Chapter 3 - THE WALL BEHIND THE PANTRY The police reached my condo before I did.
The intruder was gone.
But the apartment looked as if a storm had passed through it.
Drawers had been emptied.
Closets searched.
The mattress pulled from its frame.
Books scattered across the floor.
The pantry shelves ripped from the wall.
Detective Reyes stood beside me.
“They knew where to look.”
“For what?”
“Something small.”
“A flash drive?”
“Maybe.”
“A key?”
“Possibly.”
I crouched beside the pantry.
The dimensions were wrong.
I knew because I was a structural engineer.
The wall was nearly a foot deeper than the original architectural plans indicated.
I touched the wooden support.
Something was taped underneath it.
Reyes photographed it first.
Then she handed me the paper.
Two sentences.
IF ADRIAN FOUND THIS WALL, FOUNDATION SEVEN IS THE ONLY SAFE PLACE LEFT.
Below it were the initials:
L.M.
I turned the paper over.
Three more words had been written on the back.
DO NOT TRUST JULIAN.
Maya went pale.
“Julian is gone.”
Her phone began ringing.
She answered.
Her ten-year-old daughter, Sophie, was crying.
“Daddy took me to Grandma's office last week.”
“What did he say?”
Sophie hesitated.
“He said Aunt Claire would sign after dinner.”
The dinner.
The condo.
The pressure.
Everything had been planned.
A forensic technician drilled into the wall.
A small camera entered the cavity.
“There's metal.”
The hidden compartment contained a steel box.
Inside:
A brass key.
A photograph.
And an address.
The photograph showed an underground parking structure.
A red number seven had been circled.
We went there before sunrise.
Pier Seven supported the oldest section of the building.
Fresh concrete covered an old fracture.
The engineers exposed the damaged section.
Then the concrete shifted.
A hollow space opened.
Someone was inside.
A woman's hand appeared first.
Then a terrified voice.
“Please.”
Everyone froze.
“Please don't let the Caldwells know I'm alive.”
The woman stepped into the light.
Thin.
Pale.
Older than the photographs.
But unmistakable.
Maya covered her mouth.
I whispered her name.
“Lydia?”
She looked at me.
Then at the scar on my forehead.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Adrian did that?”
“Yes.”
May you like
Lydia closed her eyes.
“I knew he would come back.”
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