Chapter 6: The Woman Behind the Wall
Margaret Prescott entered the hidden passage at 12:17 p.m.
The camera captured her carrying a black leather bag and a small metal key. She walked with the same unhurried confidence she'd displayed in Emily's hospital room, as though no authority in the world had ever made her wait for permission.
The investigative team watched the footage from a mobile command unit parked outside the estate.
Dana stood beside the monitors, arms folded tightly across her chest.
“Where does that passage lead?”” she asked.
A technician enlarged the floor plan.
“The blue room. The concealed door is behind the pantry wall. The passage connects to the old caretaker's cottage.””
“Can we see inside the room?””
“Only through the camera already installed. We're trying to access the recording system without alerting whoever is monitoring it.””
Dana glanced at the screen.
Margaret stopped outside the blue room, removed the key from her necklace, and unlocked the door.
She disappeared inside.
Three minutes passed.
Then five.
Finally, she emerged carrying the same bag.
But she was no longer smiling.
She looked directly toward the hidden camera.
And then she said something the microphone captured clearly.
“It's time to move her.””
Dana immediately turned to Marcus.
“Get a team to every exit. No one approaches alone. We need to identify who she's moving and where she's taking them.””
Marcus issued the orders.
I listened from Emily's hospital room, my phone pressed to my ear.
“Dana, what are you waiting for?”” I demanded.
“A coordinated entry. We don't know whether someone is inside, whether there are weapons, or whether the person we're trying to protect is being held against her will.””
I forced myself to breathe.
She was right. Rushing in without a plan could turn a rescue into a disaster.
“Then what can I do?””
“Stay with Emily. If Margaret is moving someone, she may also try to reach the hospital.””
I looked at my daughter.
Emily had heard every word.
“She knows I'm here,” she whispered.
“Yes.””
“Then she'll come for me.””
I sat beside her and took her hand.
“Let her try.””
A few minutes later, a nurse entered to check Emily's vital signs. She was a middle-aged woman with silver-rimmed glasses named Patricia.
“Your blood pressure is a little elevated,” she said gently.
“Are you having more pain?””
Emily shook her head.
“I'm scared.””
Patricia adjusted the cuff.
“That's understandable. But you're in a secure unit, and we have officers outside.””
“What if my husband comes back?””
Patricia met her gaze.
“Then he will be stopped at the door.””
She finished the check and left.
I wished the world worked as simply as that sentence.
At 12:46, my phone rang again.
Marcus.
“We found something in the blue room.””
“What?””
“A wall panel opens into a second compartment. There's a narrow stairway descending below the cottage.””
I closed my eyes.
“An underground room?””
“Possibly a basement. The original property plans don't show it.””
“Have you entered?””
“Not yet. The team has secured the exterior, and specialists are assessing the structure.””
I looked at Emily.
She had gone completely still.
“Mom,” she whispered, “that's where the knocking came from.””
Marcus heard her.
“Emily, are you certain?””
“Yes. The sound came from beneath the floor.””
A loud voice interrupted the call.
“Agent Lee! We've got movement on the east side!””
Marcus swore under his breath.
“Victoria, I have to go.””
The line disconnected.
I immediately called Dana.
No answer.
I tried Marcus again.
Voicemail.
Every instinct I had screamed that something was happening, and I was stuck in a hospital room with my daughter.
I paced to the window and looked down at the parking lot. Cars moved in and out. A delivery driver unloaded boxes. An elderly man crossed the street carrying groceries.
Ordinary life continued while my daughter and two missing women remained trapped inside a nightmare.
Then I noticed a black SUV parked across the street.
Its windows were tinted.
It had been there when I arrived that morning.
I stepped away from the window and called hospital security.
“There's a black SUV outside the east entrance. I need someone to check whether it's associated with any visitor.””
“Can you provide the license plate?””
I read it aloud.
The guard promised to check.
Less than a minute later, he called back.
“The vehicle is registered to Prescott Holdings.””
My blood went cold.
“Do not approach it. Notify the officers at the entrance.””
“Understood.””
I turned to Emily.
“We're moving you to a different room.””
She tried to sit up.
“Why?””
“Because your husband is outside.””
Before I could help her out of bed, the door opened.
A hospital administrator entered with two security officers.
“Colonel Hart, we need to relocate your daughter temporarily. We've received information that an unauthorized individual may be attempting to access this unit.””
“Where are you taking her?””
“An interior recovery room with restricted access.””
I studied his face.
He looked frightened, but not dishonest.
“Who authorized the move?””
“The attending physician and hospital security director.””
I asked to see the written order.
He produced it immediately.
Everything appeared legitimate.
Still, I insisted that the security officers verify the destination before we moved Emily.
One officer checked his radio.
Then his expression changed.
“Sir, we have a problem.””
The administrator turned.
“What problem?””
“The room listed on the transfer order is already occupied.””
“By whom?””
The officer looked at me.
“According to the system, a patient named Rachel Morgan was admitted forty minutes ago.””
Emily made a small, frightened sound.
Dana's sister had been missing for seven years.
Now someone using Rachel's old surname was registered at the same hospital.
I called Dana again.
This time, she answered immediately.
“Victoria, where are you?””
“Mercy General. Someone has registered a patient named Rachel Morgan. We received an order to move Emily to her room.””
Silence.
Then Dana said, “Do not move Emily. Do not let anyone near her until my team arrives.””
“What's happening at the estate?””
“Margaret tried to leave through the east gate. We stopped her vehicle, but she wasn't inside.””
I stared at the closed hospital door.
“Where is she?””
“We don't know. She may have left through the service passage.””
“And Rachel?””
Dana's breathing became ragged.
“We found the basement.””
“What was inside?””
“A mattress, restraints, medical supplies, and a camera system. Someone had been held there recently.””
“Did you find Rachel?””
“No.””
I gripped the phone harder.
“Dana, we have a patient under Rachel's name in this hospital.””
“I know. Marcus just told me the admission record was created through an account linked to Prescott Holdings.””
“Then it could be her.””
“Or it could be a trap.””
A security officer knocked and opened the door slightly.
“Colonel Hart, the administrator who brought the transfer order has disappeared.””
I turned toward him.
“What?””
“He left his identification badge on the counter and walked out through the staff corridor.””
Dana heard him.
“Lock down the unit. Have hospital security preserve every camera recording. I'm dispatching officers now.””
The security officer closed the door and radioed for assistance.
Emily gripped my hand.
“Mom, what if Rachel is really here?””
I looked at her.
“Then we'll find her.””
“And if she's not?””
I didn't answer immediately.
Because on the bedside table, beneath the hospital paperwork, I had just noticed a small white envelope that hadn't been there five minutes earlier.
My name was written across the front.
I opened it carefully.
Inside was a photograph of a woman sitting on a hospital bed.
Her face was thinner than the woman in the old estate photograph, but her eyes were unmistakable.
Rachel Brooks.
On the back, someone had written a message in red ink.
*ASK YOUR DAUGHTER WHAT ETHAN DID TO THE ORIGINAL FILE.*
Emily stared at the photograph.
Then she began to cry.
“Mom,” she whispered, “I never told Ethan about the second copy.””
I turned toward her.
“What second copy?””
She looked at the envelope, then at the door.
“The memory card wasn't the only place I saved the video.””
She swallowed hard.
“I sent the original file to someone I trusted.””
“Who?””
Emily's answer was barely audible.
“Ethan's father.””
And at that exact moment, the hospital intercom crackled.
A voice announced that an unidentified man had arrived at the emergency entrance, asking specifically for Colonel Victoria Hart.
May you like
The man had given the receptionist one instruction.
“Tell her the truth about her daughter's husband is waiting outside.””
