Chapter 2 - the seven silver locks)
Daniel Mercer noticed the pantry locks the next morning.
For approximately three seconds.
That was how long Vanessa allowed him to think about them.
Daniel entered the kitchen while fastening the cuff of his white shirt.
“What's with Fort Knox?”
Vanessa stood at the island arranging strawberries in Lily's lunch container.
“Pest problem.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“Rodents.”
“In the pantry?”
“We found droppings.”
“Then why padlocks?”
Vanessa laughed lightly.
“Because the exterminator recommended sealing everything until they come back.”
Daniel looked toward the doors.
Owen watched from the breakfast table.
Seven silver latches.
Three padlocks.
Daniel's eyebrows drew together.
“That's excessive.”
“So is having mice around children.”
Daniel accepted the explanation.
Not because it was convincing.
Because his phone rang.
This had become Vanessa's greatest weapon.
Daniel was always needed somewhere else.
Mercer Development employed more than eight hundred people. A construction dispute in Boston had kept Daniel in meetings for three days. A hotel acquisition in Chicago was scheduled for the following week.
Claire used to tease him about it.
One day you're going to look up and discover your children are thirty.
After Claire died, Daniel worked more.
Not less.
Work did not contain photographs.
It did not contain Claire's perfume.
It did not ask why the woman who went to bed healthy had been found unresponsive the next morning.
Vanessa understood that.
Owen had begun to understand it too.
Daniel answered the call.
“Mercer.”
Vanessa smiled at Owen.
He looked away.
That afternoon, Owen visited the electronics lab at school.
His science teacher, Mr. Kelly, was packing equipment.
“Can I borrow the micro camera?”
Mr. Kelly laughed.
“For what?”
“My history project.”
“You're filming a history project with a surveillance camera?”
“It's about surveillance.”
Mr. Kelly considered this.
“That is either very clever or complete nonsense.”
“Can I?”
The camera was intended for robotics.
It could record four hours of video onto a memory card and was smaller than a dime.
Mr. Kelly handed it over.
“Bring it back Monday.”
Owen placed it in his pocket.
When he returned home, Vanessa was waiting in the foyer.
“Where were you?”
“School.”
“School ended forty minutes ago.”
“Science club.”
“You don't have science club on Thursday.”
Owen froze.
Vanessa walked toward him.
Her eyes fell on his pocket.
“What did you take?”
“Nothing.”
“Owen.”
He backed away.
Vanessa grabbed his backpack.
He pulled.
She pulled harder.
The zipper opened.
Books spilled across the floor.
Lily appeared at the top of the stairs.
“What are you doing?”
Vanessa looked up.
“Go to your room.”
“You're breaking his stuff.”
“Room.”
Lily didn't move.
Owen used the distraction to slide the camera from his pocket into his sock.
Vanessa searched the backpack.
Nothing.
“What were you hiding?”
“I wasn't hiding anything.”
“You're lying.”
“Like you?”
Vanessa's head snapped toward him.
Owen expected anger.
Instead she smiled.
“You think you're very smart.”
“I know what I heard.”
“The pantry?”
Lily came down one step.
Vanessa noticed.
“Both of you are obsessed with that door.”
“Because someone is inside,” Lily said.
Vanessa stared at her.
Then she began laughing.
The laugh was too loud.
Too long.
When it stopped, no humor remained in her face.
“Come with me.”
Lily gripped the railing.
“No.”
“Now.”
Owen moved between them.
“Dad said we can't be punished without telling him.”
Vanessa's eyes narrowed.
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
That was not entirely true.
Daniel had said Vanessa should tell him about serious discipline.
But Owen was learning from Vanessa.
Sometimes confidence mattered more than accuracy.
Vanessa looked at both children.
“Fine.”
She walked away.
The moment she disappeared into the kitchen, Owen exhaled.
Lily hurried downstairs.
“What are we going to do?”
Owen removed the camera from his sock.
Her eyes widened.
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Where will you put it?”
Owen looked at the crest on his blazer.
“Here.”
That evening, he cut a tiny opening in the embroidered center.
The lens fit perfectly.
Lily sat beside him.
“What if she finds it?”
“She won't.”
“What if Dad finds it?”
“Then maybe he'll finally see.”
Lily became quiet.
“Do you think Dad doesn't believe us?”
Owen stopped working.
Daniel loved them.
That had never been the question.
But grief had changed him.
Sometimes love could exist inside a person who wasn't looking closely enough.
“I think Dad believes whatever he sees.”
Owen pushed the camera into place.
“So we'll make sure he sees everything.”
At 11:47 that night, the camera recorded its first secret.
Owen had left his blazer hanging on the chair outside his bedroom because the hallway gave it a partial view of the stairs.
Vanessa appeared.
She was carrying a key ring.
She went downstairs.
Twelve minutes later, she returned.
Her hands were empty.
But something dark stained the sleeve of her robe.
The next morning Owen reviewed the footage.
He zoomed in.
It wasn't blood.
It looked like ash.
Behind Vanessa, at the bottom of the stairs, something else had appeared in one frame.
A woman.
Pale dress.
Dark hair.
Standing in the dining room.
Owen stared at the frozen image.
He had seen that face every day when he was younger.
In photographs.
In dreams.
In Lily's eyes.
May you like
His mother.
Claire Mercer.
