Chapter 2 - The Locked Third Floor
Logan did not go upstairs immediately.
Not because Brianna had stopped him.
Because Ava was watching.
He knelt beside his daughter.
“Hey, bug. How about you spend tonight with Grandma Mercer?”
Ava’s eyes moved toward the ceiling.
“What about the girl?”
“We’re going to figure that out.”
“Is Mommy mad at me?”
Brianna made a broken sound.
“No.”
She crossed the room and knelt beside Ava.
“I could never be mad at you.”
“But you yelled.”
“I know.”
Brianna brushed hair from her daughter’s forehead.
“I was scared.”
“Of the girl?”
Brianna glanced at Logan.
“Of something I should have told your daddy a long time ago.”
That was the closest thing to honesty Logan had heard all evening.
Thirty minutes later, his mother collected Ava.
Logan waited until the car disappeared through the gates.
Then he locked the front door.
“Upstairs.”
Brianna followed him.
The second floor held four bedrooms and Logan’s office.
The staircase continued upward through a narrow hall to the attic landing.
Logan reached for the attic door.
Locked.
He turned.
“Why is this locked?”
“Because Ava started exploring.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Where’s the key?”
“I don’t know.”
Logan stared at her.
Brianna looked away.
He went downstairs, returned with a screwdriver and removed the old brass strike plate.
“Logan, please.”
The door opened.
The attic smelled of cedar, plaster and dust.
Boxes lined one side.
The opposite side had been renovated years earlier into storage rooms.
Logan switched on the lights.
“Show me the wall.”
Brianna stayed near the door.
He remembered Ava’s pointing direction.
East side.
He walked past trunks and old furniture until he reached a paneled wall beneath the roofline.
He had seen it hundreds of times.
Tonight he noticed something he never had before.
The floor directly in front of the panel was clean.
No dust.
Someone had walked there recently.
Logan crouched.
There were small marks in the floorboards.
Not a six-year-old’s shoes.
Larger.
He touched the panel.
“Open it.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Somebody has been in my house.”
“Our house.”
“Behind a wall you told me was sealed.”
Brianna’s expression hardened.
“Don’t turn this into ownership.”
“I’m turning it into truth.”
Logan ran his fingers along the molding.
Near the base, he found a tiny brass indentation.
A keyhole.
He looked back.
Brianna was crying.
“Where’s the key?”
She said nothing.
Logan approached her.
“Who is she?”
Still nothing.
“Is Ava in danger?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
That mattered.
“Are we?”
Brianna hesitated.
That mattered even more.
Logan felt cold.
“What have you done?”
“I thought I could fix it.”
“Fix what?”
“She wasn’t supposed to come here.”
“Who?”
Brianna squeezed her eyes shut.
Before she answered, Logan’s phone rang.
His mother.
He stepped aside.
“Mom?”
Her voice was uneasy.
“Logan, Ava wants to tell you something.”
Ava came onto the phone.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“The girl gave me something.”
Logan glanced at Brianna.
“What?”
“I forgot because everybody came for my party.”
“What did she give you?”
“A little envelope.”
“Where is it?”
“In my bunny backpack.”
Logan’s eyes remained on Brianna.
“What did she say it was?”
“She said if Mommy got scared, I should give it to you.”
Brianna heard.
Her knees seemed to weaken.
Logan put the call on speaker.
“What else did she say?”
Ava thought.
“She said you deserved to know somebody had been signing your name.”
Logan frowned.
Brianna whispered, “Oh God.”
He ended the call.
“What does that mean?”
Brianna shook her head.
“Who has been signing my name?”
“No one.”
“Then why are you terrified?”
He walked toward the attic stairs.
Brianna followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To get the envelope.”
“Logan, wait.”
He stopped.
“If you want me to wait, tell me who the girl is.”
For several seconds Brianna fought with herself.
Then she whispered:
“Her name is Nora.”
Logan waited.
Brianna wiped tears from her face.
“She came here three nights ago.”
“Who is she?”
Brianna looked toward the hidden wall.
When she answered, her voice barely carried.
“She’s my daughter.”
Logan stared at her.
“You have one daughter.”
Brianna shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“I have two.”
