside of the lid.”
“What kind of marks?”
“Fingernail scratches.”
Daniel looked away.
“There is also a camera in the garage.”
He turned back.
“What?”
Ortiz pointed toward a black device mounted above the workbench.
Daniel had assumed it was a motion sensor installed by the previous owner.
“Was it recording?”
“The memory card is missing.”
“Evelyn took it.”
“Possibly.”
“She did.”
Ortiz did not argue.
“Your wife says you have been experiencing memory problems.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“My wife says many things.”
“She says you sometimes forget conversations, become aggressive, and accuse people of events that never happened.”
“I’ve had headaches.”
“For how long?”
“About eight months.”
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Taylor kept saying it was stress.”
Ortiz wrote something in her notebook.
“Your daughter wrote that someone puts powder in your coffee.”
Daniel had given the pink notebook to police only after photographing every page. He had kept the silver key.
“I want my blood tested.”
“We can arrange that.”
“And I want the house searched.”
“For what?”
“The red room.”
Taylor had purchased the house eight months earlier using money inherited from her late father. The property appeared ordinary from the street: gray siding, white shutters, two stories, and a detached garden shed.
But Emily’s notebook suggested there was a hidden space beneath the stairs.
Ortiz walked with Daniel into the living room.
Taylor sat on the sofa holding a cup of tea. Her face was swollen from crying, but Daniel noticed there were no tears.
“I want to see Emily,” she said.
“No.”
“I’m her stepmother.”
“You watched your mother lock her inside a freezer.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then tell the truth.”
“I already did.”
Ortiz asked Taylor to remain seated while officers inspected the house.
Daniel moved to the staircase.
The space beneath it contained a small closet filled with coats, boots, and cleaning supplies. He removed everything.
The back wall sounded solid when he knocked.
No door.
No red paint.
Nothing.
Taylor stood behind him.
“Are you satisfied?”
“No.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good.”
She flinched as if he had struck her.
Ortiz stepped between them.
“Mr. Mercer, take a walk.”
Daniel went outside to the garage.
Moving boxes filled one corner. Taylor had insisted they keep many of Laura’s belongings packed after the move. She said displaying photographs of Daniel’s dead wife was unhealthy for their marriage.
He opened the box he had dropped the night before.
Broken frames lay among wedding pictures, family albums, and folded letters.
One photograph showed Laura holding newborn Emily outside their first apartment. Another showed Daniel and Laura at a mountain cabin.
His hand stopped.
In the corner of the cabin photograph stood a woman in a red coat.
Evelyn.
Daniel stared at it.
He had met Evelyn only two years ago when he began dating Taylor.
Yet the photograph was eight years old.
He flipped it over.
Laura’s handwriting covered the back.
Daniel doesn’t remember Evelyn being here.
That may be the safest thing for now.
Daniel read the sentence three times.
A headache struck behind his eyes.
For a second, the garage disappeared.
He saw a red door.
A narrow room.
Laura standing in front of him with blood on her sleeve.
Someone behind her said, “Make him forget.”
Then the memory vanished.
Daniel nearly fell.
Detective Ortiz entered the garage.
“Are you all right?”
He handed her the photograph.
She examined it.
“You said you met Evelyn two years ago.”
“That’s what I believed.”
Ortiz looked at the date.
“Who owned the cabin?”
“Laura’s uncle. He died before Emily was born.”
“Where is it?”
“North of Blackridge.”
Ortiz photographed the picture.
“We found something unusual.”
She led Daniel back into the house.
An officer had obtained the municipal floor plans. Ortiz placed them beside the plans Taylor had received from the real estate agent.
The municipal plan showed the staircase closet ending against an exterior wall.
The real estate plan showed the closet extending three feet deeper.
“There should be empty space here,” Ortiz said.
They returned to the closet.
An officer ran a scanner across the back wall.
“There’s a cavity,” he confirmed.
Daniel searched the molding. Near the floor, he found a tiny circular indentation.
The silver key fit perfectly.
When he turned it, a hidden latch released.
The entire back wall swung inward.
Behind it was a red metal door.
Taylor screamed from the living room.
“No!”
She ran toward them, but an officer stopped her.
Daniel opened the red door.
The smell reached him first.
Antiseptic.
Rust.
And something faintly sweet.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Detective Ortiz drew her weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
They moved down together.
At the bottom was a small room with padded walls. A metal chair had been bolted to the floor. Leather straps hung from its arms.
A video camera faced the chair.
On a desk sat rows of medication bottles, recording equipment, and labeled folders.
One folder bore Daniel’s name.
Another bore Laura’s.
The third was labeled Emily, Phase Two.
Daniel opened Laura’s folder.
Inside was a photograph taken after her supposed death.
Laura sat in the metal chair.
She was holding a newspaper dated six months after the car accident.
Her eyes were open.
Someone had written across the photograph in red ink.
SUBJECT REMAINS NONCOMPLIANT.
Behind Daniel, Taylor began sobbing.
He turned toward her.
“You knew.”
“I tried to stop her.”
“Where is Laura?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is my wife?”
Taylor’s eyes moved toward the desk.
A small monitor had turned on by itself.
Static filled the screen.
Then a woman appeared.
She looked older and thinner than Laura, but Daniel recognized her immediately.
Her voice came through the speakers.
“Daniel, if you are watching this, Evelyn has already lost control.”
Laura looked directly into the camera.
“Do not trust the police.”
Detective Ortiz froze.
The video continued.
“Do not trust Taylor.”
Taylor shook her head violently.
“And whatever Emily tells you, do not take her back to the cabin.”
The screen went black.
May you like
A mechanical lock clicked above them.
Someone had closed the red door.
