Chapter 7 - Lily Disappears During The Blackout
Daniel reached the mansion in thirty-four minutes.
The drive should have taken fifty.
He barely remembered it.
Emergency lights glowed along the first floor.
Security vehicles blocked the circular driveway.
Daniel jumped from the SUV before Marcus fully stopped.
“Lily!”
He ran inside.
A guard met him in the foyer.
“We found Mrs. Mercer.”
“Lily?”
“Still searching.”
Daniel grabbed the man’s vest.
“How does a six-year-old disappear from a locked house?”
“The camera system went offline at 10:17. Backup generator failed twenty
seconds later.”
“Failed?”
“Someone disabled it manually.”
Daniel released him.
“Vanessa!”
She was already running upstairs.
Daniel followed.
Lily’s room was empty.
Her stuffed rabbit lay near the doorway.
One ear had been torn.
Daniel picked it up.
There was blood on the fabric.
“No.”
Vanessa crouched beside him.
“That might not be hers.”
He looked at her.
It was a terrible attempt at comfort.
Marcus entered with a flashlight.
“Evelyn says Lily came to see her just before the blackout.”
Daniel ran to the guest suite.
His mother sat on the bed while a medic wrapped a cut on her forehead.
“What happened?”
Evelyn looked devastated.
“She came in because she heard the voice again.”
Daniel stopped.
“What voice?”
“The voice from the wall.”
Vanessa frowned.
“But you’re not in the wall anymore.”
“I know.”
Evelyn took Daniel’s hand.
“Lily said someone whispered her name through the vent in her bedroom.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“The camera.”
Marcus nodded.
“Whoever installed it may have planted audio equipment too.”
“What happened after Lily came here?”
“The lights went out. I heard the door open.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see. Someone struck me.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
“When you woke up?”
“Lily was gone.”
A guard entered.
“Sir, we found an exterior door open in the east service corridor.”
Daniel was already moving.
The service corridor led to the old greenhouse.
Outside, rain had begun.
Flashlights swept the lawn.
A muddy footprint appeared near the door.
Small.
Child-sized.
Then another.
Daniel followed them across the grass.
“Lily!”
No answer.
The prints ended near the greenhouse.
Daniel shoved open the glass door.
Rows of neglected plants cast twisted shadows beneath emergency
lanterns.
“Lily?”
A sound came from behind a potting bench.
Daniel rushed around it.
Lily sat on the floor.
Alive.
Alone.
He dropped beside her and pulled her against him.
“Oh, thank God.”
She shook violently.
“Daddy.”
“I’ve got you.”
Vanessa arrived and covered her mouth with both hands.
Daniel checked Lily’s face, arms, neck.
“No injuries?”
Lily shook her head.
“The blood on Bunny?”
“The man cut his hand.”
Daniel went still.
“What man?”
“The one who brought me here.”
Marcus appeared behind them.
“What did he look like?”
Lily looked at him.
Then she pointed.
“At Uncle Marcus.”
Daniel’s head snapped around.
Marcus froze.
Vanessa stepped between Marcus and Lily.
“What?”
Lily frowned.
“Not Uncle Marcus.”
She touched her own face.
“He had Uncle Marcus’s face.”
Daniel stared at her.
“A mask?”
Lily nodded.
“Like Halloween. But better.”
Marcus whispered a curse.
Daniel stood.
“Whoever did this wanted Lily to identify you.”
“Or wanted you to kill me before you learned something,” Marcus said.
Lily tugged Daniel’s jacket.
“He gave me this.”
She opened her fist.
A silver locket rested in her palm.
Evelyn, arriving with a guard, saw it and stopped dead.
“Where did you get that?”
“The man.”
Evelyn took it carefully.
Her hands shook.
“That belonged to Eleanor.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You recognize it?”
“My sister-in-law wore it every day.”
“You knew she existed?”
“Yes.”
Daniel felt anger rise again.
“How many dead relatives are secretly alive in this family?”
Evelyn flinched.
“Eleanor disappeared in 1989.”
“What happened?”
“Charles said she ran away.”
Daniel looked at his father, who had been brought downstairs under
guard.
Charles stood at the greenhouse entrance.
Rain darkened the shoulders of his coat.
Evelyn opened the locket.
Inside were two tiny photographs.
One showed young Charles.
The other showed a baby.
On the back was an engraved date.
June 4, 1988.
Daniel frowned.
“Who’s the baby?”
Charles closed his eyes.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Tell him.”
Charles said nothing.
“Tell your son what you did.”
Daniel stepped toward his father.
“What is she talking about?”
Charles stared at the locket.
When he finally spoke, his voice sounded twenty years older.
“The baby was Eleanor’s son.”
“What happened to him?”
“I raised him.”
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“As who?”
Charles looked directly at him.
“As you.”
No one moved.
Daniel almost laughed because the alternative was believing him.
“You’re saying Eleanor is my mother?”
Charles nodded once.
Evelyn began crying.
Daniel looked at the woman he had called Mom his entire life.
She whispered, “I wanted to tell you.”
The greenhouse seemed to tilt.
Then Lily spoke.
“Daddy?”
Daniel looked down.
She was staring toward the dark glass roof.
A red light blinked above them.
May you like
A camera.
Someone had been watching the entire conversation.
