Chapter 2 - The Dead Man’s Voice
Leo twisted away just before Victor grabbed him.
“Give me that!”
“No!”
Rachel stepped between them.
“Back off, Victor.”
“You heard the recording. Somebody is playing games.”
“That was Dad’s voice.”
“It sounded like Dad’s voice.”
Elaine folded her arms.
“People can fake voices now.”
Leo stared at her.
“Grandpa recorded that phone before all that stuff got popular.”
Elaine’s jaw tightened.
Victor pointed at the device.
“We don’t know when that message was made.”
Leo looked down.
The voicemail had a date.
Three days ago.
Grandpa Henry had supposedly died twelve days earlier.
Leo turned the screen toward everyone.
Rachel read the date.
Her face changed.
Victor stopped talking.
Their younger sister, Melissa, rose from the couch.
“Three days ago?”
Rachel nodded slowly.
Melissa began crying.
“Our father is alive?”
Victor shook his head.
“No. Dad’s boat was found wrecked.”
“His body wasn’t found,” Leo said.
Victor glared at him.
“That ocean takes bodies.”
“Then who called this phone?”
Victor had no answer.
Rachel took the phone.
“We call the police.”
Elaine moved quickly.
“That may not be smart.”
Everyone looked at her.
She forced a nervous smile.
“I mean, we should understand what’s happening first. If Henry staged his death, there may be legal issues.”
Rachel stared.
“My father might be trapped somewhere, and you’re worried about legal issues?”
“No. That’s not what I meant.”
“It sounded exactly like what you meant.”
Victor rubbed his forehead.
“Everyone needs to calm down.”
Leo almost laughed.
Adults always said that when they were the ones panicking.
His eyes moved around the room.
Victor’s hand was shaking.
Elaine kept glancing toward the hallway.
And near the fireplace, something else had fallen out when the secret compartment opened.
A folded piece of paper.
Leo stepped over broken glass and picked it up.
Victor noticed too late.
“What’s that?”
Leo unfolded it.
It was a hand-drawn map.
Caldwell House.
The woods.
The lake.
And a red X near an old structure labeled PUMP HOUSE.
Rachel leaned over his shoulder.
“There hasn’t been a working pump house here in thirty years.”
Leo flipped the paper over.
Grandpa Henry’s handwriting covered the back.
LEO,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU SAW WHAT THE OTHERS DIDN’T.
FOLLOW THE RED MARKS.
DON’T GO ALONE.
AND IF THE BELL RINGS AFTER MIDNIGHT, HIDE.
Leo swallowed.
“What bell?”
Nobody answered.
Then a deep metallic sound echoed through the house.
GONG.
Everyone looked toward the foyer.
The old grandfather clock showed 11:58 p.m.
GONG.
Rachel whispered, “That clock hasn’t worked since I was a teenager.”
A third gong rolled through the mansion.
Victor suddenly grabbed Elaine’s arm.
“We’re leaving.”
Rachel blocked the doorway.
“Why?”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time, Leo saw genuine fear in his uncle’s eyes.
“Because that bell only rings when the basement door is open.”
May you like
Leo turned toward the hall.
At the far end, beneath the main staircase, a door slowly swung open by itself.
