Chapter 1 - The Voice Behind the Door
The first scream came from behind a steel basement door.
Marcus Reed froze halfway down the stairs.
“Claire?”
No answer.
Then his six-year-old niece grabbed his coat with both hands.
“Uncle Marcus,” Lily whispered. “Mommy is in there.”
Marcus stared at the thick chain wrapped twice around the basement handles.
A heavy black padlock held it shut.
Behind him, Julian Mercer gave a nervous laugh.
“Lily has an imagination.”
Marcus slowly turned.
Julian stood at the top of the stairs in a clean gray sweater, looking almost bored.
“Who put this lock here?” Marcus asked.
“Claire did.”
Marcus looked back at the chain.
“Claire locked herself in the basement?”
“She wanted privacy. She keeps personal things down there.”
Lily shook her head violently.
“No!”
Julian’s eyes hardened.
“Lily.”
“She’s lying?” Marcus asked.
“She’s confused.”
Lily started crying.
“I heard Mommy last night.”
Marcus crouched in front of her.
“What did you hear?”
Lily looked past him toward Julian.
Her lips trembled.
“She said my name.”
Julian stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
Marcus stood.
“Stay where you are.”
Julian gave him a cold smile.
“This is my house.”
Marcus moved closer until they were almost chest to chest.
“And that’s my sister behind that door.”
“You don’t know that.”
A second voice echoed from somewhere beyond the basement door.
Faint.
Weak.
“Marcus?”
Everything inside him went cold.
He rushed toward the door.
“Claire!”
Julian grabbed his shoulder.
Marcus spun and shoved him against the wall.
“You lying son of a—”
“Get your hands off me!”
Officer Davis came down the stairs behind them with another officer.
“Marcus. Back up.”
Marcus released Julian.
Davis pulled a folded document from his jacket.
“Julian Mercer, we have a warrant to search this property.”
Julian’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Marcus saw it.
Fear.
“You can’t break that lock,” Julian said.
Davis looked at the chain.
“Yes, we can.”
Julian stepped in front of the door.
“That room contains confidential business records.”
Marcus laughed without humor.
“You just said Claire kept personal things in there.”
Julian’s mouth went still.
Davis turned to the second officer.
“Bolt cutters.”
The officer opened a bag.
Julian backed toward the stairs.
Marcus noticed.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m calling my attorney.”
“No.”
Julian glared at him.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
The bolt cutters closed around the chain.
CRACK.
Lily covered her ears.
The chain dropped to the concrete floor.
Then the lock fell.
Marcus grabbed the handle.
Julian shouted, “Don’t open that door!”
Marcus pulled.
The door swung inward.
A cold smell rolled into the hallway.
Dust.
Damp concrete.
Something metallic.
At the bottom of another short set of steps sat Claire.
Barefoot.
Pale.
Wrapped in a dirty blanket.
Her wrist was bruised where a plastic restraint had been cut halfway through.
Marcus ran to her.
“Claire.”
She lifted her face.
For one second, she looked like she didn’t believe he was real.
Then she broke.
“You came.”
Marcus dropped to his knees and pulled her carefully against him.
Behind them, Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Claire reached for her daughter.
“Oh, baby.”
Lily ran down and crashed into her arms.
Marcus looked back up the stairs.
Julian stood beside Officer Davis.
His expression was no longer nervous.
It was furious.
“You’re making a mistake, Claire.”
Claire stopped crying.
Slowly, she looked at him.
“The mistake was marrying you.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“You have no idea what you’ve started.”
Officer Davis stepped toward him.
“Julian Mercer, put your hands behind your back.”
Julian smiled.
And that smile frightened Marcus more than the basement did.
Because Julian didn’t look like a man who had been caught.
He looked like a man who still thought he was in control.
Then Claire whispered into Marcus’s ear.
“There’s another room.”
Marcus pulled back.
“What?”
Claire’s eyes moved toward the dark back wall.
“He didn’t lock me down here to hide me.”
Her voice dropped.
“He locked me down here because I found what was behind it.”
May you like
And from somewhere inside the basement wall...
a phone began to ring.
