Chapter 4: October Seventeenth
The passage seemed to shrink around me.
“A body?””
Samuel looked past me toward the open door.
“Close it.””
“No.””
“Daniel, close the door.””
“Not until you tell me what happened.””
Vanessa’s voice came from upstairs.
“Don’t listen to him!””
Samuel flinched.
“Does she know Lily is here?””
“My daughter is safe.””
His expression sharpened.
“Where?””
“That’s none of your business.””
“Daniel, if Vanessa knows where your daughter is, Lily is not safe.””
I grabbed Samuel by the front of his shirt.
He was thinner than I had expected.
Fragile.
But he didn’t resist.
“Do not use my daughter to manipulate me.””
“I’m trying to protect her.””
“From my wife?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Vanessa didn’t meet you by accident.””
My grip loosened.
Samuel glanced toward the staircase.
“Close the door.””
I pulled it almost shut but left it unlocked.
“Talk.””
Samuel turned and walked deeper underground.
“Follow me.””
The passage opened into a surprisingly large chamber beneath the house.
A cot stood against one wall.
Shelves held canned food, water and medicine.
An old radio sat beside a desk.
But the walls caught my attention.
They were covered in photographs.
My mother.
Me.
Lily.
Dozens of them.
Some were recent.
Lily entering school.
Me leaving my office.
Vanessa driving our car.
I stepped closer.
“You’ve been watching us.””
Samuel shook his head.
“Your mother brought most of those.””
“Most?””
He pointed toward several newer photographs.
“I took those.””
Anger surged through me.
“You followed my daughter?””
“I followed Vanessa.””
“Why?””
“Because I recognised her.””
My phone vibrated.
Mrs. Carter.
I answered immediately.
“Is Lily okay?””
“Yes,” she said.
“She’s eating biscuits and teaching my cat how to attend a tea party.””
Relief loosened my chest.
“Keep the doors locked.””
A pause.
“Daniel, is something wrong?””
“I’ll explain later.””
After hanging up, I looked at Samuel.
“October seventeenth.””
He lowered himself onto the cot.
“In 1992, your mother was twenty-three. I was twenty-six.””
“Were you together?””
“Yes.””
“My father?””
Samuel looked directly at me.
“Yes.””
The word hit differently when spoken aloud.
I sat opposite him.
“Then why did Mum tell me you died?””
“Because someone wanted me dead.””
“Who?””
Samuel rubbed his palms together.
“My brother.””
I stared at him.
“Your brother?””
“Thomas.””
I knew that name.
Thomas Hale.
My mother’s longtime solicitor.
The man who had handled her estate.
Uncle Thomas, though we weren’t related—or so I had believed.
“He’s your brother?””
Samuel nodded.
“We owned a small property company together. Thomas discovered our grandfather had left controlling ownership to me.””
“So?””
“So he forged documents transferring everything.””
I shook my head.
“This sounds like a family argument, not a reason to hide underground for thirty years.””
“It became one on October seventeenth.””
Samuel stood and opened an old metal cabinet.
He removed a folder.
Inside was a newspaper clipping.
LOCAL BUSINESSMAN MISSING AFTER LATE-NIGHT FIRE.
A photograph showed a young man.
Samuel pointed at him.
“Peter Walsh. Our accountant.””
“What happened?””
“Peter discovered Thomas’s fraud. He came here that night because your mother was keeping copies of the company records.””
Samuel’s voice dropped.
“Thomas followed him.””
I waited.
“They fought in the kitchen.””
“What did you do?””
“I arrived too late.””
Samuel looked at the floor.
“Peter was dead.””
My mouth went dry.
“And Mum helped you bury him?””
“No.””
I stared at him.
“You just said—”
“I said your mother helped me bury a body. I didn’t say it was Peter.””
Cold moved through me.
“Whose body?””
Samuel walked to another cabinet.
He opened it.
Inside were stacks of documents and a small cassette recorder.
He took out an envelope.
On the front was written:
OCTOBER 17, 1992.
Samuel handed it to me.
Inside was another photograph.
A burned-out car.
Beside it lay a covered body.
“I needed Thomas to believe I was dead,” Samuel said.
“Your mother and I found a homeless man who had died earlier that night near the railway tracks. No identification. No family we could find.””
I stared at him.
“You used his body?””
Samuel’s face tightened with shame.
“We put my watch and wallet on him before the car burned.””
I felt sick.
“So everyone thought you died.””
“Yes.””
“Including me.””
“That was never the plan.””
“Thirty-four years is a long accident.””
Samuel’s eyes filled.
“Your mother was supposed to bring you to me when Thomas was arrested.””
“But he wasn’t.””
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because the evidence disappeared.””
I thought of Thomas visiting our house every Christmas.
Thomas giving me birthday money.
Thomas standing beside my mother’s coffin.
“Why didn’t Mum go to police again?””
“She did. Twice. Someone inside the department warned Thomas.””
Samuel tapped the folder.
“After that, we stopped trusting anyone.””
Footsteps sounded in the passage.
Both of us turned.
Vanessa appeared.
Samuel immediately stood.
“I told you not to come down here.””
Vanessa’s expression was strangely calm now.
“You’ve told him enough.””
I moved between them.
“No. He hasn’t.””
Vanessa looked at me.
“Daniel, he’s lying about Thomas.””
“How would you know?””
She didn’t answer.
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“Tell him.””
Vanessa’s jaw tightened.
“Tell me what?””
Samuel pointed at her.
“Ask your wife her maiden name.””
I frowned.
“Reed.””
Samuel shook his head.
“That’s the name she started using when she was nineteen.””
I turned toward Vanessa.
“What was it before?””
“Daniel, don’t.””
“What was your name?””
She looked trapped.
Samuel answered for her.
“Hale.””
My stomach dropped.
I looked from Samuel to Vanessa.
“Hale?””
Samuel’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Vanessa is Thomas Hale’s daughter.””
I stepped away from her.
“No.””
“Daniel—”
“You told me your father abandoned you when you were a baby.””
“He did.””
Samuel moved toward the desk.
“Not exactly.””
Vanessa snapped, “Shut up.””
Samuel pulled out another photograph.
It showed Vanessa, younger, standing beside Thomas.
She was perhaps eighteen.
They were smiling.
My hands started shaking.
“You knew him.””
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Yes.””
“You knew Thomas before you met me.””
“Yes.””
“Did he send you?””
“No.””
“Did he send you?””
Vanessa looked at the floor.
Samuel answered quietly.
“At first, he did.””
I felt as if the concrete had disappeared beneath my feet.
My marriage.
Our first date.
Our wedding.
Every morning beside her.
“Why?””
Vanessa stepped toward me.
“Daniel, please understand. I was twenty-two. My father told me your mother had destroyed our family.””
“And you believed him?””
“Yes.””
“What did he want?””
She closed her eyes.
“To find Samuel.””
Silence.
Then my phone rang.
Mrs. Carter.
I answered instantly.
“Hello?””
Her voice was trembling.
“Daniel, someone just knocked on my door.””
“Don’t open it.””
“I didn’t.””
“Take Lily upstairs and call the police.””
“I already did, but Daniel…”
“What?””
“There’s a man standing outside.””
My heart hammered.
“Do you recognise him?””
“No.””
Then I heard Lily in the background.
Not frightened.
Surprised.
“Grandma?””
I froze.
Mrs. Carter whispered, “Daniel… there’s a woman with him now.””
My throat closed.
“What woman?””
May you like
Mrs. Carter’s next words made Samuel turn white.
“Lily says it’s your mother.””
