Chapter 6 - The Man in the Garden
The fire destroyed half of my father’s study before the flames were controlled.
The empty Project Sable folder burned completely. Several financial records disappeared. The desk collapsed beneath a section of the ceiling.
The police found traces of an accelerant near the bookcase.
No intruder appeared on the surviving exterior cameras.
That meant the person who started the fire was already inside.
Every employee was questioned.
The cook had worked for us for three years. Two housekeepers had been employed for less than a year. The groundskeeper had served the estate since my father’s time.
His name was Samuel Pike.
When Detective Bennett asked to speak with him, he was gone.
We found his cottage at the edge of the property unlocked.
Inside were photographs of my mother, Vanessa, and me.
Some had been taken from great distances.
Others showed us through windows.
One photograph captured Vanessa entering a storage facility six months earlier. Another showed my mother meeting Robert Mercer outside a church.
On the kitchen table lay a map of the estate.
Three underground passages were marked in red.
I had lived in the house most of my life and knew nothing about them.
One tunnel connected the garden cottage to the cellar.
The second led from the old greenhouse to a concealed door behind the library fireplace.
The third began beneath my mother’s bedroom.
“That explains the missing recorder,” Detective Bennett said.
“And the envelope left outside the door.”
“Possibly.”
We entered the tunnel beneath the cottage.
The passage was narrow, damp, and built from old brick. Electrical cables had been installed along one wall. Fresh footprints marked the dust.
The tunnel ended behind a wine rack in the cellar.
Near the exit, we found a torn piece of fabric stained with blood.
It matched the uniform Robert Mercer had worn that morning.
“Someone dragged him through here,” Bennett said.
“Is he dead?”
“We don’t know.”
A faint sound came from deeper in the passage.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
We followed it to a section of wall that looked solid.
Behind one loose brick was a metal lever.
The wall opened inward.
Robert Mercer lay bound on the floor of a hidden room.
His face was bruised. Blood covered the side of his head. His hands were tied behind his back.
He was alive.
Paramedics treated him at the scene.
When he regained consciousness, he told us Samuel Pike had attacked him shortly before noon.
“Pike forced me to give him the security code,” Mercer said. “He said he would kill my daughter if I refused.”
“Why delete the footage?” Detective Bennett asked.
“I didn’t. He used my code.”
“What did the cameras show?”
“A woman entered through the service gate at eleven thirty.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see her face. She wore a scarf and sunglasses.”
“Did she enter the house?”
“Yes. Mrs. Hale let her in.”
“Which Mrs. Hale?” I asked.
Mercer looked confused.
“Your mother.”
My mother had allowed a stranger into the house.
“Where did the woman go?”
“To Margaret’s bedroom.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She arrived later. Around noon.”
“That can’t be right,” I said. “Vanessa lives here.”
“She left early that morning. She returned at 12:08.”
“What happened after she returned?”
“She went upstairs. Then Pike attacked me.”
Detective Bennett leaned closer.
“Did you hear anything?”
Mercer nodded.
“Mrs. Vanessa Hale shouting.”
“What did she say?”
“Get away from her.”
The same words she might have shouted at someone hurting my mother.
Mercer closed his eyes.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“The woman who entered earlier carried a silver medical case.”
My phone rang.
The hospital.
May you like
A nurse’s frightened voice came through.
“Mr. Hale, your mother is missing.”
