Chapter 3 - Margaret Was Never In New York
Daniel moved Lily and Eric into the library, one of the few rooms with a mechanical lock.
Rachel stayed with them while Daniel checked the upstairs hall with two trusted staff members.
Margaret’s bedroom door stood open.
A wet coat lay across the chair.
Her suitcase was under the bed.
She had never gone to New York.
Daniel found her in Charles’s old study.
Margaret did not look surprised.
“You weren’t supposed to find the hatch.”
Daniel stared.
“You locked Eric underground?”
“No.”
“Lily saw you replacing the screws.”
“I was closing it.”
“Why?”
Margaret’s eyes shifted toward the windows.
“Because I was trying to keep her from finding what’s underneath.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“She already found a man trapped there.”
Margaret’s face changed.
“Eric?”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Stop saying that.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who installed the relay?”
Margaret whispered:
“Your brother.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
His older brother, Nathan, had died twelve years earlier in a boating accident.
“That’s impossible.”
Margaret opened Charles’s desk and removed an old photograph.
Nathan stood beside the mansion’s original security panel.
On the back was a date from six months after his supposed death.
Daniel stared at it.
Margaret said:
“Nathan didn’t die.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did we bury him?”
“Because your father told us to.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“You knew?”
Margaret began crying.
“I knew the coffin was empty.”
Daniel stepped away.
For twelve years, he had mourned a brother who might still be alive.
Then the mansion intercom crackled.
A man’s voice filled every room.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Margaret turned white.
Daniel recognized the voice before the next sentence.
“Tell Mom I finally came home.”
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Nathan was not outside.
He was somewhere inside the security system.
