Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE WALLS
We found Daniel two days later.
He was living under another name in a small town in Vermont.
When he saw me, he did not look surprised.
He looked tired.
"I knew you would eventually find me."
I stood across from him.
"You let me believe Sarah was dead."
His eyes lowered.
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted you alive."
I almost hit him.
Owen stepped between us.
"Talk."
Daniel nodded.
He told us everything.
Years earlier, my father had created a private intelligence operation.
It began as corporate security.
Then it became something else.
The operation collected information on competitors.
Employees.
Government officials.
Private citizens.
My father believed information was power.
He built hidden surveillance systems in properties connected to his companies.
The house I lived in had been one of them.
After my father's death, Daniel inherited control of the operation.
Elias worked for him.
But Elias became obsessed with control.
He started using the network for personal profit.
He blackmailed executives.
Manipulated deals.
Threatened witnesses.
When Sarah discovered the system, she confronted Daniel.
Daniel tried to protect her.
But he failed.
"Elias wanted her dead," Daniel said.
"Then why is she alive?"
"Because I helped her disappear."
I stared at him.
"You faked her death?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Elias was watching you."
Daniel explained that Sarah had been moved from place to place.
Every time Elias found a trace, she disappeared again.
She had watched Mark from a distance.
She had even watched me.
The cameras in my house were not all Elias's.
Some belonged to Sarah.
She had been trying to determine whether Elias still had access.
I looked at Daniel.
"You knew about the photographs."
"Yes."
"Then why did you let me find them?"
"I didn't."
"Who did?"
Daniel's face changed.
"Elias."
A cold silence filled the room.
"Why?"
"Because he wants you to follow the evidence."
"To what?"
Daniel looked at Mark.
"Your father's archive."
I froze.
"What archive?"
Daniel explained that my father had hidden a master archive containing evidence against dozens of powerful people.
It had never been recovered.
Elias believed I knew where it was.
I didn't.
But my father had left clues.
One clue was hidden inside the house.
The photographs.
The film.
The Mustang.
Everything had been designed to force me to look.
When we returned home, Owen searched the garage.
He found a false panel beneath the Mustang.
Inside was a metal box.
The box contained a key.
And a photograph of my father.
On the back:
THE HOUSE REMEMBERS.
We followed the clue to the library.
Behind an old bookshelf was a lock.
The key fit.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a cassette tape.
I found an old player.
My father's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, then someone has found the house."
I sat down.
He continued.
"I built the system because I believed control could protect my family."
He paused.
"I was wrong."
The tape contained names.
Payments.
Locations.
And finally, a confession.
My father had discovered that Elias was stealing from the operation.
He intended to expose him.
But before he could, he died.
The archive was hidden somewhere beneath the house.
Elias had never found it.
I looked at the floor.
"Where?"
The tape ended with one sentence.
Look beneath the room where Sarah slept.
My heart stopped.
Her old bedroom.
We searched beneath the floorboards.
Nothing.
Then Mark noticed a loose piece of wood.
Under it was a metal door.
The door opened into a narrow chamber.
Inside was a steel cabinet.
The archive.
We had found it.
But before we could open it, every light in the house went out.
The doors locked.
A voice came through the speakers.
May you like
Elias.
"You finally found it."
