Chapter 2 - The Voice Behind the Wall.
Ethan hit the hidden partition with both hands.
"Lauren!"
The woman behind it made a broken sound that was half laugh and half breath.
"You came."
Detective Reynolds moved between Ethan and the door.
"Let the officers open it."
"That's my wife."
"And if this door has been altered, I don't want you injured trying to force it."
Ethan stepped back because he understood the words, not because he wanted to obey them.
An officer examined the narrow latch.
It had been fastened from the outside with two screws and a small sliding bolt.
Someone had built a room inside Ethan's own basement and turned it into a place no one would think to search.
The officer released the bolt.
The partition opened.
Lauren Blake was sitting on the floor beneath a utility blanket.
For one second Ethan did not recognize her.
Her dark blond hair was tangled around her face.
She wore the same cream sweater and black pants Ethan remembered from the morning she supposedly left for a meeting three days earlier.
Her skin was pale.
Her lips were dry.
But her eyes were open.
And they were fixed on him.
"Lauren."
Ethan dropped beside her.
Reynolds started to warn him about the scene, then stopped.
Lauren reached for Ethan's hand.
Her fingers were cold.
"Where's Noah?"
"Upstairs."
"Is he okay?"
"He's okay."
Her eyes filled immediately.
"He heard me."
Ethan nodded.
"He stopped the funeral."
Lauren stared at him.
"Funeral?"
The word seemed to take several seconds to reach her.
Ethan's throat tightened.
"They told us you were gone."
Lauren shook her head.
"No."
"There was an accident report."
"No."
"Claire identified you."
Lauren's grip tightened around his hand.
"Claire did this."
Reynolds crouched beside them.
"Mrs. Blake, an ambulance is on the way."
Lauren looked at the detective.
Fear entered her expression.
"Where is Claire?"
"At the cemetery with officers."
"Don't let her leave."
"She isn't leaving."
Lauren closed her eyes.
"Victor will try to get her out."
Ethan looked at Reynolds.
The detective's face sharpened.
"Victor who?"
Lauren opened her eyes again.
"Victor Hale."
Ethan felt something cold settle inside his chest.
Victor Hale had been the Blake family's attorney for nearly twelve years.
He had handled Ethan and Lauren's wills.
He had created Noah's education trust.
He had helped restructure Ethan's company after Lauren inherited shares from her father.
He had sat in Ethan's kitchen two nights earlier and told him which documents needed signatures before the funeral.
"What does Victor have to do with this?" Ethan asked.
Lauren looked at him with sudden urgency.
"What did you sign?"
The question hit harder than Ethan expected.
"What?"
"Since they told you I was gone, what did Victor make you sign?"
Ethan tried to remember.
Three days had blurred together into coffee cups, condolences, phone calls, and papers placed in front of him by people he trusted.
"Some temporary company documents."
Lauren went completely still.
"Ethan."
"He said they protected your voting shares until the estate was settled."
"They don't protect anything."
Reynolds looked between them.
"What company?"
"Blake Meridian," Ethan said.
It was a regional logistics and development firm Ethan had built with Lauren's father before the older man retired.
Lauren owned twenty-eight percent of the voting shares through a family trust.
Ethan owned thirty-one percent.
Together, they controlled the company.
Separate, neither did.
Lauren tried to stand.
Her legs failed immediately.
Ethan caught her.
"Easy."
"We need my phone."
"You need a doctor."
"My phone has the records."
Reynolds leaned closer.
"What records?"
Lauren swallowed.
"Transfers."
"Money transfers?"
"Company money."
Ethan stared at her.
Lauren nodded weakly.
"I found them last week."
Sirens approached outside.
She kept talking as though she might lose the chance if she stopped.
"Small amounts at first."
"How small?"
"Forty thousand."
Ethan almost laughed at the word small, but nothing about the moment allowed it.
"Then larger."
"How large?"
"Two point six million over eighteen months."
Ethan's face emptied.
"From where?"
"Three project accounts."
"To who?"
Lauren looked toward the basement stairs.
"Companies Victor created."
Reynolds took out her notebook.
"And Claire?"
Lauren closed her eyes.
"Claire approved invoices through the foundation."
Ethan's confusion became anger.
Claire was not an employee of Blake Meridian.
She chaired the charitable foundation Lauren's parents had established.
The foundation sometimes partnered with Ethan's company on redevelopment projects.
"She had access because of the foundation," Lauren said.
"I confronted her."
"When?"
"Three days ago."
Ethan remembered Lauren leaving the house that morning.
She had kissed him quickly beside the kitchen island.
She had told Noah to finish his cereal.
She had said she was meeting Claire before going into the office.
Ethan had never seen her alive again.
Until now.
"What happened?"
Lauren's breathing changed.
"Claire came here."
"Here?"
"She said we should talk privately."
"Why the basement?"
"We weren't in the basement at first."
Lauren looked toward the hidden door.
"Victor arrived."
Ethan felt the room narrow around him.
"Victor was in our house?"
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
Lauren's eyes filled with fury rather than fear.
"He told me I had misunderstood the transfers."
"And when you didn't believe him?"
"He said the company could survive a scandal, but Noah shouldn't have to."
Ethan's body went rigid.
"He mentioned Noah?"
Lauren nodded.
"He knew his school schedule."
Ethan looked at Reynolds.
The detective was already writing.
"What happened after that?"
Lauren stared at the concrete floor.
"Claire kept telling me to calm down."
"Then?"
"I remember feeling dizzy."
She shook her head.
"After that, pieces."
"Did anyone hurt you?"
"No."
Her answer was immediate.
"But when I woke up, I was in here."
"With the door locked?"
"Yes."
"How long?"
"I didn't know."
She looked at Ethan.
"I thought it was one night."
Ethan could barely speak.
"It was three days."
Lauren's eyes closed.
A paramedic entered the basement with a medical bag.
Reynolds moved aside.
Lauren refused to let go of Ethan's hand while the paramedic checked her.
"We need to get her upstairs," he said.
Ethan nodded.
Lauren looked toward him.
"Noah first."
Ethan went to the stairs.
Noah was waiting on the top step despite the officer's instruction to remain in the kitchen.
When he saw Lauren being helped toward him, his entire face changed.
"Mom?"
Lauren covered her mouth.
"Bug."
Noah ran down three steps before Ethan caught him.
"Slow."
Lauren reached for him.
Noah wrapped both arms around her without speaking.
For several seconds, nobody in the stairwell moved.
Even Detective Reynolds looked away.
Lauren pressed her face into Noah's wet hair.
"You did exactly right."
Noah's voice was muffled against her shoulder.
"I thought they wouldn't believe me."
"I believe you."
"Dad did too."
Lauren looked at Ethan.
Something passed between them that was too large for the narrow stairwell.
The paramedic finally guided Lauren toward the front door.
Outside, neighbors had begun gathering behind police tape.
Lauren was placed on a stretcher more because she could not walk steadily than because of any visible injury.
Ethan climbed into the ambulance beside her.
Reynolds stopped him before the doors closed.
"We have officers bringing Claire in for questioning."
"What about Victor?"
"We're locating him now."
"He was at my house."
"I heard her."
"He was also at my kitchen table two nights ago."
"Then don't call him."
Ethan stared at her.
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
She glanced at Lauren.
"And do not warn anyone at your company yet."
The ambulance doors closed.
Noah rode with Mark in the car behind them.
Lauren rested against the raised stretcher while rain streaked across the rear windows.
Ethan held her hand.
For the first few minutes neither spoke.
Then Lauren opened her eyes.
"The coffin."
"Police stopped the burial."
"You need to know who is in it."
"We will."
Lauren looked toward the paramedic, then back at Ethan.
"I think I already know."
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
"Who?"
Lauren's answer came almost silently.
"Emily Mercer."
"Who is Emily Mercer?"
Lauren stared at him.
"Claire's assistant."
Ethan searched his memory.
He remembered a quiet woman in her thirties who handled schedules and foundation paperwork for Claire.
"Why would Emily be in your coffin?"
Lauren's eyes hardened.
"Because she found the transfers before I did."
Ethan leaned closer.
"Where is she supposed to be?"
"Claire told everyone she quit last month."
The ambulance turned onto the hospital road.
Lauren squeezed his hand.
"Ethan, there is one more thing."
"Tell me."
"Victor has a file on Noah."
The words landed with a different kind of fear.
"What kind of file?"
Lauren shook her head.
"I don't know."
The ambulance slowed at the emergency entrance.
Lauren looked him directly in the eyes.
May you like
"But whatever this was about, it was never only about the money."
The Basement Key •
