Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Buried Three Years AgoThe basement went completely dark.
For half a second, Nathaniel heard nothing except Vanessa's breathing.
Then came the metallic slam of the security door upstairs.
James immediately switched on his flashlight.
"Stay behind me, sir."
Nathaniel heard Vanessa moving toward the staircase.
"Don't let her leave!"
James reached the bottom step just as Vanessa screamed.
Something heavy crashed against the wall.
Then a man's voice echoed down the staircase.
"Nobody moves."
Nathaniel recognized it.
Marcus.
James raised his flashlight.
Marcus stood halfway down the stairs holding a handgun. His expensive tuxedo jacket was gone, and blood stained the cuff of his white shirt.
Vanessa was pressed against the wall behind him.
For the first time that evening, she no longer looked like a wealthy socialite.
She looked like a woman who had just realized the dangerous man she trusted had no intention of protecting her.
"Marcus," Nathaniel said quietly, "put the gun down."
Marcus smiled.
"You always did think you could solve everything with money."
"What have you done to Caroline?"
The smile disappeared.
"Your first wife was too curious."
Nathaniel took a step forward.
James lifted one hand to stop him.
"Where is she?"
Marcus tilted his head.
"Do you really want to know?"
Nathaniel's fists tightened.
"I want my wife back."
Vanessa flinched.
Marcus noticed and laughed.
"Careful, Nathaniel. Your current wife is standing right here."
"Then she can hear what you did to the woman who came before her."
Marcus's face hardened.
"Caroline was about to ruin everything."
"What everything?"
Marcus glanced at James.
"The old man doesn't need to hear family business."
James didn't move.
"I'm staying."
"Suit yourself."
Marcus looked back at Nathaniel.
"Three years ago, your wife discovered a series of transfers from Brooks Holdings to shell companies operating overseas. She thought someone was stealing money."
"Someone was."
"Of course someone was. But theft was the smallest part of it."
Nathaniel felt a knot forming in his stomach.
Caroline had been a financial attorney before becoming a full-time mother.
She had an extraordinary talent for finding discrepancies in complicated financial statements.
A week before her supposed accident, she had told Nathaniel that something was wrong with the company's charitable foundation.
He remembered dismissing her concerns.
He had been preparing for a major acquisition.
He had told her to speak with the accounting department.
She had looked disappointed.
That was the last serious conversation they had ever shared.
Now the memory felt unbearable.
"What did she discover?"
Marcus raised the gun slightly.
"Enough to become a problem."
"Then you arranged the accident."
Marcus shrugged.
"Not exactly."
Nathaniel stared at him.
"You kidnapped her."
"Your wife disappeared. A vehicle burned. A body was identified. The world moved on."
"Who was buried in her grave?"
For the first time, Marcus hesitated.
Nathaniel's voice rose.
"WHO WAS BURIED IN MY WIFE'S GRAVE?"
Vanessa suddenly began sobbing.
"I didn't know about the body!"
Marcus turned sharply.
"Shut up."
Nathaniel looked between them.
"What body, Vanessa?"
She shook her head.
"Marcus told me Caroline ran away. He said she took money and abandoned Sophie. He said the accident was staged because she wanted to disappear."
Nathaniel felt sick.
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to!"
Her answer hung in the darkness.
Marcus gave a bitter laugh.
"There's the truth."
Vanessa wiped her face with trembling fingers.
"I thought if Caroline was gone, Nathaniel would eventually love me."
The confession struck Nathaniel harder than he expected.
He remembered meeting Vanessa at a charity gala eleven months after Caroline's funeral.
She had seemed compassionate.
She listened when he spoke about grief.
She encouraged him to remember Caroline without feeling guilty.
Now he wondered how much of their relationship had been arranged.
Before he could ask, James's radio crackled.
A security officer's voice came through.
"Mr. Porter, we have police at the front gate. We received your emergency alert."
Marcus stiffened.
James had triggered the alert before descending into the basement.
Marcus had been too confident to notice.
"You called the police?"
James remained calm.
"I called them when I saw signs that a child had been imprisoned here."
Marcus moved his gun toward James.
A deafening bang shook the basement.
Nathaniel instinctively ducked.
A bottle on a wine rack shattered behind him.
James grabbed Nathaniel's coat and pulled him behind a concrete support.
Marcus fired again.
The bullet struck the railing.
Vanessa screamed and dropped to the staircase.
James shouted into his radio.
"Armed suspect! Basement west wing! Child upstairs!"
Nathaniel's mind flashed to Sophie.
He couldn't let Marcus reach her.
Not after everything she had endured.
"Marcus!" he shouted. "You want me. Leave everyone else alone."
Marcus laughed.
"Now you understand."
Another gunshot erupted.
Then, from upstairs, a firm voice thundered.
"POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
The next seconds blurred into shouted commands, footsteps, and the sharp clatter of metal against stone.
When Nathaniel looked up, Marcus was lying facedown on the stairs.
Two officers were handcuffing him.
James stood beside the wall, pressing a hand against his upper arm.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
Nathaniel rushed toward him.
"James!"
"I'm fine. Grazed me."
Nathaniel looked at Marcus.
"You threatened my daughter."
Marcus lifted his head.
His eyes were filled with contempt.
"Your daughter is the reason you're still alive."
Nathaniel froze.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus smiled.
"Ask her what she found under the floorboards."
Then an officer pulled him to his feet and led him away.
Outside, snow had begun falling across the estate.
Police vehicles lined the circular driveway.
The Christmas lights continued blinking cheerfully beneath the enormous windows.
Inside the house, detectives photographed the basement and collected the computers.
An ambulance took James to the hospital.
Vanessa was escorted to a separate room for questioning.
Nathaniel was allowed upstairs after giving a preliminary statement.
He found Sophie curled against Evelyn on her bedroom sofa.
She looked up when he entered.
"Daddy?"
He crossed the room and knelt beside her.
"I'm here."
"Did Uncle Marcus hurt you?"
"No, sweetheart."
She touched his face.
"Are you sure?"
Nathaniel nodded, even though his heart still pounded.
"He's with the police now."
Sophie looked down at her hands.
"Then maybe Mommy can come home."
Nathaniel swallowed.
"That's what I'm trying to find out."
She slowly climbed off the sofa.
Then she walked to the far corner of her room, beside a dollhouse Caroline had bought for her fourth birthday.
Sophie knelt and carefully lifted one loose wooden floorboard.
Beneath it was a small fabric pouch.
She carried it to Nathaniel.
"Mommy told me to hide these."
Nathaniel opened the pouch.
Inside were two memory cards, a folded sheet of paper, and a photograph.
The photograph showed Caroline standing beside an unfamiliar woman outside a medical building.
Both women were smiling.
On the back, Caroline had written:
If anything happens to me, find Dr. Miriam Ellis. She knows why the records don't match.
Nathaniel unfolded the paper.
It contained a handwritten list of dates and numbers.
At the bottom was one sentence:
The woman in my grave was named Hannah Reed.
Nathaniel stared at the name.
A woman he had never heard of had apparently been buried beneath Caroline's headstone.
He turned the paper over.
There was another message.
Don't trust the company doctor. Don't trust Marcus. And whatever happens, protect Sophie from the people who call themselves family.
Nathaniel looked at his daughter.
"Where did you get this?"
Sophie hesitated.
Then she whispered, "Mommy gave it to me before she went away."
Nathaniel's heart lurched.
"Three years ago?"
Sophie shook her head.
"Last summer."
He stared at her.
"Last summer?"
Sophie nodded.
"Uncle Marcus took me to a place with white walls. Mommy was there, but she wasn't allowed to hug me for very long."
Nathaniel struggled to speak.
"You saw your mother?"
"Three times."
"Where?"
Sophie began trembling again.
"I don't know. We drove for a long time."
Nathaniel wrapped his arms around her.
"It's okay. You don't have to remember everything tonight."
But Sophie pulled back.
"There's something else."
"What is it?"
"Mommy said she was trying to get us out."
Nathaniel's throat tightened.
"Us?"
Sophie nodded.
"She said Uncle Marcus didn't just hurt her. He hurt another lady first."
Nathaniel looked at the name written on the paper.
Hannah Reed.
Sophie began crying.
"She said that lady had a little boy."
Nathaniel gently wiped her tears.
"Did she tell you anything about him?"
Sophie nodded once.
"She said Uncle Marcus took him, too."
At that exact moment, Nathaniel's phone buzzed.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph.
Caroline sat in a hospital bed, holding a handwritten newspaper dated that morning.
Her face was bruised.
But she was unmistakably alive.
Beneath the photograph was a warning.
YOU HAVE 48 HOURS TO STOP THE INVESTIGATION. OTHERWISE, YOUR DAUGHTER WILL LOSE HER MOTHER TWICE.
Nathaniel stared at the screen.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
AND THIS TIME, THERE WON'T BE A BODY TO BURY.
Related Stories
