Chapter 2: The Second Key
I called 911 before Elena could say another word.
Vanessa tried to leave.
I blocked the staircase.
“Move, Mark.””
“No.””
“You can’t keep me here.””
“You kept my wife locked inside my house.””
“I was protecting this family!””
“From what?””
Vanessa stared at Elena.
“From her.””
Lily clung tighter to her mother.
Elena’s expression hardened.
“You told him I was dangerous?””
“I told him nothing.””
“That’s the problem, Vanessa. You let everyone think I abandoned my daughter.””
Vanessa’s jaw tightened.
“I did what had to be done.””
I pulled out my phone.
“The police can decide that.””
Her confidence finally cracked.
“Mark, don’t call them.””
“Already did.””
Vanessa rushed toward me, but Elena’s voice stopped her.
“Tell him about the basement.””
Vanessa froze.
I looked between them.
“What basement?””
“The wine cellar,” Elena said.
“We don’t have a wine cellar.””
“Yes, you do.””
My house had belonged to my grandfather before it belonged to my father, and then to me. I knew every bedroom, closet, storage room, and crawl space.
Or I thought I did.
Elena struggled to stand.
I hurried toward her.
When I reached out, she flinched.
That tiny movement hurt more than anything Vanessa could have said.
I lowered my hands.
“It’s me.””
“I know.””
“Then why—”
“I’ve spent eleven months learning not to trust footsteps outside that door.””
Lily looked up at her.
“Mommy, were you here the whole time?””
Elena brushed Lily’s hair away from her face.
“Not the whole time.””
Vanessa suddenly kicked off her heels and sprinted downstairs.
“Vanessa!””
I ran after her.
She reached the foyer and grabbed her purse from the console table.
I caught the front door before she could open it.
She spun around.
“Get out of my way!””
“Where are you going?””
“You have no idea what you’re involved in.””
“This is my house.””
Vanessa laughed.
It was an ugly, desperate sound.
“That’s what you think.””
Before I could answer, sirens approached outside.
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
Red and blue lights flashed across the walls.
Her shoulders dropped.
Two officers entered moments later, followed by paramedics.
Everything became noise.
Questions.
Footsteps.
A medical bag opening upstairs.
Lily crying when a paramedic asked her to step away from Elena.
Vanessa insisting she needed an attorney.
I stood in the middle of my foyer feeling as though I had awakened inside somebody else’s life.
A detective named Harris arrived twenty minutes later.
He had worked Elena’s missing-person case from the beginning.
The moment he saw her, his expression went blank.
“Elena?””
She nodded.
Harris looked at me.
“Where was she?””
“Upstairs.””
His eyebrows drew together.
“In this house?””
“Yes.””
He stared at me for several seconds.
“You understand how impossible that sounds.””
“I just broke the door open.””
Harris turned toward Vanessa, who was seated beside an officer.
“Who locked it?””
Elena answered.
“She did.””
Vanessa stood.
“That is not true!””
Harris raised a hand.
“Sit down.””
“You’re making a mistake.””
“Sit.””
Vanessa obeyed.
Elena was examined in the guest room before paramedics prepared to take her to the hospital.
I stayed beside Lily in the hallway.
“Daddy?””
“Yes?””
“Are you still going to marry Vanessa?””
I looked at the engagement photograph hanging downstairs.
“No.””
“Promise?””
“I promise.””
Lily wrapped her arms around my waist.
Then Elena called my name.
“Mark.””
I entered the room.
Harris stood beside her.
Elena held something in her palm.
A small brass key.
“I kept this hidden inside the lining of my sweater.””
“What does it open?””
“The second lock.””
“What second lock?””
She looked toward Harris.
“Tell him what you found when you searched the house last year.””
Harris became uncomfortable.
“We found nothing suggesting Elena was here.””
“That’s not what I asked.””
His eyes shifted toward me.
“There was one sealed area in the basement.””
My pulse quickened.
“You told me it was an old utility wall.””
“That’s what the property plans showed.””
Elena shook her head.
“The plans were changed.””
“By whom?”” I asked.
She looked toward Vanessa.
Vanessa was watching us from the hallway.
“The same person who gave Vanessa access to this house before I disappeared.””
I felt cold.
“Who?””
Elena held up the key.
“Your father.””
I stared at her.
“My father has been dead for six years.””
“I know.””
“Then how could he give Vanessa anything?””
Elena’s eyes filled with something I couldn’t identify.
Fear.
Maybe anger.
“Because the man buried six years ago wasn’t the person Vanessa was taking orders from.””
Harris stepped forward.
“Elena, what are you saying?””
She closed her fingers around the key.
“I’m saying Vanessa wasn’t trying to steal Mark from me.””
Vanessa suddenly shouted from the hallway.
“Stop talking!””
Every officer turned.
Elena didn’t.
She kept looking directly at me.
“She was trying to get control of this house.””
“Why?””
Elena took a trembling breath.
“Because of what your father hid underneath it.””
Then a police officer appeared at the bedroom door.
“Detective Harris?””
“What?””
The officer held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was another brass key.
“We found this in Vanessa’s purse.””
Elena stared at it.
Her face went white.
“That’s impossible.””
“Why?”” I asked.
She slowly opened her hand and showed us the key she had protected for eleven months.
They were identical.
“There were only supposed to be two,” Elena whispered.
Harris frowned.
“You have one. Vanessa has one. That makes two.””
Elena shook her head.
“No.””
May you like
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“Because Lily has the first one.””
