Chapter 2: The Woman Who Knew Too Much
For several seconds, nobody moved.
I stood dripping wet beside the swimming pool, holding my phone as if Danielle might call back.
Vanessa was staring at the water.
Ava clung to my leg.
Then something struck the underside of the pool.
BOOM.
The sound traveled through the concrete.
Ava screamed.
I grabbed her and ran toward the house.
“Stay behind me!”” I shouted.
Vanessa followed.
“Marcus, wait!””
I turned at the back door.
“Don't come near my daughter.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You have to listen to me.””
“I've listened to you for eighteen months.””
“You don't know what you've gotten yourself into!””
“Then explain it!””
She glanced toward the pool.
Another metallic bang echoed through the backyard.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Oh God.””
I locked the back door and carried Ava into the living room.
My hands were shaking so badly that I nearly dropped my phone.
I called 911.
“My name is Marcus Reed. I need police and emergency services at my house. There's a person possibly trapped beneath my swimming pool.””
The dispatcher asked whether I knew how the person got there.
I looked through the glass doors.
Vanessa was standing outside, staring into the water.
“I think someone has been held there.””
The dispatcher instructed me to stay inside.
I gave her our address.
Then I called my neighbor, Harold Jenkins, a retired firefighter who lived two houses away.
“Harold, I need you here. Right now.””
“What happened?””
“Someone is under my pool.””
There was a pause.
“What?””
“Just come.””
I ended the call.
Ava was sitting on the living room sofa, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
“Daddy?””
I knelt beside her.
“I'm here, baby.””
“Is Mommy coming home?””
I swallowed.
“I don't know yet.””
She looked down at her rabbit.
“Vanessa told me Mommy was bad.””
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?””
“She said Mommy didn't want me.””
I felt something crack inside my chest.
“Did Vanessa tell you that?””
Ava nodded.
“She said Mommy left because I cried too much when I was little.””
I pulled my daughter into my arms.
“Oh, sweetheart. No. Your mommy loved you.””
“Then why couldn't she come upstairs?””
I had no answer.
A sudden pounding came from the back door.
Vanessa.
“Marcus! Open this door!””
I stood.
“Stay with your rabbit, sweetheart.””
I approached the glass.
Vanessa pressed both palms against it.
“Please, Marcus. We need to talk.””
“Start talking.””
She looked directly into my eyes.
“You need to understand that Danielle wasn't supposed to survive.””
My blood turned cold.
“What did you just say?””
Vanessa's face changed.
She realized what she'd admitted.
“I didn't mean—”
“Who wasn't supposed to survive?””
She began shaking her head.
“Let me inside.””
“Not until you explain.””
Vanessa pressed her forehead against the glass.
“I didn't put her there.””
“Who did?””
Her eyes shifted toward the swimming pool.
Then she whispered, “Your brother.””
I stared at her.
My brother, Daniel, had died in a car accident seven years earlier.
There was no way he could have been involved.
“You're lying.””
“Marcus, I swear—”
“My brother is dead.””
Vanessa stepped backward.
For the first time, she looked genuinely frightened.
Then headlights swept across the driveway.
Two police cruisers pulled up.
Harold's pickup arrived moments later.
I opened the front door and rushed outside with Ava.
The first officer introduced herself as Detective Laura Bennett.
“Mr. Reed, tell me exactly what happened.””
I explained everything.
The missing wife.
The hatch.
The phone call.
The key in Vanessa's handbag.
And the three knocks beneath the water.
Detective Bennett listened without interrupting.
Then she approached Vanessa.
“Ma'am, I'm going to ask you to step away from the pool.””
Vanessa immediately shook her head.
“You can't open that hatch.””
“Why not?””
“It's dangerous.””
“What's inside?””
Vanessa looked at me.
Then she said something that made Detective Bennett stop writing.
“There's a second entrance.””
I stepped forward.
“What second entrance?””
Vanessa pointed toward the pool house.
“Behind the old storage shelves.””
Harold frowned.
“There's a pool equipment room back there. I've helped Marcus fix that pump twice. There's no second entrance.””
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You only saw what they wanted you to see.””
Detective Bennett called another officer over.
They searched the pool house while Harold stayed with Ava.
I watched through the open doorway as the officers moved shelves and inspected the walls.
Then one of them shouted.
“Detective! You need to see this!””
A section of wooden paneling had been removed.
Behind it was a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
The air that drifted upward smelled damp and metallic.
Detective Bennett drew her flashlight.
“Mr. Reed, stay here.””
But I was already moving.
At the bottom of the staircase was a small underground corridor.
On one side stood a steel door.
On the other was a wall covered with photographs.
I stepped closer.
My hands began trembling.
The photographs showed Danielle.
Danielle holding newborn Ava.
Danielle sleeping in our bedroom.
Danielle sitting at our kitchen table.
Some pictures were taken through windows.
Others were clearly taken inside our house.
There were photographs of me too.
And Vanessa.
In one picture, Vanessa was standing in our backyard beside the swimming pool.
The date printed beneath it was four years old.
Before I had ever met her.
“Detective,” I whispered.
She approached.
“What is it?””
I pointed to the photograph.
Vanessa was holding a newborn baby.
Our newborn baby.
Ava.
But the picture had been taken in a hospital room where Danielle was supposed to be recovering.
Detective Bennett examined the image.
“Do you recognize this location?””
I nodded slowly.
“St. Mary's Hospital.””
Then I noticed the handwritten words beneath the photograph.
The replacement mother has been selected.
I felt sick.
“Replacement?””
Detective Bennett turned toward Vanessa, who was now standing at the top of the staircase.
Her face was expressionless.
“Ma'am, I'm placing you under temporary detention while we investigate.””
Vanessa didn't resist.
Instead, she looked at me and said quietly:
“You really think I wanted to marry you?””
I couldn't speak.
She continued.
“I was assigned to this family long before you ever knew my name.””
An officer reached for her wrist.
Vanessa suddenly looked past him.
At Ava.
And her expression softened.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.””
Ava began crying.
“Don't talk to me!””
Vanessa lowered her head.
Then Detective Bennett's radio crackled.
“Unit three, we have a problem at the pool. The hatch is open, but there's no one inside.””
I looked toward the corridor.
“What?””
The officer repeated the message.
“No occupant. But we've found fresh blood and a ladder leading beneath the foundation.””
My phone vibrated.
A message from the unknown number.
One photograph.
Danielle was sitting in a dimly lit room.
Her face was pale.
Her hair was much shorter than I remembered.
But she was alive.
Underneath the photograph were six words:
Marcus, don't trust the police. Look upstairs.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Above the underground staircase was the house where my daughter had slept every night.
And someone had been watching her.
May you like
Not from the pool.
From inside our home.
