Chapter 6 - The Secret Hidden Inside the Bedroom
The plane had barely reached cruising altitude when Michael received permission to connect to the airline's Wi-Fi.
The first message waiting for him came from Detective Laura Bennett.
We found something beneath the bedroom floorboards.
Attached were several photographs.
The first showed the empty compartment where the mysterious red folder had once been hidden.
The second showed dusty wooden beams surrounding it.
The third made Michael's heart stop.
There was another compartment.
Smaller.
Hidden several feet away.
Inside lay a tiny silver bracelet.
Michael recognized it instantly.
It belonged to Ethan.
His son had lost it nearly four years earlier.
Everyone had searched the apartment.
Emily cried because she believed it had slipped down a storm drain during a family walk.
But the bracelet had never left the bedroom.
Someone had hidden it there.
Detective Bennett called immediately afterward.
"Mr. Turner, we need to ask something."
"Go ahead."
"Who besides your family had regular access to your apartment?"
"No one."
"Cleaning service?"
"No."
"Babysitter?"
"Only my mother occasionally watched Ethan."
"The bracelet wasn't dropped accidentally."
Michael remained silent.
"It was wrapped in newspaper dated four years ago."
Someone had deliberately preserved it.
Why?
As the detective continued explaining, another officer interrupted her.
Laura returned moments later.
"We've identified fingerprints inside the hidden passage."
Michael leaned forward.
"Daniel's?"
"No."
"They belong to the apartment's previous owner."
"I thought he sold the place."
"He never legally transferred the maintenance tunnels."
Michael frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means whoever designed those hidden spaces may have continued using them long after you moved in."
Michael felt sick.
Seven years.
Someone might have been living behind their walls for seven years.
He remembered countless strange sounds at night.
Emily once mentioned hearing footsteps.
He had blamed old plumbing.
Sometimes kitchen utensils mysteriously changed places.
A television remote disappeared for days before reappearing exactly where they had searched.
Small things.
Forgettable things.
Now none of them seemed accidental.
Then Detective Bennett said something even worse.
"We found food wrappers."
Michael closed his eyes.
"Recent?"
"Within forty-eight hours."
"So someone was still inside the passage."
"Yes."
"And not just passing through."
There was another pause.
"We also recovered children's drawings."
Michael's pulse quickened.
"What kind?"
"They appear to be copies."
"Copies?"
"Every drawing Ethan ever hung on the refrigerator had been carefully duplicated."
Michael could no longer think clearly.
Someone had been watching his son grow up.
May you like
Without anyone noticing.
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