Chapter 5 - The Truth Hidden Behind The Door
The photograph on my phone was impossible.
But it was real.
Jessi was standing in the picture.
Alive.
Her face was thinner than I remembered.
Her hair was shorter.
There were shadows under her eyes.
But it was her.
My wife.
The woman I had buried in my mind eight years ago.
The woman I had cried for when Fiona was too young to understand why her mother wasn't coming home.
The woman I had spent years blaming myself for losing.
I stared at the image until my vision blurred.
Then I noticed something else.
The room behind her.
I knew that room.
My breathing stopped.
Because it wasn't a random location.
It was a place I had seen hundreds of times.
The old guest room in my house.
The room Wendy had used since she moved in.
My fingers went cold.
"She's there."
Nobody answered.
I looked at Ethan.
"She's in my house?"
His silence confirmed it.
I turned toward Wendy.
She looked away.
That was enough.
"How long?"
Wendy closed her eyes.
"Daniel..."
"How long has Jessi been there?"
Her lips trembled.
"I don't know exactly."
I stepped closer.
"Don't lie to me again."
Wendy looked at Fiona.
Then at me.
"Three weeks."
Three weeks.
The number echoed in my head.
Three weeks.
My wife had been alive.
Three weeks.
She had been somewhere inside my own home.
And I had walked past that door every day.
I had eaten dinner downstairs.
I had watched television with Fiona.
I had slept in the same house.
While Jessi was hiding somewhere above me.
"Why?"
The question came out broken.
"Why wouldn't she come to me?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Ethan spoke.
"Because she wasn't hiding from you."
I looked at him.
"Then who?"
His face became serious.
"Mark."
The name hit like a punch.
My best friend.
My business partner.
The man who had comforted me after Jessi disappeared.
The man who told me to move forward.
The man who had stood beside me while I buried a woman who wasn't dead.
I felt anger rising.
"Where is he?"
Ethan looked at the monitors.
"Probably looking for that device."
I touched my pocket.
The black storage device.
The thing Fiona had taken.
The thing everyone seemed terrified of.
"What is on it?"
Ethan walked toward the table.
"Something Jessi discovered before she disappeared."
He opened another folder.
Inside were printed documents.
"This device contains evidence."
"Evidence of what?"
Ethan looked at me.
"The reason your company grew so quickly."
I frowned.
"My company?"
He nodded.
"Daniel, your success was not an accident."
I hated that sentence.
Because it meant something I didn't want to believe.
For years, I had believed every late night.
Every risk.
Every sacrifice.
Everything I built.
I believed it was because I worked harder than everyone else.
"You are saying someone helped me?"
"No."
Ethan pushed the documents toward me.
"I'm saying someone invested in you because they needed access to you."
I looked down.
The papers showed transactions.
Names.
Companies.
Dates.
The first major investment.
The one that saved my company.
The one I always considered the turning point of my life.
But now I saw another name connected to it.
Mark.
My hands shook.
"Why didn't Jessi tell me?"
Ethan looked at the screen.
"Because when she tried..."
He stopped.
I looked up.
"When she tried what?"
His face changed.
"She disappeared."
The room went quiet.
Fiona moved closer to me.
I immediately placed my hand on her shoulder.
Protecting her.
Even though I had no idea what I was protecting her from.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Another message.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
I opened it.
A single sentence appeared.
"Stop looking for answers you can't handle."
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
My house.
The hallway outside Fiona's bedroom.
Taken moments ago.
My heart dropped.
Because someone was inside.
Right now.
I grabbed my keys.
"We're leaving."
Ethan stepped in front of me.
"No."
I stared at him.
"No?"
"If you go back there now, they will know exactly what you found."
I almost lost control.
"My daughter is there."
"Your daughter is with us."
"My wife is there."
Ethan became quiet.
That was when I knew.
He was afraid.
Not for himself.
For Jessi.
"Tell me the truth."
He looked at me.
"Is she in danger?"
A long silence.
Then he answered.
"Yes."
The word crushed every other thought.
I turned to Wendy.
"How did you get her into my house?"
Wendy looked down.
"She came willingly."
I froze.
"What?"
"Jessi contacted me months ago."
Months.
Not weeks.
Months.
"She was watching you."
I felt confused.
"Why?"
Wendy wiped her eyes.
"Because she needed to know if you were still safe."
I shook my head.
"This makes no sense."
"It will."
Wendy looked at the device in my pocket.
"Once you see what is inside that thing, everything will make sense."
I stared at her.
"You knew about the device."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"And you let Fiona steal it."
Her face changed.
"No."
The answer came quickly.
"I didn't want Fiona involved."
"But she was."
"I know."
Wendy looked devastated.
"I made a mistake."
For the first time, I believed her.
Not because I trusted her.
But because she looked like someone who had been carrying guilt for years.
Ethan walked toward the computer.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
He opened a hidden file.
A video appeared.
The date was eight years ago.
The night Jessi disappeared.
My entire body became tense.
"No."
Ethan clicked play.
The screen showed a parking garage.
Security footage.
A car.
A person walking.
Then Jessi appeared.
She was holding something.
Running.
Looking behind her.
I stepped closer.
Because I recognized the jacket she was wearing.
I had seen that jacket before.
It was the same one she wore the night she told me Ethan was dead.
The video continued.
Jessi reached her car.
Then someone approached her.
The camera angle changed.
The person stepped into view.
I stopped breathing.
Because I knew him.
I knew his face.
I knew his voice.
I knew his smile.
The person who walked toward my wife that night was the same person who had comforted me afterward.
The same person who told me she was gone.
The same person who had spent eight years pretending to help me.
Mark.
The video froze.
Nobody spoke.
Then Ethan whispered:
"Now you understand why Jessi couldn't come home."
I stared at the screen.
My best friend had been there.
The night my wife disappeared.
The night my life changed forever.
My phone rang.
This time, it wasn't unknown.
The name appeared clearly.
Mark.
Everyone looked at the screen.
I answered.
But I didn't say anything.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then his voice came through.
Calm.
Almost friendly.
"Daniel."
My blood turned cold.
Because he sounded exactly the same as he did every day.
Like nothing had changed.
"I know where you are."
I looked at Ethan.
Mark continued.
"And I know what you found."
I gripped the phone.
"Where is my wife?"
A pause.
Then Mark laughed softly.
Not nervously.
Not surprised.
Like he had been waiting for me to ask.
"Daniel..."
His voice lowered.
"Before you find Jessi, you need to know something."
I waited.
Then he said:
"She wasn't the only person who disappeared eight years ago."
The call ended.
At that exact moment, the lights inside the warehouse went out.
Darkness covered the room.
Then a sound came from behind us.
A door opening.
May you like
Slowly.
Someone was already inside.
