Chapter 7: The Voice in the Dark
The police station went black.
For one terrible second, there was no sound except the children breathing in the room behind me.
Then someone screamed.
A chair scraped across the floor.
A door slammed.
Marcus shouted, “Nobody move!””
Emergency lights flickered on along the hallway.
Red.
Dim.
Unsteady.
I was still holding my phone against my ear.
Thomas was gone.
Again.
I stared at the dead screen.
“He was alive.””
My voice sounded strange.
Victor grabbed my shoulder.
“I heard him.””
Marcus was already moving.
“Lock the building down.””
An officer ran toward the front entrance.
Another shouted from the hallway.
“The rear door is open!””
Marcus turned sharply.
“Get units outside.””
Margaret stood beside the desk, trembling.
“She found us.””
I looked at her.
“Who?””
She didn't answer.
Victor did.
“Diane.””
“No,” Marcus said.
“We don't know that.””
Victor pointed toward the security monitors.
“They're down.””
Marcus looked at the screens.
Every camera showed static.
Then one screen flickered.
A woman appeared.
Gray cardigan.
Pickleball bag.
My mother.
Diane stood in the station parking lot beneath a streetlamp.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she raised one hand.
In it was a small black object.
A remote.
The screen went dark.
My stomach twisted.
“She wants me to see that.””
Marcus grabbed his radio.
“Do not engage Diane. Nobody leaves this building.””
I looked at him.
“Thomas told me not to let her take the children.””
Marcus nodded.
“We heard him.””
“Then we need to find him.””
“We will.””
“No.””
I pushed myself upright.
“We need to find him before she does.””
Victor stepped closer.
“He's probably at the warehouse.””
I looked at him.
“The message told me to go there alone.””
Marcus immediately shook his head.
“Absolutely not.””
Victor's eyes hardened.
“It wasn't a message from Thomas.””
“How do you know?””
“Because Thomas would never tell Elena to go anywhere alone.””
He looked at the photograph.
“Especially not now.””
Marcus picked up the laptop.
“Then whoever sent it wants her separated from us.””
Margaret suddenly gasped.
“There's another possibility.””
We turned.
She was staring at the letters.
“Thomas used a code.””
“What kind of code?”” I asked.
“When we were younger, he and Victor had a way of hiding messages.””
Victor looked at her.
“You remember?””
“I remember everything.””
She spread three letters across the desk.
“Look at the dates.””
I leaned forward.
March 4.
March 17.
April 2.
“What am I looking for?””
“The first words of each paragraph.””
I read them.
When.
Elena.
Runs.
Victor suddenly grabbed the third letter.
“No.””
“What?””
He turned it over.
A series of numbers was written on the back.
Marcus examined them.
“Coordinates?””
Victor shook his head.
“Not coordinates.””
“Then what?””
“A locker.””
He looked at me.
“Thomas used a storage facility when we were teenagers.””
“Where?””
Victor named a street.
I recognized it.
“That's near the warehouse.””
Marcus swore under his breath.
“Of course it is.””
“What?””
“The warehouse isn't the destination.””
He opened the laptop.
“It's a distraction.””
A notification appeared on the screen.
Someone had accessed the computer remotely.
A video began playing.
Thomas appeared.
Alive.
Sitting at the same desk beneath the house.
His face looked exhausted.
He stared into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Elena, then Diane knows about the room.””
My heart clenched.
Thomas continued.
“I need you to understand something. I didn't disappear because I stopped loving you.””
His voice broke.
“I disappeared because I thought it was the only way to keep you alive.””
I covered my mouth.
Victor looked away.
Thomas leaned toward the camera.
“Diane has been watching you since before our wedding. She knew about your father's inheritance. She knew about the trust. And she knew I discovered the truth.””
He paused.
“There is a document in the vault that proves everything.””
The video glitched.
Then Thomas whispered:
“But there's something else.””
His eyes moved toward the door behind him.
“She wasn't working alone.””
The screen went black.
I looked at Marcus.
“Who?””
Before he could answer, another video loaded.
This time, Thomas wasn't alone.
Diane sat across from him.
She looked younger.
Angrier.
Thomas placed a folder on the table.
“You killed him.””
Diane smiled.
“You're going to have to be more specific.””
“My father.””
Her smile disappeared.
“You don't know what you're talking about.””
“I have the records.””
Diane leaned forward.
“You think records matter?””
Thomas stared at her.
“They matter when they're authenticated.””
She laughed.
“Then authenticate this.””
She pulled out a photograph.
Thomas looked at it.
His face changed.
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
“What was in the photograph?””
Victor shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Margaret whispered, “I do.””
Everyone looked at her.
She closed her eyes.
“It was Elena.””
My stomach dropped.
“Me?””
“Your mother had been following you for years.””
Marcus frowned.
“How?””
Margaret looked at the children.
“She had someone inside the hospital.””
My blood went cold.
“The hospital after my accident?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“To make sure you didn't remember.””
I couldn't breathe.
I remembered waking beneath white hospital lights.
Doctors.
Machines.
Thomas's voice.
And Diane sitting beside my bed, holding my hand.
She had told me the crash had killed my husband instantly.
She had told me I had been lucky to survive.
She had told me not to ask too many questions because my brain needed rest.
I believed her.
For three weeks, I believed her.
Then Marcus's radio crackled.
“Detective Reed, we found a vehicle.””
“Where?””
“Two blocks from here.””
“What kind?””
“Black SUV.””
Marcus looked at me.
“License plate?””
The officer read it.
I recognized the number.
Diane's car.
Marcus grabbed his coat.
“She wants us outside.””
Victor shook his head.
“No.””
“What?””
“She wants Elena outside.””
I looked at the parking lot through the window.
Diane's SUV was gone.
Only wet pavement remained.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
This time, it wasn't from an unknown number.
It was from Diane.
You have ten minutes.
Another message appeared.
Then Leo disappears.
My blood turned to ice.
May you like
A final message followed.
And this time, Thomas won't be there to save him.
