Chapter 7 - A Father Who Would Not Listen.
Daniel Mercer looked older than he had at the funeral.
Gray touched his temples, and exhaustion deepened the lines around his eyes.
Noah waited in the study with Lily beside him and every document spread across the desk.
Daniel entered alone and closed the door.
"Vanessa says you broke into her office."
Noah stared at him.
"Mom is alive."
Daniel’s face changed, but only for an instant.
"Noah."
"Do not say I’m grieving."
Noah pushed Claire’s letter across the desk.
Daniel looked down but did not touch it.
"Where did you get this?"
"Vanessa hid it."
Daniel finally picked up the page.
His eyes moved across Claire’s handwriting.
The color slowly left his face.
Lily stepped forward.
"Mom knocks in the wall."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Lily, sweetheart, please."
Noah slammed the medical chart beside the letter.
"Your signature is on this."
Daniel stared at the page.
"Where did you find that?"
"In our house, next to sedatives with Mom’s initials."
Daniel lowered himself into the desk chair.
For the first time, Noah saw fear rather than grief.
"That file should not be here."
"So it’s real."
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
"There are things you do not understand."
Noah laughed bitterly.
"Then explain them."
The study door opened before Daniel could answer.
Vanessa entered with Dr. Hale.
"He needs rest," Vanessa said.
Noah turned on her.
"You kept Mom in the walls."
Daniel stood abruptly.
"What?"
Vanessa’s expression tightened.
"This has gone far enough."
Noah described the hidden passage, the cot, the camera, and Claire’s locket.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
"Is there a room behind the music room?"
She answered too quickly.
"Old servant storage."
"Was Claire there?"
Silence followed.
Dr. Hale moved between them.
"Daniel, these children are feeding each other a complicated delusion."
Noah pulled Lily’s prescription bottle from his pocket.
"Then why are you giving an eight-year-old medication for psychosis?"
Hale’s jaw tightened.
Daniel took the bottle.
His expression darkened as he read the label.
"I did not authorize this dose."
Vanessa stepped closer.
"Daniel, you asked me to manage the house because you could not."
"I asked you to help my children."
For the first time, her composure slipped.
"And I have."
A faint sound came from the wall behind the study bookcase.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
Daniel froze.
Lily whispered, "That’s her."
Noah watched his father’s face collapse with recognition.
Daniel moved toward the wall.
Vanessa reached for his arm.
"Do not."
Daniel looked at her hand as though it belonged to a stranger.
Then his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
The caller ID read Mercer Foundation Security.
Daniel answered.
A man shouted through the speaker.
"Mr. Mercer, someone just accessed the old tunnels."
Daniel turned toward Noah.
Noah watched Daniel's hands because Claire once told him that people could train their faces to lie long before they learned to control their hands.
His father's fingers were trembling against the desk.
May you like
The knocking stopped.
Then a woman screamed somewhere inside the house.
