Chapter 73 - The Portrait Gallery
Nearly an hour later, the ancient mechanism released another heavy click.
The iron doors opened just wide enough for one person to pass.
Daniel entered first.
The others followed.
Inside, the wooden corridor stretched farther than expected.
Oil lanterns illuminated dozens of portraits hanging in perfect order.
Each frame carried a brass plaque.
No dates.
Only names.
Daniel slowly walked past them.
Carters.
Generation after generation.
Some faces resembled his father.
Others his grandfather.
Many were strangers.
Then Lily stopped.
"This one..."
A portrait of a young woman smiled gently from the wall.
She looked remarkably like Lily.
Not identical.
But close enough to be mistaken for an older sister.
Daniel read the plaque beneath it.
Elizabeth Carter
"No birth date?"
Samuel asked.
"No death date either."
The stranger quietly approached.
"She disappeared."
"When?"
"Forty-three years ago."
Daniel frowned.
"No police report?"
"There was."
"No body was ever found."
Lily couldn't stop staring at the portrait.
Around Elizabeth's neck hung a small silver pendant.
The exact same design appeared on the broken bracelet Lily had worn since childhood.
Daniel slowly turned toward the stranger.
"How could she have the same pendant?"
The old man answered softly.
"Because it belonged to the Carter daughters."
"But Elizabeth never had children."
The stranger hesitated.
"At least..."
May you like
"...that's what everyone believed."
---
