Chapter 4 - Four Times Before
Mark refused to unlock the east wing.
He dragged Claire upstairs while the voice continued calling his name.
Claire fought him until Diane appeared at the end of the hallway in her nightclothes.
“What is happening?” Diane asked.
“There is someone behind that door,” Claire said.
Diane looked at Mark.
He lowered his head.
Diane walked toward Claire.
“The east wing is empty.”
“I heard a woman.”
“You heard the television.”
“No television was on.”
Diane stopped inches away.
“You have been behaving strangely for weeks. Paranoia. Anger. Confusion. Perhaps your brother should be informed.”
Claire saw the trap immediately.
Diane wanted her fear to look like instability.
“I know what I heard.”
“Do you?”
Diane glanced at Mark.
“Tell her.”
Mark’s mouth opened, but no words came.
“Tell her the truth,” Diane said.
Mark finally spoke.
“The pipes make sounds.”
Claire stared at him.
“You heard her.”
“I heard the pipes.”
Diane smiled.
Claire realized she was alone.
The next morning, Diane served tea in the sunroom as though nothing had happened.
Claire did not drink hers.
Diane watched her.
“You think I poisoned it?”
“I think you are capable of anything.”
Diane’s smile faded.
“Be careful.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is advice.”
Claire stood.
Diane reached across the table and caught her hand.
Her grip was surprisingly strong.
“The first time,” Diane said, “I thought a small lesson would be enough.”
Claire tried to pull away.
Diane held tighter.
“The first time what?”
“You left the communication rules on my plate.”
Claire felt the needle before she saw it.
A sharp pain pierced the soft skin between her thumb and forefinger.
She gasped.
Diane withdrew the needle.
A bead of blood appeared.
“That was the first punishment,” Diane said.
Claire backed away.
Diane placed the needle beside her teacup.
“The next will be more memorable.”
Claire ran upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom by pushing a chair beneath the handle.
She examined the puncture.
It was small.
Almost invisible.
That was the point.
A wound that could be explained away.
She called Oliver using an old tablet she had hidden behind the towels.
The call did not connect.
The wireless network had been disabled.
Claire opened the bathroom window.
The drop to the garden was nearly twenty feet.
She considered it anyway.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Claire,” Mark said. “Open up.”
“No.”
“We need to talk.”
“You lied about Elena.”
Silence.
“You lied about the woman in the east wing.”
“She wasn’t real.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Mark lowered his voice.
“My mother is getting worse.”
Claire gripped the sink.
“Worse than what?”
“She wasn’t always like this.”
“That is not an answer.”
“She needs control. When she feels it slipping, she does things.”
Claire looked at the puncture in her hand.
“How many women has she done things to?”
Mark did not answer.
Claire removed the chair and opened the door.
Mark stood alone.
She held up her bleeding hand.
“She stabbed me.”
His eyes closed.
“You knew she would.”
“No.”
“You are not surprised.”
He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.
“When I was fourteen, she locked our housekeeper in the cellar for two days.”
Claire stared at him.
“When I was eighteen, she burned my father’s arm because he threatened to leave.”
“Your father died in a car accident.”
“That’s what the report said.”
Claire felt the room tilt.
Mark continued.
“Elena was the first person who tried to go to the police.”
“What happened to her?”
“I helped her escape.”
“Then why did she call your name from behind that door?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire searched his face.
He was terrified, but she could no longer tell whether his fear came from guilt or danger.
“Get me out of this house,” she said.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“If we leave, she’ll destroy us.”
“She is already destroying us.”
Mark leaned against the sink.
“There are documents with my signature. Accounts. Transfers. Things I didn’t understand when I signed them.”
“Crimes?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
Mark’s eyes filled with shame.
“She controls everything.”
Claire stepped away from him.
“And you let her control me.”
“I can fix this.”
“You have said that before.”
He reached toward her.
She moved out of reach.
“Four times,” Mark whispered.
Claire went still.
“What?”
“There are four things she does when someone disobeys her.”
He counted them on his fingers.
“Isolation. Pain. Confusion. Shame.”
Claire remembered the removed dinner plate, the needle, the changed passwords, the accusations of instability.
“What happens after the fourth?”
Mark looked toward the bathroom door.
“She makes the person disappear.”
A heavy object struck the other side of the door.
The wood shook.
Diane’s voice came through calmly.
“Mark, open this door.”
He did not move.
May you like
Diane knocked again.
“I know what you told her.”
