Chapter 2
The Medicine Nobody Could Explain
By sunrise, Blackwood Manor no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a crime scene Marcus had once been foolish enough to decorate.
He sat beside Lily’s hospital bed while a nurse adjusted the heated blanket around her shoulders.
The attending physician, Dr. Patel, stood near the window with a tablet in hand.
“She’s going to be all right.”
Marcus exhaled.
He had been waiting hours to hear those words.
But the doctor did not leave.
“There is something else.”
Marcus looked up.
Dr. Patel turned the tablet so he could see the lab results.
“Lily had a sedating antihistamine in her system.”
Marcus frowned.
“She has seasonal allergies.”
“This was more than the dose we would normally expect in a child her size.”
“Are you saying she was drugged?”
“I’m saying someone needs to explain how she received that amount.”
Marcus looked toward Lily.
She was awake now, watching cartoons without really watching them.
“Could that be why she was barely conscious in the cellar?”
“It likely contributed.”
Marcus felt something cold move through his chest.
Victoria had told police Lily wandered downstairs.
She had said Lily became hysterical.
She had said she locked the door for only a minute.
A minute had somehow become nearly an hour.
Now there was medicine.
And a blue envelope.
And Lily’s whispered warning.
Somebody would disappear.
A knock sounded.
Detective Elena Brooks stepped into the room.
Marcus knew her by reputation and from two charity events.
Early forties.
Calm eyes.
No wasted words.
“I spoke with Hannah,” she said.
Marcus stood.
“How is she?”
“Bruised ribs. Split lip. No fractures.”
“Did she tell you what happened?”
“Yes.”
“And Victoria?”
“Her attorney arrived before sunrise.”
That answer told Marcus enough.
Elena glanced at Lily.
“Can we talk in the hall?”
Outside the room, she lowered her voice.
“Your wife says Hannah gave Lily allergy medicine yesterday afternoon.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Hannah would never give her medication without permission.”
“She says she had permission.”
“From who?”
“Victoria.”
Marcus stared at her.
Elena continued.
“Hannah says she never gave Lily anything.”
“So one of them is lying.”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked through the narrow glass panel in the door.
Lily was still clutching the teddy bear.
“Check the kitchen cameras.”
“We tried.”
Marcus turned.
Elena’s expression told him the answer before she spoke.
“The interior security system was manually disabled at 3:18 p.m.”
“By who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Marcus laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“Of course.”
Elena studied him.
“Mr. Hale, I need you to consider the possibility that there are things happening in your house you do not know about.”
He met her eyes.
“I already have.”
After she left, Marcus returned to Lily.
She had fallen asleep.
The teddy bear rested under her arm.
Its name was Barnaby.
Claire had bought it before Lily was born.
Marcus had kept it through every move, every cleaning frenzy, every phase Victoria called “too sentimental.”
He noticed a loose thread along Barnaby’s back.
A seam near the shoulder had been opened and clumsily stitched again.
Marcus touched it.
Lily woke instantly.
“Daddy.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her eyes dropped to his hand.
“You can look.”
Marcus sat back.
“Look at what?”
Lily swallowed.
“Hannah said if I ever got scared, I could hide things inside him.”
Marcus felt his heartbeat change.
“Did you hide the envelope inside Barnaby?”
“No.”
“What did you hide?”
Lily looked at the door.
“Close it.”
Marcus did.
Then she pulled the bear toward herself and worked one finger beneath the loose seam.
A tiny object slipped into her palm.
A brass key.
Not one of Victoria’s cellar keys.
This one was smaller.
Older.
Blackened at the edges.
Marcus stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
Lily reached inside the bear again.
This time she pulled out a folded photograph.
Marcus unfolded it.
His breath stopped.
Claire.
His first wife.
Four years younger.
Standing in the cellar.
Beside the west stone wall.
She was smiling, but there was fear in her eyes.
On the back, written in Claire’s handwriting, were six words.
If anything happens, open the wall.
Marcus read it twice.
Then a third time.
Lily watched him.
“Is that Mommy Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Victoria said I wasn’t supposed to say her name.”
Marcus looked at his daughter.
“What?”
“She said it made you sad.”
“That’s not her decision.”
Lily nodded slowly.
Then she whispered, “Daddy, I think the blue envelope was from her too.”
Marcus’s hand tightened around the photograph.
A memory surfaced.
One he had not thought about in years.
Two weeks before Claire died, she had asked him whether he trusted everyone who handled the family accounts.
He had laughed.
He had kissed her forehead.
He had told her she worried too much.
Three days later, she died in a crash on Route 9.
Marcus stared again at the note.
If anything happens, open the wall.
His phone vibrated.
A text from an unknown number.
He opened it.
DO NOT GO BACK TO THE CELLAR.
Marcus read the message.
May you like
Then another arrived.
YOU ALREADY LOST ONE WIFE.
