Chapter 9 - The Hidden Drain Led Somewhere No Blueprint Admitted ExistedEthan arrived near the Whitmore estate before noon.
He didn't go inside.
That would have been stupid even by his standards.
Instead, he parked near the wooded northern edge of the property where the land dropped toward an old service road.
Lauren eventually emerged through the trees with Rex beside her.
When Ethan saw the dog, he got out.
Rex broke into a run.
Ethan barely had time to brace before the Pit Bull crashed against him.
"Okay, okay."
For the first time that day, Ethan smiled.
Then he saw Lauren.
Her face was pale.
"You all right?"
"Nolan knows."
"So do we."
"No. He knows I've been meeting you."
Ethan's smile vanished.
She showed him the photograph.
"Nolan had this?"
"On his phone."
"Then he's probably the one following you."
"Probably."
Rex leaned against Ethan's leg.
Lauren watched them.
"He chose you last night."
"What?"
"When Kane went after you. Rex stood between you."
"He was confused."
"No."
Lauren shook her head.
"Today Nolan tried to command him."
Ethan looked down.
"Did Rex obey?"
"Not after he understood Nolan was threatening me."
Something passed through Ethan's expression.
Pride.
Sadness.
Both.
Lauren handed him her phone.
"I recorded them."
Ethan listened to Grant and Nolan discuss removing the old chamber.
The audio wasn't perfect.
It didn't need to be.
More risky than Cole finding it?
He doesn't know where the entrance is.
He found the intake.
When it ended, Ethan looked toward the estate.
"They'll destroy it tonight."
"That's what they said."
"Police?"
Lauren laughed bitterly.
"My father will say we're misinterpreting a conversation about ordinary construction."
"The recording plus the false poisoning claim helps."
"But it doesn't prove murder."
"No."
"What do we do?"
Ethan looked at Rex.
"We find the chamber first."
Lauren stared.
"You cannot go back."
"Watch me."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"My father has police watching the house."
"Front entrance?"
"Yes."
"Then I won't use it."
"Ethan."
He crouched beside Rex and examined the electronic module on the dog's collar.
Lauren noticed.
"What is that?"
"Not sure."
"GPS?"
"Probably."
He didn't remove it.
Instead, he wrapped his fingers around the collar and looked at the dog.
"Rex, home."
Rex tilted his head.
Ethan repeated the command with a specific hand gesture.
Rex immediately turned toward the trees.
Lauren frowned.
"Where is he going?"
"You'll see."
They followed.
Rex traveled along the edge of the property instead of toward the mansion.
Downhill.
Through dense brush.
Then toward an old chain-link maintenance fence almost entirely hidden by ivy.
Lauren stared.
"I didn't know this was here."
"I did."
"How?"
"I helped install cameras down here."
Rex stopped beside a rusted drainage culvert.
Ethan smiled slightly.
"And Rex used to chase rabbits through it."
Lauren looked at the concrete opening.
"You want to crawl through there?"
"It's better than climbing the wall again."
"For you, maybe."
Ten minutes later, they emerged behind the old pool equipment building.
Rex went first.
No alarm.
Ethan checked the cameras.
One above them.
He waited for it to rotate, then moved through the blind zone.
Lauren followed.
"This is insane."
"You came."
"That doesn't make it sane."
They entered through a side maintenance door.
Lauren's key still worked.
Inside, pipes covered the walls.
Pumps hummed.
The air smelled damp and metallic.
Ethan unfolded the replacement blueprint Lauren had recovered.
"Four lines."
Lauren pointed.
"But we know there's five."
"Exactly."
Ethan traced the pipes physically.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Nothing else.
Then Rex began sniffing beneath a workbench.
Ethan moved it.
Behind it was a section of wall painted the same gray as everything around it.
Except one line of dust had been disturbed.
He pressed against it.
Nothing.
Lauren examined the floor.
"Here."
A recessed metal latch.
Ethan pulled.
Part of the wall opened.
Behind it was a narrow staircase descending underground.
Lauren stared into darkness.
"That isn't on any plan."
"No."
Rex growled softly.
Ethan switched on his phone flashlight.
They descended.
Ten steps.
Fifteen.
The air cooled.
At the bottom, a concrete chamber stretched beneath the pool deck.
The sound of water moved through the walls.
An old pipe ran overhead.
Ethan recognized it from the anonymous photograph.
He looked down.
The red baseball cap was gone.
"Someone moved it."
Lauren whispered, "Nolan."
"Maybe."
They searched.
Rusting shelves.
Old valves.
Discarded equipment.
Then Ethan noticed scratches on the concrete floor.
Something heavy had recently been dragged.
They followed the marks toward the far wall.
A steel cabinet stood there.
Locked.
Ethan tried it.
No movement.
Lauren looked around.
"Can we break it?"
"Probably."
Before he could, Rex stiffened.
His ears lifted.
Footsteps sounded above them.
Someone entered the equipment room.
Ethan turned off his flashlight.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
Lauren moved closer.
The footsteps crossed directly over their heads.
Then stopped.
A man's voice came through the ceiling.
"Nolan?"
Another voice answered.
Grant.
"They're here."
Lauren's hand found Ethan's.
He felt it trembling.
The hidden door above opened.
Light appeared on the staircase.
Ethan pulled Lauren behind the steel cabinet.
Rex crouched beside them.
Someone began descending.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Grant's voice came from above.
"Make sure Cole doesn't leave this time."
Ethan tightened his fists.
Then the person descending spoke.
It wasn't Nolan.
It wasn't anyone Ethan recognized.
But Lauren did.
Her entire body went rigid.
She leaned toward Ethan and whispered one name.
"Mason."
Ethan stared at her.
Impossible.
Mason Whitmore had been dead for eight months.
May you like
Yet Lauren was crying before the man even reached the bottom step.
Because she knew her brother's voice.
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