Chapter 2 - The Camera That Wasn’t on the Blueprint
Ethan locked the front doors.
It was instinct.
Then immediately wondered whether he had just made a mistake.
If someone inside the mansion had photographed them minutes earlier, locking the doors might not keep danger out.
It might keep them in.
He pulled out his phone.
No signal.
That made no sense.
The mansion sat less than fifteen minutes from downtown.
His phone had worked when he entered.
He crossed toward the windows.
Still nothing.
Eleanor watched him.
“You won’t get one.”
Ethan turned.
“How do you know?”
“The walls around this section were reinforced during the renovation.”
“What renovation?”
She looked toward the steel door.
“The one you never knew about.”
Lily remained close to Ethan.
She had stopped crying, but the silence was worse. Her small fingers twisted the fabric of his jacket whenever the house creaked.
Ethan crouched.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
She shook her head.
“Tell me the truth.”
“My arms hurt a little.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
He checked her carefully.
No obvious injury.
No blood.
No difficulty standing.
Relief came in a wave so strong it almost made him dizzy.
Then Lily said:
“She told me you were coming.”
Ethan looked up.
“Who?”
Lily glanced at Eleanor.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“What did she say?”
Lily hesitated.
“That I had to be brave when you got here.”
Ethan slowly stood.
“You knew I was coming?”
Eleanor answered quietly.
“Yes.”
“My flight changed three hours ago.”
“I know.”
“How?”
No answer.
Ethan stepped toward her.
“How?”
Eleanor pointed upward.
Near the second-floor molding, almost invisible against the white decorative plaster, sat a tiny black lens.
A camera.
Ethan followed its angle.
It watched the foyer.
The balcony.
The front entrance.
Everything.
“I thought those were part of your security system.”
“They aren’t mine.”
Ethan stared at her.
There were six cameras he could see now that he knew where to look.
Perhaps more.
“Whose?”
“I don’t know.”
He laughed once.
A hard, humorless sound.
“This is your house.”
“No.”
That answer changed the room.
Ethan looked around.
“You bought it.”
“I live here.”
“You bought it after the divorce.”
“I signed the papers.”
“That means you bought it.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“You never read the trust documents.”
Ethan’s anger sharpened.
“What trust documents?”
“The house belongs to the Halcyon Residential Trust.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
Their daughter was listening to every word.
He lowered his voice.
“Why was Lily here?”
Eleanor’s eyes moved toward the hidden door.
“Because someone wanted her here when you arrived.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t know their name.”
“Then what do you know?”
Eleanor walked slowly toward the staircase.
She reached beneath the lowest step and pressed a carved wooden panel.
It opened.
Inside was a small compartment.
Empty.
Eleanor stared.
“No.”
“What?”
She reached inside frantically.
“It was here.”
“What was?”
“A phone.”
“Another phone?”
“One they couldn’t monitor.”
Ethan watched her panic become real.
Someone had removed it.
Lily suddenly spoke.
“The man took it.”
Both adults turned.
“What man?”
“The man with the brown shoes.”
Eleanor went still.
“When did you see him?”
“When you told me to stay in your bedroom.”
“What did he look like?”
“I only saw his feet.”
Lily pointed toward a narrow gap beneath a hallway door.
“He was standing there. Then he came down the stairs.”
Ethan looked toward Eleanor.
“You had another person in this house?”
“I thought Lily and I were alone.”
A faint mechanical click sounded overhead.
One of the cameras rotated.
Not automatically.
Deliberately.
It turned toward Lily.
Ethan moved instantly, stepping between his daughter and the lens.
The camera rotated again.
Trying to see around him.
Ethan grabbed a marble decorative sculpture from the console and hurled it upward.
The camera shattered.
Lily jumped.
Eleanor whispered:
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why?”
A speaker hidden somewhere in the ceiling crackled alive.
Static filled the atrium.
Then a distorted male voice said:
“Camera six unavailable.”
Ethan stared upward.
The voice continued.
“Proceed with contingency.”
Eleanor’s knees nearly gave way.
“What contingency?”
Ethan demanded.
She looked at him.
May you like
And finally said:
“The one where you become Lily’s only surviving parent.”
