Chapter 1 - The Voice Beneath the Floor
“Sophie…!”
The voice was so weak she almost mistook it for the wind.
Nine-year-old Sophie Hayes froze on her knees in the abandoned greenhouse, both hands wrapped around the heavy iron fireplace poker she had used to smash the rusted latch on the old wooden cellar hatch.
Snow battered the glass roof above her.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Then—
BANG.
BANG.
Two desperate knocks sounded beneath the floor.
Sophie’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“Dad!”
She dropped the poker and reached for the bent latch.
The greenhouse door flew open behind her.
“GET AWAY FROM THERE!”
Celeste Avery crossed the stone floor in three strides.
Sophie barely had time to turn before her aunt seized the back of her red winter jacket and yanked her away from the hatch.
“That’s my dad!” Sophie screamed.
“No.”
“I heard him!”
“You heard pipes. Animals. Something under the house.”
“He said my name!”
Celeste’s grip tightened.
That was when Sophie saw her aunt’s face clearly.
It wasn’t anger.
It was fear.
Not fear of what might be under the greenhouse.
Fear that Sophie had found it.
Sophie kicked backward.
“Let go of me!”
“Sophie, listen to me.”
Celeste lowered her voice, but her eyes flicked toward the hatch.
“You need to forget what you heard.”
Sophie stopped fighting for half a second.
Then Celeste noticed the silver locket around her neck.
The color drained from her face.
“Where did you get that?”
“Dad gave it to me.”
Celeste grabbed it.
Sophie cried out as the chain bit into her neck.
“Give it back!”
Celeste tore the clasp loose.
The locket landed in her palm.
She stared at it as though it were dangerous.
“Aunt Celeste?”
Without answering, Celeste snatched the glowing emergency lantern from the workbench and smashed it against the stone floor.
Glass exploded.
The light died.
Darkness swallowed the greenhouse.
Sophie heard her aunt breathing.
Then the outer door opened and a gust of freezing air roared inside.
Celeste threw the silver locket into the blizzard.
“No!”
Sophie ran toward the doorway.
The locket vanished into white.
Headlights suddenly swept across the greenhouse glass.
A car raced up the drive.
“Mom!”
Sophie ran outside.
Laura Hayes had barely stepped from her SUV when her daughter collided with her.
Laura caught her.
“Sophie? What happened?”
“Dad’s here.”
Laura went completely still.
“What?”
“In the greenhouse.”
“Sophie—”
“He’s under the floor!”
Laura’s face tightened.
Daniel Hayes had been missing for nineteen days.
Nineteen days of police interviews, hospital calls, bank searches, posters, television appeals, and sleepless nights.
Nineteen days since Laura had last seen her husband walk out after one of the ugliest arguments of their fourteen-year marriage.
Celeste appeared in the greenhouse doorway.
“Laura, she’s upset.”
Sophie pointed wildly.
“She threw my locket away!”
Laura looked past her daughter.
The shattered lantern lay on the floor.
The fireplace poker rested beside the damaged cellar latch.
Celeste stood between them and the hatch.
Then—
BANG.
BANG.
Every muscle in Laura’s body locked.
Sophie whispered, “See?”
Laura walked into the greenhouse.
Celeste stepped in front of her.
“Don’t.”
Laura looked at her sister.
“What is under there?”
“Laura.”
“What is under there?”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“Move.”
Celeste didn’t.
Laura shoved past her and dropped beside the hatch.
“Laura, don’t open it!”
The words cut through the room.
Laura slowly turned.
Her sister’s face had collapsed with panic.
Not confusion.
Not disbelief.
Knowledge.
Laura gripped the bent latch.
“Why not?”
Celeste said nothing.
Laura pulled.
The swollen wood resisted.
She pulled again.
The hatch cracked upward.
Blackness opened beneath them.
Cold air rose from a narrow stone staircase.
“Daniel?” Laura called.
For two seconds nothing moved.
Then two pale hands shot from the darkness and gripped the wooden edge.
Sophie gasped.
A man dragged himself upward.
Dark hair hung across his forehead.
His cheeks were hollow.
His beard had grown wild.
Bruises darkened one side of his face.
Laura knew those hands.
She knew the scar above his eyebrow.
She knew the wedding band still hanging loosely around one thin finger.
“Daniel…”
His eyes found Sophie first.
His entire face broke.
“Baby.”
Sophie rushed forward.
Laura caught her before she could fall through the opening.
Daniel pulled himself onto the floor.
Sophie dropped beside him.
“Dad!”
He touched her cheek.
“You’re okay.”
“You were under there.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
Daniel’s gaze shifted to Celeste.
The tenderness disappeared.
Fear replaced it.
Laura saw the change.
“Daniel,” she said. “What happened?”
His lips trembled.
He pointed.
“She knew.”
Celeste stepped backward.
“That isn’t what you think.”
Laura rose.
For nineteen days she had begged her sister to help her understand why Daniel had disappeared.
Celeste had slept in Laura’s guest room.
Held Sophie while she cried.
Helped organize search parties.
Sat beside Laura at the police station.
And told Laura, repeatedly, that perhaps Daniel had simply run away.
“You knew he was here?” Laura whispered.
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“Laura—”
The greenhouse door slammed shut behind them.
Everyone turned.
The handle rattled once.
Locked.
Daniel recoiled so violently Sophie screamed.
“No.”
He tried to stand and collapsed.
Laura caught him.
“Who is it?”
Daniel stared through the frosted glass.
A dark figure moved outside.
“Mason.”
Laura recognized the name.
Mason Redd.
The private security contractor Celeste had hired three months earlier for Avery Heritage Properties.
Daniel grabbed Laura’s sleeve.
“You need to call the police.”
“I am.”
“And don’t let her leave.”
Celeste stared at him.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Laura pulled out her phone.
Celeste lunged.
Laura jerked backward.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to save Sophie!”
“From what?”
Celeste looked at the shattered lantern.
At the open cellar.
Then at the blizzard beyond the glass.
“From what Daniel found.”
Laura stopped dialing.
Daniel’s eyes closed.
“What did you find?” she asked.
He swallowed.
When he answered, his voice was barely audible.
“Your signature.”
“What about it?”
“Someone used it to steal your company.”
May you like
Outside, an engine started.
And somewhere in the darkness beneath the greenhouse, a second telephone began to ring.
