Chapter 9: The Room Behind the Wall
Marcus ran back inside.
“Lock every door.””
Evelyn rushed toward the security panel.
“Already doing it.””
The mansion doors clicked one after another.
Vanessa stood near the staircase, staring at the remaining shoe.
Rebecca picked up the design book.
“Your father built a hidden compartment.””
Marcus turned.
“What?””
Rebecca ran her fingers across the wall beside the study.
“He was paranoid.””
“He was a thief.””
“He was both.””
Diane came closer.
“Where?””
Rebecca studied the wood paneling.
“Your father never trusted safes.””
Evelyn nodded.
“He trusted walls.””
Marcus looked at her.
“You knew about this?””
“I knew there was a room.””
“What room?””
Evelyn pointed toward the study.
“Behind the library.””
Marcus walked inside.
Bookshelves covered the far wall.
He pushed one.
Nothing.
Another.
Nothing.
Rebecca watched.
“Third shelf.””
Marcus pushed it.
A click sounded.
The entire bookshelf shifted forward.
A narrow opening appeared behind it.
Vanessa whispered,
“Oh my God.””
Marcus reached for the light switch inside.
Nothing.
He used his phone flashlight.
A hidden room stretched beyond the doorway.
Metal cabinets.
Old files.
Boxes.
And dozens of photographs pinned across the walls.
Diane stopped at the entrance.
She couldn't move.
Marcus looked back.
“Mom?””
She whispered,
“He kept everything.””
Rebecca stepped inside.
“No.””
She pointed at the photographs.
“He kept everyone.””
Marcus moved closer.
Faces covered the wall.
Patricia.
Claire.
Evelyn.
Rebecca.
Diane.
Vanessa.
And people Marcus had never seen.
At the center was a photograph of his father standing beside Jonathan Cross.
Underneath it was a handwritten date.
*SIX WEEKS BEFORE DEATH.*
Marcus pulled the photograph down.
On the back was a message.
*JONATHAN DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE SECOND WITNESS.*
Marcus frowned.
“Second witness?””
Diane looked at Rebecca.
“Who was the first?””
Rebecca didn't answer.
Marcus turned.
“Rebecca.””
She looked at him.
“Patricia.””
“And the second?””
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“Your father.””
Marcus stared.
“That doesn't make sense.””
“It does if your father wasn't the one who died.””
The room went silent.
Marcus shook his head.
“No.””
Rebecca pointed to another photograph.
It showed his father entering a car.
Another showed him leaving a hotel.
Then another.
Same suit.
Same face.
Different date.
Marcus's hands began to tremble.
“What's going on?””
Diane whispered,
“Your father had a twin.””
Marcus turned.
“What?””
Rebecca nodded.
“Identical.””
Diane closed her eyes.
“He was the one who ran the company.””
Marcus stared at his mother.
“You knew?””
“I knew there was a twin.””
“Where is he?””
Diane's voice barely came out.
“I don't know.””
Rebecca corrected her.
“You do.””
Diane looked at her.
Rebecca pointed toward the photographs.
“His name was Daniel.””
Marcus stared at the wall.
“Daniel Cross.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.””
Marcus turned.
“Why?””
“Because Daniel was the man your father claimed didn't exist.””
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Then who died?””
Nobody answered.
Marcus looked at the photograph of his father.
The face stared back at him.
Then he noticed something.
A small scar above the left eyebrow.
He remembered it.
His father's scar had always been above the right eyebrow.
Marcus whispered,
“That isn't my father.””
Diane began to cry.
“No.””
Marcus turned toward her.
“You knew.””
“I suspected.””
“For eight years?””
“I didn't know what to believe.””
Rebecca opened another file.
Inside was a death certificate.
Marcus grabbed it.
The name read:
*Daniel Cross.*
Date of death: eight years earlier.
Marcus stared.
“Daniel.””
Rebecca nodded.
“Your father was alive.””
The hidden room seemed to shrink around him.
“Where is he?””
Rebecca looked at Diane.
Diane shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Then Vanessa spoke.
“Yes, you do.””
Everyone turned.
Vanessa was staring at the remaining shoe.
“Because Claire told me.””
Marcus stepped toward her.
“Told you what?””
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“She said your father was still alive.””
Diane covered her mouth.
Marcus whispered,
“Where?””
Vanessa looked toward the hidden room.
“He was the one who gave me the shoes.””
Marcus stared.
“When?””
“Six weeks before the funeral.””
“Where did you meet him?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“At a hotel.””
“Which hotel?””
She looked at Diane.
“The same hotel where your mother met him.””
Diane's face collapsed.
Marcus understood.
His mother had known.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
Then the hidden room's telephone suddenly rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Nobody moved.
Marcus slowly picked it up.
A man's voice whispered through the receiver.
“Hello, son.””
Marcus stopped breathing.
He knew that voice.
His father's voice.
The voice from the recording.
Marcus gripped the phone.
“Dad?””
A pause.
Then the man said,
“You finally found the room.””
Marcus looked at Diane.
She was crying.
The voice continued.
“But you still haven't found the woman who helped me disappear.””
The line went dead.
At that exact moment, the remaining shoe began ringing.
A tiny phone hidden inside the heel.
And on the wall behind Diane, one photograph slowly slid loose.
Revealing a second photograph beneath it.
Marcus picked it up.
It showed his father standing beside Diane.
May you like
And between them stood Vanessa.
Holding a newborn baby.
