Chapter 6 - BENEATH THE HOUSE
The service hallway ended at a locked door I had never used.
Behind it, stone steps descended beneath the mansion.
“Lily!”
Her scream came again.
Daniel broke the lock.
We ran into the darkness.
The basement had once been a wine cellar.
Now it held filing cabinets, monitors, and shelves of documents.
A woman stood near the far wall with one arm around Lily.
She wore a housekeeper’s uniform.
Maria.
She had worked for my family since before Rachel died.
A knife trembled in her hand.
“Don’t come closer.”
Lily cried silently against her.
“Maria,” I said, “let her go.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“She’ll kill my son.”
“Vanessa?”
Maria nodded.
“She has people everywhere.”
Daniel moved slowly to the side.
Maria saw him.
“Stop!”
The knife lifted.
Lily whimpered.
I raised both hands.
“No one is going to hurt you.”
Maria’s face collapsed.
“I drove the second car that night.”
My breath stopped.
“I followed Rachel.”
“Why?”
“Henry told me to.”
She began to sob.
“He said they only wanted the ledger. I didn’t know Vanessa would force her off the road.”
“You saw it happen.”
“I saw everything.”
Lily looked up at her.
“Then tell Daddy.”
Maria shut her eyes.
“I kept the dashcam card.”
Robert stepped forward.
“Where?”
Maria pointed to a metal box beneath the desk.
Daniel moved faster than I expected.
He caught her wrist.
The knife fell.
I pulled Lily into my arms.
She buried her face in my neck.
Robert opened the metal box.
Inside was a memory card and an envelope labeled MICHAEL.
Then every monitor in the cellar turned on at once.
Vanessa’s face appeared across the screens.
“Hello, husband.”
May you like
Her smile was cold.
“If you play that card, your son dies.”
