Chapter 9 - The Room Behind the Bookshelf)
The old office had remained locked since Daniel's father died.
Not intentionally.
There was simply no reason to use it.
Thomas Hale had preferred dark wood, heavy curtains, leather chairs and walls filled with books no one else read.
After his death, Eleanor left the room untouched.
Daniel occasionally entered to retrieve documents.
He never noticed a hidden door.
At one thirty in the morning, after Winnie was asleep and Eleanor was safely at the hospital under police protection, Daniel stood in front of the bookshelves with Detective Brooks.
The brass key felt small in his palm.
"Mom said Rebecca found this."
Brooks examined the shelves.
"How?"
"No idea."
Daniel ran his fingers along the wood.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a narrow brass plate hidden beneath a carved edge.
A keyhole.
He inserted the key.
A click sounded.
The entire central bookshelf moved outward.
Cold air escaped from the darkness behind it.
Brooks turned on a flashlight.
A narrow room stretched beyond the wall.
Metal filing cabinets lined one side.
A desk stood at the far end.
No windows.
Daniel entered.
Dust covered almost everything.
Almost.
One cabinet handle was clean.
Someone had opened it recently.
Brooks photographed the room before touching anything.
Daniel looked at the desk.
Several photographs lay beneath a glass paperweight.
Rebecca.
Martin.
Paul Rainer.
Celeste Morgan.
People Daniel recognized from the foundation.
Then one photograph stopped him.
Sybil.
Younger.
Shorter hair.
Standing outside the Ashbury Hotel.
Beside her was Adrian Vale.
The date was November 2, 2019.
The same photograph Sybil had shown Eleanor in the attic.
Except this copy was wider.
Rebecca stood at the edge of the frame.
She had been there.
All three of them had.
Daniel whispered, "She lied."
Brooks nodded.
"Sybil knew Rebecca."
Daniel turned over the photograph.
Rebecca's handwriting covered the back.
A.V. says Martin is not the top. S.M. may help if she decides who she is afraid of.
Daniel read the initials again.
"S.M."
"Sybil Mercer," Brooks said.
"Rebecca thought Sybil might help."
"Looks that way."
Daniel stared at the image.
That changed everything.
If Sybil had been working with Rebecca before the accident, then why had she hidden it?
Why marry Daniel?
Why lock Eleanor in the attic?
Brooks opened the clean filing cabinet.
Inside were foundation ledgers.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Copies of passports.
A list of properties across three states.
On top sat a black folder.
Daniel opened it.
The first page contained one sentence.
If this room is open, assume someone has already found me.
Rebecca.
Daniel sat down.
The next pages described financial transfers from the Hale Foundation.
Small amounts at first.
Then millions.
Money moved through charities that existed only on paper.
The funds eventually reached private accounts.
Some belonged to Martin.
Others belonged to unfamiliar companies.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Vale Strategic Holdings.
Brooks photographed each page.
Daniel reached the final section.
It was empty.
Pages had been torn out.
"Someone got here before us."
Brooks pointed toward the clean cabinet handle.
Daniel looked at the floor.
Dust showed faint shoe marks.
Not old.
Recent.
He followed them toward the door.
The prints were narrow.
Likely women's shoes.
Sybil.
"She found the room."
"Probably."
"When?"
Brooks shined his flashlight toward the desk.
"Maybe after Eleanor disappeared."
Daniel remembered Sybil desperately searching for a key.
If she had already opened the room, why did she still need Eleanor's brass key?
Unless the door had been opened another way.
Or unless there was something else.
Daniel searched beneath the desk.
A small metal compartment was built into the underside.
Locked.
The brass key did not fit.
Brooks examined it.
"Different lock."
Daniel touched the edges.
Three small rotating number wheels were embedded beside the keyhole.
A combination.
Winnie had found three numbers.
11 4 19.
Daniel rotated the wheels.
Eleven.
Four.
Nineteen.
The compartment clicked.
Inside was a flash drive.
And another envelope.
Daniel's name.
He opened the envelope.
Rebecca's handwriting again.
Daniel,
If you are reading this, I was right to be afraid.
Sybil Mercer is not who Martin thinks she is.
Do not punish her before you know why she entered our lives.
Ask her what happened in Room 614.
Daniel stopped.
Brooks looked over his shoulder.
"Room 614?"
"The Ashbury."
"How do you know?"
"Rebecca's charity dinner was on the sixth floor."
Daniel picked up the flash drive.
They connected it to an old computer in the office.
A single video file appeared.
November 2, 2019.
The footage opened.
Rebecca sat in a hotel room.
Sybil was beside her.
Adrian Vale stood near the window.
The audio was weak but understandable.
Rebecca said, "Martin is moving money."
Vale answered, "Martin is moving what he is told to move."
Rebecca asked, "By who?"
Vale looked directly toward the camera.
Then the image froze.
The file was damaged.
Daniel tried again.
Same result.
The video resumed ten seconds later.
Sybil was crying.
Rebecca held her hand.
Vale said something too distorted to understand.
Then Sybil looked toward Rebecca.
"If they know you copied the ledger, they will kill you."
Daniel stopped the video.
His throat tightened.
Sybil had warned Rebecca.
Brooks leaned toward the screen.
"Play the rest."
The video continued.
Rebecca said, "Then help me stop them."
Sybil nodded.
"I will."
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the black screen.
The woman who had locked Eleanor in the attic had once tried to help Rebecca.
Nothing made sense.
Brooks's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"When?"
He listened.
"Send units."
Daniel stood.
"What happened?"
Brooks ended the call.
"Sybil's burner phone came online."
"Where?"
"Near the Ashbury Hotel."
Daniel was already moving.
Brooks stopped him.
"Daniel."
"She is there."
"Maybe."
"What else?"
Brooks looked at the hidden room.
Then at the video.
"That phone made a call before we traced it."
"To who?"
Brooks hesitated.
"Your house."
May you like
Daniel's blood turned cold.
"Winnie."
