Chapter 3 - Charles Mercer Comes Home Smiling
Charles Mercer entered the mansion carrying a bottle of bourbon and
wearing the calm smile of a man arriving for dinner.
Daniel had not invited him.
That alone made the timing impossible to ignore.
“Dad.”
Charles looked up the staircase.
His smile faded when he saw Lily clutching Daniel’s hand, Vanessa behind
them, and white plaster dust covering Daniel’s shirt.
“What happened?”
Daniel descended one step at a time.
“You tell me.”
Charles’s eyes flicked toward Vanessa.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Daniel caught it.
Vanessa did too.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Charles said.
“Why are you here?”
“I called Vanessa earlier. She sounded upset.”
Daniel turned toward his wife.
“You called him?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
“I may have misunderstood.”
“Interesting.”
Daniel continued down.
“Because five minutes ago I found a steel door hidden inside the
storage-room wall, and somebody behind it sounds exactly like Mom.”
For the first time in Daniel’s life, he watched his father lose control
of his face.
The expression lasted less than a second.
But it was fear.
Then Charles laughed.
“That’s not possible.”
Daniel stopped at the bottom stair.
“Why not?”
“Because your mother is dead.”
“That’s what you told me.”
Charles placed the bourbon on a side table.
“I was at the funeral with you.”
“A closed-casket funeral.”
“Because of the condition of her body.”
“So you said.”
Lily hid partly behind Daniel.
Charles noticed.
“Lily, sweetheart, why don’t you go with Mrs. Reed?”
“No.”
The child’s answer was immediate.
Charles gave her a patient smile.
“This is grown-up business.”
“The lady said not to trust you.”
Silence swallowed the foyer.
Charles’s smile disappeared.
Daniel watched his father carefully.
“You want to explain why a woman behind my wall knows you?”
Charles looked toward Vanessa again.
“Someone is manipulating your daughter.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let’s call the police.”
Daniel lifted his phone.
Charles moved faster than a seventy-year-old man should have.
He caught Daniel’s wrist.
“Don’t.”
Daniel stared at his father’s hand.
Charles released him.
“If there truly is someone behind that door, we need to understand what
we’re dealing with before police turn this into a circus.”
“A woman may have been imprisoned in my house.”
“And if she is dangerous?”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“She sounds sick.”
“So did your mother near the end.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Near what end?”
Charles realized his mistake.
Daniel stepped closer.
“The official story was that Mom died instantly in a boating accident.”
Charles said nothing.
“You just said she sounded sick near the end.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Marcus, standing near the staircase, quietly shifted his weight.
Daniel looked from one face to another.
“How many people in this house have been lying to me?”
Charles’s expression became cold.
“You’re emotional.”
“My daughter found a hidden prisoner.”
“You don’t know she’s a prisoner.”
Daniel stared at him.
That distinction was too precise.
“You know what that room is.”
Charles did not answer.
Daniel took Lily upstairs.
Charles followed.
“Daniel.”
“Stay back.”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
They reached the third-floor corridor.
At the end stood a walnut door Daniel had not opened since moving back
into the estate after Rachel’s death.
Charles’s former bedroom.
Daniel tried the handle.
Locked.
“Marcus.”
The estate manager hesitated, then handed him a master key.
It did not work.
Charles folded his arms.
“Some rooms were excluded from the renovation.”
“Why?”
“Privacy.”
“In a house you gave me?”
Charles’s mouth tightened.
Daniel raised the hammer.
One strike splintered the old lock.
Inside, dust covered the furniture, but the room did not smell
abandoned.
Daniel noticed that immediately.
There was a faint trace of aftershave.
Fresh.
He looked at Marcus.
“When was somebody last in here?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel opened drawers.
Empty.
He checked beneath the bed.
Nothing.
Lily walked to the fireplace.
“Not there.”
Daniel turned.
“You said the key was in Grandpa’s room.”
“She said, ‘Where the bird watches the door.’”
Charles suddenly stepped forward.
“Lily, enough.”
Daniel blocked him.
“Where’s the bird?”
“There isn’t one.”
Lily pointed upward.
A brass eagle sat above the old mantel.
Daniel pulled it down.
The base was heavier than expected.
He twisted it.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside lay a black key and a folded photograph.
Daniel picked up the photograph first.
His mother stood beside a lake, smiling into the camera.
The date stamped at the bottom made his stomach drop.
October 18, 2016.
Evelyn Mercer had supposedly died in 2014.
On the back, someone had written four words.
DANIEL MUST NEVER KNOW.
Daniel slowly faced his father.
Charles’s skin had gone pale.
“Where did this come from?”
Charles looked at the photograph.
Then at Lily.
Finally, he looked at Vanessa.
“You should have kept the child away from that room.”
Daniel’s fist closed around the key.
That was not a denial.
It was a confession.
He headed for the door.
Charles grabbed his shoulder.
“If you open that cell, you may destroy what’s left of this family.”
Daniel pulled free.
“If my mother has been behind that wall, you destroyed this family
twelve years ago.”
Charles’s eyes became strangely sad.
“No, son.”
He glanced at the photograph.
“I destroyed it long before that.”
Daniel stopped.
May you like
Charles lowered his voice.
“And the woman behind that door can prove it.”
