Chapter 9 - The Wrong Safe Place
Daniel ripped the radio from Grant’s vest.
“Who is this?”
Static.
Then the voice answered.
“Arthur taught you to look one direction while the real move happened somewhere else.”
Daniel turned toward the tunnel entrance.
The mansion.
“No.”
Grant grabbed him.
“Daniel.”
“My kids.”
“We have officers there.”
The radio crackled again.
“Had.”
Daniel ran.
He climbed over fallen brick.
Ignored the blood running down his arm.
Claire followed.
“Daniel!”
“Stay back!”
“Those are my children too.”
He couldn’t argue.
They reached the carriage house.
Two officers were down outside.
Alive.
Disoriented.
A third cruiser had been stolen.
Daniel sprinted toward the mansion.
The back door hung open.
The kitchen was empty.
Ethan’s chair was overturned.
Sophie’s blanket lay on the floor.
Michael came in behind them.
“Who took them?”
Daniel grabbed him.
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“You were involved in this.”
“I was involved in hiding evidence.”
“Same damn family secret.”
Claire shouted.
“Stop!”
Both brothers looked at her.
She was holding something.
A phone.
Not Daniel’s.
Ethan’s phone.
It was hidden beneath the table.
The screen showed an audio recording still running.
Claire pressed Play.
A man’s voice.
“Move.”
Sophie cried.
Ethan shouted, “Don’t touch her!”
Then a sharp impact.
Daniel closed his eyes.
The boy had stepped between his sister and danger again.
Another voice came through.
Female.
Vanessa.
“No, not the boy.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
Vanessa had been underground with Arthur when the children were taken.
Meaning this happened earlier.
The timeline didn’t fit.
Then a third voice spoke.
Familiar.
Calm.
“Take both.”
Daniel stared at Michael.
“No.”
Claire’s face drained of color.
“What?” Grant asked.
Daniel replayed the recording.
The third voice.
Older.
Deep.
A voice Daniel had heard every day of his childhood.
His father.
Richard Mercer.
But Richard had died six years earlier.
Michael backed away.
“No way.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You heard it too.”
“That’s not possible.”
Claire sat down slowly.
“Yes, it is.”
Daniel turned.
“What do you mean?”
Claire’s hands began shaking.
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“In the tunnel.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Claire swallowed.
“Two years ago.”
Michael stared.
“You never told me that.”
“I thought I was hallucinating.”
Daniel leaned against the table.
His father.
Alive.
Two men who were supposed to be dead.
Arthur Vale.
Richard Mercer.
And both were connected to Claire’s imprisonment.
Grant’s radio crackled.
“Detective, we found the stolen cruiser.”
“Location?”
“Old Mercer paper mill.”
Daniel knew the place.
His father had closed it twenty years ago.
Claire stood.
“That’s where they used to meet.”
Daniel grabbed his keys.
Grant blocked him.
“No.”
“My kids are there.”
“And they want you emotional.”
“I am emotional.”
“That’s why you don’t go alone.”
Michael stepped forward.
“I know the mill.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“I don’t trust you.”
Michael looked at him for a long moment.
Then nodded.
“You shouldn’t.”
That stopped Daniel.
Michael reached into his pocket.
Pulled out a key.
Old brass.
“I stole this from Dad the night Claire disappeared.”
Daniel looked at it.
“What does it open?”
Michael’s face tightened.
“The room beneath the mill.”
May you like
Claire whispered:
“The room where this started.”
