Chapter 10 - Lauren’s Dead Brother Walked Down the StairsMason Whitmore stepped into the underground chamber alive.
Ethan stared from behind the cabinet.
Eight months earlier, newspapers had published photographs from Mason's funeral.
Grant standing beside the casket.
Lauren in black.
Hundreds of mourners.
Mason's luxury car had supposedly gone through a bridge barrier and landed in deep water.
The driver's body had been badly burned after the vehicle caught fire.
Dental records confirmed the identity.
Or that was what the public had been told.
The man in the chamber was thinner than Ethan remembered.
A beard covered part of his face.
A scar ran from his left ear to his jaw.
But it was Mason.
No question.
Lauren began shaking.
Ethan pressed one finger gently against her hand.
Don't move.
Mason walked to the steel cabinet.
The exact cabinet hiding them.
Ethan prepared himself.
Then Mason stopped three feet away and crouched beside the wall instead.
His fingers pressed a concealed button.
A panel opened.
Inside were several electrical switches and an old digital recorder.
Mason removed the recorder.
Grant called from the stairs.
"You found it?"
"Yes."
"You should've destroyed it years ago."
Mason looked toward the staircase.
"I thought you did."
Grant descended.
Seeing the two men together felt wrong.
A dead son and the father who had publicly mourned him.
Grant looked older than Ethan remembered.
Not weaker.
Just more tired.
"Caleb made copies," Grant said.
Mason's jaw tightened.
"We don't know that."
"Someone contacted Cole."
"Could've been Lauren."
"She didn't know enough."
Mason looked at the recorder.
"Nolan?"
Grant shook his head.
"He has too much to lose."
Ethan listened carefully.
Lauren's fingernails dug into his palm.
Grant said, "Erase it."
Mason hesitated.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Don't start this again."
Mason looked toward the pool above.
"You ever think about him?"
"Who?"
"Caleb."
Grant's expression hardened.
"Don't."
"He was twenty-eight."
"He broke into things that didn't concern him."
Lauren's breath caught.
Ethan felt murder rise inside him.
Grant continued.
"He made choices."
Mason's voice became bitter.
"So did we."
"Erase the recorder."
For several seconds Mason didn't move.
Then Rex shifted.
His collar scraped lightly against the concrete.
Grant turned.
"What was that?"
Ethan's heart stopped.
Rex remained perfectly still.
Grant stepped toward the cabinet.
Mason followed.
Lauren looked at Ethan.
There was no exit.
Ethan prepared to move first.
Then a siren sounded upstairs.
Loud.
Shrill.
Security alarm.
Grant spun.
"What now?"
Nolan's voice came through a radio.
"Police at the gate."
Grant cursed.
"Why?"
"Pool incident. They want another statement."
Mason immediately pulled his hood over his head.
Grant looked toward the hidden stairs.
"You can't be seen."
"I know."
They left.
The hidden door closed.
Darkness returned.
For several seconds, Ethan and Lauren didn't move.
Then Lauren collapsed against the wall.
"Mason."
Ethan switched on his light.
She looked sick.
"My brother is alive."
"Apparently."
"I buried him."
Ethan didn't know what to say to that.
Lauren's grief transformed into anger.
"He let me bury him."
Ethan understood more than she realized.
Someone else deciding you were allowed to mourn a lie could destroy your sense of reality.
He moved toward the hidden panel Mason had opened.
The recorder was gone.
But something remained inside.
A small adhesive strip.
Ethan pulled it loose.
A handwritten number had been placed beneath it.
1138
Lauren wiped her face.
"What is that?"
"Could be a code."
"For what?"
Ethan looked toward the locked steel cabinet.
Four-number keypad.
He entered 1138.
Click.
The door unlocked.
They stared at each other.
Ethan opened it.
Inside were no company ledgers.
No money.
No weapons.
Only personal belongings.
Caleb's red baseball cap.
His wallet.
His phone.
His work badge.
And a bloodstained gray shirt.
Lauren covered her mouth.
Ethan couldn't breathe.
He touched the shirt.
Dry.
Old.
Brown stains across the collar.
Caleb's belongings had been hidden beneath the pool for three years.
There was also a plastic evidence bag.
Inside sat a silver flash drive.
Lauren whispered, "That's it."
Ethan reached for it.
Then stopped.
A label was taped to the drive.
Two handwritten words.
FOR ETHAN.
His vision blurred.
Caleb had prepared it for him.
Before he died.
Ethan removed the drive.
Footsteps sounded upstairs again.
They had to leave.
Now.
He put Caleb's phone, wallet, cap and drive inside his jacket.
The bloodstained shirt remained.
Too bulky.
Lauren photographed everything.
They climbed the stairs.
The equipment room appeared empty.
Ethan opened the exterior door.
Rex stepped outside first.
Then froze.
Kane stood twenty feet away.
Nolan held the second dog's leash.
A handgun hung loosely at his side.
Ethan stopped.
Lauren stepped behind him.
Nolan looked at Ethan's jacket.
"You found the cabinet."
No point denying it.
Ethan said, "Mason's alive."
Nolan's expression didn't change.
Lauren moved beside Ethan.
"You knew."
Nolan ignored her.
"Give me the drive."
"No."
"Ethan, this doesn't need to get worse."
"Caleb might disagree."
Something flickered in Nolan's eyes.
Guilt?
Fear?
Ethan couldn't tell.
Nolan lifted the gun slightly.
Rex growled.
Kane answered.
The two dogs faced each other.
Lauren whispered, "Nolan, don't."
"Give me the drive."
Ethan slowly reached into his jacket.
Nolan watched his hand.
Ethan pulled out Caleb's red cap instead.
For the first time, Nolan lost control of his expression.
His face went pale.
Ethan saw it.
And finally understood something important.
Grant had been angry when he saw the cap.
Nolan had been afraid.
Ethan held it up.
"You weren't supposed to see this again, were you?"
Nolan's grip tightened around the gun.
Ethan took one step closer.
"Because you're the one who put it down there."
Nolan whispered, "You have no idea what happened that night."
"Then tell me."
Nolan looked at Lauren.
Then at Rex.
Finally back at Ethan.
"I didn't kill your brother."
Ethan's voice turned cold.
"Who did?"
Nolan swallowed.
Before he could answer, a shot exploded from the mansion.
Everyone ducked.
Nolan spun.
A second shot shattered the equipment-room window.
Grant shouted from somewhere inside the house.
"Mason!"
Lauren's face changed.
May you like
Then another gunshot came.
And this time, Mason screamed.
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