Chapter 4 - The Man Who Knew the House
Daniel called the police detective assigned to Claire's disappearance.
Detective Lena Morris arrived with two officers and immediately sealed the study.
"You should've found that passage seven months ago," Daniel said.
Morris did not argue.
"We searched the rooms, not the original architectural voids. That's on us."
She examined the future-dated death certificate.
"This is either an extraordinary fake or part of a planned fraud."
"My wife just called me."
"We need the phone records."
Maya described being attacked in the passage.
"By Vanessa?" Morris asked.
"No. A man. Masked. Tall. He knew the hidden entrance from the basement."
Daniel thought of everyone with regular access to the house.
Security.
Maintenance.
Family.
Then the front gate intercom buzzed.
A black sedan waited outside.
The guard's voice came over the speaker.
"Mr. Carter, your attorney is here."
Daniel frowned.
"I didn't call him."
Arthur Bell entered the foyer carrying a leather case.
He had represented the Carter family for twenty years.
"Daniel, Vanessa called me. She says you're having some kind of episode."
Daniel laughed once.
"Of course she did."
Arthur saw Morris and stopped.
"What's happening?"
Daniel held up the death certificate.
Arthur's face changed.
Too fast.
Morris noticed too.
"You've seen this?"
"No."
"You reacted like you had."
Arthur removed his glasses.
"Because I know Dr. Voss."
"From where?"
"Your father's estate planning."
Daniel felt the ground shift again.
His father had died five years earlier after a stroke.
"Why would a psychiatrist be involved in my father's estate?"
Arthur hesitated.
Morris said, "Now would be a good time not to lie."
Arthur opened his case.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
"Your father asked me to give you this only if anyone tried to alter the children's guardianship."
Daniel ripped it open.
One handwritten page.
Son,
If Voss ever appears in your family records, assume someone is trying to manufacture incapacity.
Daniel looked up.
Arthur swallowed.
"Your father believed someone tried to have him declared mentally unfit before his stroke."
"Who?"
Arthur's answer was interrupted by a gunshot outside.
The foyer window shattered.
May you like
Maya screamed.
And Arthur dropped to the floor with blood spreading across his shoulder.
