Chapter 4: The Detective Who Buried the Truth
Daniel recognized the man before the flashlight stopped blinding him.
Detective Robert Harlan.
The same man who had stood beside Daniel at Emily's funeral, placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, and promised that whoever had caused the accident would be brought to justice.
Now Harlan stood beneath Daniel's house with a pistol in one hand and a set of keys in the other.
“Step away from the door, Daniel,” Harlan ordered.
Daniel didn't move.
“Why are you here?””
Harlan glanced at the steel door behind him.
“Because you were never supposed to find this place.””
The words landed harder than a punch.
Daniel looked toward the ventilation shaft. Mia had disappeared into its darkness, hopefully making her way toward the backyard. He prayed she would keep crawling until she reached open air.
Then he looked back at the detective.
“You investigated my wife's death.””
“I did.””
“You told me she died in a car accident.””
“She did.””
Daniel's hands curled into fists.
“Then why is she alive behind that door?””
Harlan sighed as if Daniel were a difficult child refusing to understand a simple lesson.
“Your wife was involved in something dangerous. She had documents that could destroy several important people. We offered her a way out. She refused.””
“So you helped Vanessa imprison her?””
Harlan's expression hardened.
“I helped contain a situation that had already gotten out of control.””
Behind the steel door, Emily struck the metal three times.
“Daniel, don't listen to him!””
Harlan raised his pistol toward the sound.
“Emily, if you want to keep breathing, I suggest you remain quiet.””
Daniel lunged forward.
Harlan struck him across the face with the gun.
Daniel crashed into a shelving unit. Glass jars shattered around him, and pain exploded across his cheekbone.
“Daddy!””
Mia's voice came faintly from somewhere above.
Daniel forced himself upright.
Harlan grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.
“You should have accepted your wife's death,” he whispered.
“You had a good life. A beautiful house. A child who adored you. Vanessa was willing to give you everything you wanted.””
“She locked my daughter in a house with a prisoner!””
“She kept your daughter safe.””
Daniel stared at him in disbelief.
Harlan reached into his jacket and removed a folded document.
“Your daughter inherited a substantial trust from your father. Emily had administrative authority over certain assets before she died. When she disappeared, those responsibilities passed to you. Vanessa needed your cooperation, but you refused to sign the transfer papers.””
“What transfer papers?””
“The ones that would have allowed the money to be managed by people who actually understood how to protect it.””
“You mean stolen.””
Harlan struck Daniel in the stomach.
Daniel doubled over, gasping.
“Call it whatever you like,” Harlan said.
“The paperwork would have made it legal.””
Daniel's vision blurred.
Harlan crouched beside him.
“Vanessa made one mistake. She thought keeping Emily alive would eventually make her useful. Instead, your first wife spent three years refusing to cooperate.””
Daniel lifted his head.
“Why didn't you kill her?””
For the first time, Harlan looked uncomfortable.
“Because Emily had insurance.””
“What kind of insurance?””
Harlan didn't answer.
A sudden metallic clang echoed through the corridor.
Both men turned toward the steel door.
The padlock had fallen to the floor.
Daniel had never seen the chain move, but someone on the other side had apparently found a way to release it.
Harlan rushed toward the door.
“Emily, don't you dare!””
The handle turned.
Harlan fired.
The gunshot deafened Daniel.
A bullet struck the steel door, sending a sharp metallic shriek through the corridor.
“Emily!””
Daniel scrambled forward, but Harlan kicked him down again.
“Stay there!””
Another shot rang out.
Then silence.
Harlan stood breathing heavily, his pistol aimed at the door.
Daniel stared at the dark stain spreading across the detective's sleeve.
Blood.
Harlan had been hit.
The detective pressed his palm against his upper arm and swore.
From behind the door came Emily's voice.
“You missed.””
Harlan's face twisted with rage.
He grabbed the chain, wrapped it around the handle, and secured it with another padlock from his pocket.
“You should have stayed dead,” he snarled.
Then he turned to Daniel.
“Your daughter is going to be a problem.””
Daniel's heart stopped.
“What did you do to Mia?””
“Nothing yet.””
Harlan reached for his radio.
“Vanessa, I need you downstairs. We have a complication.””
A burst of static answered him.
Then Vanessa's voice came through.
“I know. The little girl is outside.””
Daniel felt a wave of relief so intense that his knees nearly gave way.
Mia had escaped.
But Vanessa continued.
“She went to the neighbor's house. I saw her through the window.””
Harlan looked at Daniel and smiled without warmth.
“Then we'd better make sure the neighbors mind their own business.””
He headed toward the staircase.
Daniel threw himself at the detective's legs.
They crashed to the floor.
Harlan's pistol skidded beneath a shelf.
Daniel punched him once, twice, desperate blows driven by three years of grief and the sight of his daughter crying beneath the floorboards.
Harlan drove an elbow into Daniel's ribs and rolled free.
“You stupid bastard!””
He reached for the gun.
Daniel grabbed his wrist.
They struggled until the weapon discharged into the ceiling.
Dust rained down.
Then Harlan's radio crackled.
“Robert, we have a problem.””
Vanessa's voice sounded different now.
Thin. Frightened.
“What kind of problem?”” Harlan demanded.
“The neighbors called the police.””
Daniel seized the opportunity and shoved Harlan against the wall.
“Good,” he gasped.
“Let them come.””
Harlan looked at him with murderous hatred.
“You think the police will save you?””
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Harlan scrambled to his feet and retrieved his gun.
“No,” he muttered.
“I think they'll bury you with the rest of them.””
He rushed up the staircase.
Daniel stumbled after him, but the detective slammed the hidden door shut behind him.
The bolt slid into place.
Daniel pounded on the wood.
“Open it!””
No answer.
He turned toward the steel door.
“Emily? Are you all right?””
For several seconds, there was nothing.
Then a weak voice answered.
“Daniel, listen carefully. Harlan isn't the only person involved.””
Daniel pressed his forehead against the cold metal.
“I know about Vanessa.””
“There's someone else.””
“Who?””
Emily began to cry.
“The man who signed the order to have me declared dead.””
Daniel waited.
Then Emily whispered a name.
His father's name.
*Thomas Mercer.*
Daniel stepped backward.
His father had died eleven months before Emily's supposed accident.
The man who had taught Daniel to ride a bicycle, paid for his education, and built the family fortune had supposedly been dead for almost four years.
“How could my father have signed anything?”” Daniel whispered.
Emily's voice shook.
“Because your father wasn't dead when they told you he was.””
A heavy impact sounded above them.
May you like
Then the entire house went dark.
And from somewhere inside the walls came the slow, deliberate sound of someone turning a key.
