Chapter 2 - Seventeen Minutes of Darkness
Justin screamed before the emergency lights activated.
A dim red glow filled the hallway.
Kevin reached for Jordan.
The child flinched away from him and grabbed Annie instead.
The rejection was brief.
It still cut Kevin deeply.
“Stay with them,” Kevin ordered.
Annie carried Justin into Lauren’s room while guiding Jordan with her free hand.
Daniel remained near the staircase.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
Kevin looked at him through the red light.
“You are missing a cuff link.”
“I lost it months ago.”
“My son says you were here.”
“Your son is five.”
“My son watched his mother die.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Exactly.”
The word was quiet.
Cruel.
Kevin stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
“It means those boys are traumatized.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“They have nightmares, Kevin.”
“They mix memories with dreams.”
“They attack caregivers.”
“They hide inside closets.”
“And now a housekeeper has climbed into Lauren’s bed and filled their heads with accusations.”
Kevin grabbed Daniel by the front of his jacket.
“Do not speak about my sons like they are evidence you can dismiss.”
Daniel did not struggle.
He looked almost disappointed.
“You are not thinking clearly.”
The backup generator started.
Warm light returned to the hallway.
Kevin released him.
Daniel smoothed his jacket.
“I came because someone called from your number.”
He looked toward Lauren’s bedroom.
“Now I find a stranger inside a locked room and your children accusing me of being involved in an accident.”
“That does sound unfortunate.”
Annie stood in the bedroom doorway.
Justin remained in her arms.
Jordan held a small wooden music box against his chest.
Daniel stared at it.
His face changed for less than a second.
Annie noticed.
Kevin noticed too.
“Where did you find that?” Daniel asked.
Jordan hugged the box tighter.
“Mommy gave it to us.”
“That belonged to Lauren.”
Daniel approached.
Kevin blocked him again.
Jordan opened the lid.
The music box played the first six notes of the lullaby Lauren used to sing.
Then it stopped.
A tiny compartment beneath the spinning figure had been forced open.
Inside was a brass key and a folded strip of paper.
Kevin took the paper.
The handwriting belonged to Lauren.
His hands began to shake.
The message contained only seven words.
Kevin, watch the missing seventeen minutes.
Kevin looked toward the security camera at the end of the hallway.
Daniel’s breathing changed.
“You should not do this in front of the children.”
Kevin turned toward him.
“What happened front of the children.”
Kevin turned toward during those seventeen minutes?”
Daniel’s face remained calm.
Only his right hand betrayed him.
It was trembling.
“I have no idea.”
Annie looked at the mansion clock.
“The house was silent for seventeen minutes today.”
Kevin stared at her.
Then he remembered the exact duration of the unexplained security failure on the night of Lauren’s accident.
Seventeen minutes.
He had signed the insurance report himself.
He had accepted the explanation that a storm damaged the system.
Kevin turned toward the stairs.
“I’m checking the archive.”
Daniel followed him.
“That system was replaced last year.”
“The backup server was not.”
“You cannot access it without authorization.”
Kevin stopped.
“I own the company that installed it.”
Daniel said nothing.
Kevin started down the staircase.
Behind him, Jordan spoke in a small voice.
“The bad man deleted Mommy.”
Kevin turned.
Jordan was no longer looking at Daniel.
He was looking over Daniel’s shoulder.
May you like
At the far end of the hallway stood Margaret Morrison.
Kevin’s mother was holding the mansion’s main security key.
