Chapter 6
Ethan didn't leave the hospital until Olivia was stabilized again.
It was nearly midnight.
Lucy refused to sleep.
She sat beside him in the waiting room with a hospital blanket around her shoulders.
"You're going to the house."
It wasn't a question.
Ethan looked at her.
"Not tonight."
"You're lying."
He almost laughed.
"You really are my kid."
Lucy pulled the blanket tighter.
"Mom said you were bad at lying."
"Your mother has a lot of opinions about me."
"Most are good."
That stopped him.
"What did she tell you?"
Lucy looked toward the floor.
"That you were kind."
Ethan said nothing.
"She said you made terrible pancakes."
"That's accurate."
"She said you sing when you're nervous."
He looked away.
Lucy smiled faintly.
"And she said if I ever met you, you'd probably ask too many questions."
"Also accurate."
For a brief moment, everything felt almost normal.
Then Ethan remembered the anonymous photographs.
He called Claire again.
This time she answered.
"Where are you?"
"At a hotel with Mom."
"Why didn't you answer?"
"My phone died."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"Are you safe?"
"Yes. What happened?"
He told her about the messages.
Claire went silent.
"Daniel?"
"Have you heard from him?"
"No."
"Was he still at the chapel when you left?"
"I think so."
Ethan lowered his voice.
"Don't tell anyone where you are."
"Ethan, you're scaring me."
"Good. Stay scared."
Lucy watched him carefully.
Claire said,
"Victoria came to Mom's house."
"When?"
"About an hour ago."
Ethan stood.
"What did she want?"
"She was furious. She kept asking where you were."
"Did Mom tell her?"
"No."
"What else?"
Claire hesitated.
"She asked about Dad's old house."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
"What exactly did she ask?"
"Whether we still had keys."
He looked at Lucy.
Victoria knew.
Maybe not about the wall.
But something.
"Ethan?"
"I'm here."
"What's happening?"
"I'll call you."
He ended the call.
Lucy already knew.
"She knows about the house."
"Yes."
"We have to go."
"No."
"What if she gets there first?"
"Then we let the police deal with it."
"Do you trust the police?"
Ethan frowned.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Mom said Victoria knows important people."
Ethan had no answer.
Lucy stood.
"She could destroy the report."
"Lucy, you're staying here."
"With who?"
He looked toward Olivia's room.
The girl had him.
She knew it too.
"I can ask the nurses."
"They're not babysitters."
"You're eleven."
"I'm almost twelve."
"That doesn't help your argument."
She crossed her arms.
Ethan sighed.
"No matter how angry you are, you don't walk into danger."
"You walked out of your wedding with a stranger."
He stared at her.
Lucy raised one eyebrow.
Again.
His father's expression.
Ethan surrendered.
"You're staying in the car."
"No."
"Lucy."
"If something happens to you, I need to know."
"You've known me three hours."
"Exactly. I just found you."
That silenced him.
Ten minutes later, they were driving toward his father's old house.
Ethan hated himself for bringing her.
But he hated the idea of leaving her alone even more.
The house sat outside Boston on twelve wooded acres.
His father had bought it when Ethan was sixteen.
After his death, Ethan couldn't bring himself to sell.
He had kept it maintained.
But rarely visited.
The iron gate was open when they arrived.
Ethan stopped the car.
"It should be closed."
Lucy looked ahead.
One upstairs light was on.
"You said nobody lives here."
"They don't."
Ethan called 911.
Then he called the private security company.
"Someone is inside my property."
The dispatcher told him officers were on the way.
Lucy reached for the door handle.
Ethan locked the doors.
"We wait."
A shadow moved behind an upstairs window.
Lucy pointed.
"Someone's there."
"I see it."
Then the light went out.
Ethan's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
DON'T LET HER FIND THE WALL FIRST.
His pulse jumped.
He typed back.
Who are you?
No answer.
Lucy whispered,
"What did it say?"
He showed her.
Her face tightened.
"Maybe whoever's texting wants us to find it."
"Or wants us inside."
Headlights appeared behind them.
Ethan turned.
A black sedan stopped near the gate.
The driver's door opened.
Daniel Pierce stepped out.
Ethan unlocked his own door and got out.
"Stay inside."
Lucy immediately opened her door.
Ethan glared.
She shrugged.
"Almost twelve."
Daniel approached.
He was sixty-one.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Still broad-shouldered.
He looked at Ethan's tuxedo.
Then at Lucy.
"So it's true."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Why are you here?"
"Claire called me."
"No, she didn't."
Daniel's expression shifted.
"Then Richard did."
"Why would Richard Hale call you?"
Daniel looked toward the house.
"Because somebody broke in."
Ethan pulled out his phone.
He showed Daniel the old photograph.
His uncle's face changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"Anonymous message."
Daniel looked angry.
"Delete it."
"Why?"
"It doesn't mean what you think."
"What shell companies?"
Daniel stared at him.
Lucy moved closer.
"Answer him."
Daniel looked at her.
"You must be Lucy."
"How do you know my name?"
Daniel's face went still.
Ethan heard it too.
Nobody had told him.
"You knew."
Daniel stepped backward.
"Ethan—"
"You knew about her."
"I found out recently."
"When?"
"A few months ago."
"From who?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Ethan moved closer.
"From Victoria?"
"No."
"Richard?"
"No."
"Then who?"
A sound came from inside the house.
Glass breaking.
All three turned.
A figure ran across the downstairs hallway.
Ethan started toward the porch.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
"Someone is inside my father's house."
"That's exactly why you don't go in."
Police sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Then Lucy gasped.
"Look."
Smoke curled from a side window.
Ethan's heart stopped.
"No."
Flames appeared behind the glass.
Someone had set the house on fire.
Ethan ran.
Daniel chased him.
"Ethan!"
Lucy screamed from behind them.
"THE NURSERY!"
Ethan hit the front door.
Unlocked.
He shoved it open.
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Somewhere upstairs, fire crackled.
He knew exactly where his childhood bedroom had been.
But he didn't know anything about a nursery.
"Behind the moon," he whispered.
His father had painted a moon mural in the small room across the hall from Ethan's old room.
Ethan had always thought it was decorative.
He ran upstairs.
Daniel followed.
"Get out!"
Ethan slammed into the room.
Smoke filled the hallway behind him.
The moon was still there.
Faded silver paint.
Stars around it.
Ethan pressed his hands against the wall.
Nothing.
He hit the plaster.
Solid.
Then Lucy's voice screamed from downstairs.
"DAD!"
The word froze him.
The first time she had called him that without thinking.
Ethan turned toward the door.
A beam above the hallway collapsed in sparks.
Daniel shouted,
"We're trapped!"
Ethan looked back at the painted moon.
Then he saw it.
A tiny crack around the edge.
Not plaster.
A hidden panel.
He grabbed a chair and smashed it into the wall.
Once.
Twice.
The panel broke inward.
Inside was a narrow metal compartment.
A folder.
A small recorder.
And a photograph.
Ethan grabbed everything.
Then he saw a handwritten note taped to the back of the compartment.
ETHAN — IF YOU FOUND THIS, TRUST OLIVIA.
Behind him, Daniel whispered,
"Oh God."
Ethan turned.
His uncle wasn't looking at the fire.
May you like
He was looking at the photograph in Ethan's hand.
And his face had gone completely white.
