Chapter 2 - The Man at the Front Door
Derek stepped away from the opening door.
His hands remained visible.
Police sirens were close now.
The door opened six inches.
Travis appeared.
"What do you want?"
Derek studied him.
"I came for Lena."
"This is my house."
"I'm aware of that."
"You need to leave."
Derek heard Lena behind him.
"Derek!"
Travis glanced backward.
That was enough.
Derek saw her.
She stood near the sofa clutching one arm against her body.
Bruises marked her cheek and leg.
Daniel's voice came through Derek's phone.
"What's happening?"
Derek's jaw tightened.
"I see her."
"How bad?"
"I don't know."
Travis tried closing the door.
Derek didn't force it open.
Instead, he stepped back.
"Police are here."
Travis looked toward the street.
Two patrol cars were pulling up.
An ambulance followed.
His face lost color.
Derek raised his voice.
"Lena, officers are outside."
"I know."
"Stay where they can see you."
The first officer approached quickly but cautiously.
"Sir, step away from the door."
Derek obeyed immediately.
Travis didn't.
"This is a misunderstanding."
The officer looked through the doorway.
"Sir, I need you to step outside."
"My wife fell."
Derek's eyes narrowed.
Inside, Lena stared at Travis.
The lie was so immediate that it stunned her.
The second officer moved toward another angle.
"Lena Cole?"
"Yes."
"Are you injured?"
"Yes."
Travis turned toward her.
"Lena."
One word.
A warning disguised as her name.
The officer heard it.
"Sir, outside. Now."
Within minutes, the entire balance of the house changed.
Travis was separated from Lena.
Paramedics entered.
Derek was allowed to stay nearby after officers confirmed his identity.
Daniel arrived eleven minutes later.
He barely parked properly.
He ran across the lawn.
Lena was sitting on the back of the ambulance.
When she saw him, her face crumpled.
"Dad."
Daniel reached her.
He stopped himself from grabbing her injured arm and instead wrapped his arms carefully around her shoulders.
"I've got you."
She began sobbing.
Not the frightened, restrained crying from the phone.
This was different.
Her body seemed to release everything at once.
Daniel held her.
"I'm sorry."
Lena pulled back.
"For what?"
"I should've known."
"Dad—"
"I should have seen it."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You couldn't."
Across the driveway, an officer was speaking to Travis.
Daniel looked over.
His entire body stiffened.
Derek stepped beside him.
"Don't."
Daniel stared at Travis.
"I wasn't going to."
"Good."
"I want to."
"I know."
That was why Derek remained there.
The paramedic told Daniel Lena needed imaging on her arm.
Possible fracture.
Daniel climbed into the ambulance with her.
Before the doors closed, an officer approached.
"Mr. Cole says your daughter fell during an argument."
Daniel looked at Lena.
Her face went blank.
The officer continued.
"He claims the bat was never used against her."
Lena whispered, "He's lying."
"Did anyone witness what happened?"
"No."
The officer nodded.
"That's okay. We're documenting everything."
Lena looked toward the house.
Then she remembered something.
"My phone."
"We'll retrieve it."
"No."
Her voice sharpened.
"My other phone."
Daniel frowned.
"What other phone?"
Lena looked at him.
For several seconds she seemed uncertain whether to answer.
Then she whispered, "The one Travis doesn't know about."
The ambulance suddenly felt smaller.
"Why do you have another phone?"
Lena looked down.
"Because this wasn't the first time I thought I might need evidence."
Daniel stared at his daughter.
Every word cut deeper than the last.
"Where is it?"
"In the house."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Upstairs."
Derek had moved close enough to hear.
"I'll tell the officer."
Lena caught his wrist.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because it's hidden."
"That's good."
"No, Uncle Derek."
Her eyes filled with a new kind of fear.
"Travis came upstairs before he took my phone today."
Derek understood.
"You think he found it."
"I don't know."
The ambulance doors closed.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed Lena had a fracture in her forearm along with bruising and soft-tissue injuries.
Daniel sat beside her while she was treated.
Derek spoke with police.
Travis had been detained while officers investigated.
The bat had been collected.
But there was a problem.
Travis had already begun constructing another version.
Lena had been emotional.
Lena had thrown something.
Lena had fallen.
The bat had been nearby but hadn't touched her.
It was a story designed around doubt.
But Lena had something he didn't know about.
Or she hoped she did.
After treatment, an investigator named Detective Rachel Mercer entered Lena's room.
She was in her forties, composed, direct.
She sat rather than standing over Lena.
"Your uncle mentioned another phone."
Lena nodded.
"I started recording things."
"When?"
"Three months ago."
Daniel looked away.
Three months.
"I didn't know what else to do," Lena said. "Sometimes Travis would say something terrible and then the next morning he'd tell me I remembered it wrong."
Mercer nodded.
"So you began recording?"
"Sometimes."
"Where is the device?"
"In our bedroom."
"Can you describe the hiding place?"
Lena hesitated.
"Inside an old jewelry box my grandmother gave me. There's a false bottom."
Daniel recognized the box.
His mother had given it to Lena when she turned eighteen.
Mercer wrote something down.
"Did Travis know about the false compartment?"
"I don't think so."
"Would you consent to us retrieving it?"
"Yes."
Mercer stood.
"We'll handle it."
Lena looked relieved.
But Derek didn't.
He stood near the window with his arms folded.
"What?"
Daniel asked.
Derek looked at Lena.
"When I was outside the house, before police entered, Travis went down the hallway."
Lena nodded.
"I heard him."
"What room is that direction?"
"Stairs."
Derek's expression darkened.
Mercer stopped writing.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
The detective closed her notebook.
"I'll contact the officers still at the residence."
Twenty minutes later, Mercer returned.
Her expression told them something had changed.
"The jewelry box is there."
Lena sat forward.
"And?"
"The false compartment is empty."
Nobody spoke.
Daniel felt cold.
"Travis took it."
Mercer remained careful.
"We don't know that yet."
"He took it."
"We'll investigate."
Lena covered her mouth.
On that phone were recordings she had never shown anyone.
Arguments.
Threats.
Apologies.
And something else.
Something from two weeks earlier that she had barely understood herself.
Daniel saw the fear return to her eyes.
"What was on it?"
Lena looked at the detective.
Then her father.
"One recording wasn't about me."
Mercer leaned forward.
"What do you mean?"
Lena swallowed.
"Travis was talking to someone in his office."
"About what?"
"I don't know exactly. Money. Documents. He said somebody needed to keep quiet."
Daniel frowned.
"Who?"
"I couldn't hear the other person."
"Did Travis say a name?"
Lena thought.
"Once."
Mercer picked up her pen.
"What name?"
Before Lena could answer, Derek's phone vibrated.
He looked down.
Unknown number.
A photograph had arrived.
He opened it.
His expression changed.
"What is it?" Daniel asked.
Derek turned the screen toward them.
The photograph had been taken less than a minute earlier.
It showed Lena's hidden phone lying on a dark wooden table.
Underneath it was a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF THIS.
Mercer stood instantly.
"Don't touch anything."
Another message appeared.
This time there were only five words.
ASK LENA ABOUT THE BASEMENT.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
All the color disappeared from her face.
"What basement?"
Lena whispered, "We don't have a basement."
Then a third message arrived.
It contained a photograph of a door.
May you like
A door inside Lena's house.
A door none of them had ever seen before.
