Chapter 4 - The Blue DoorThe blue door had not been blue in years.
It had been painted gray during renovations.
But when Kate was little, she had believed doors kept their names forever.
Daniel crossed the east lawn with Maya and two officers.
The old servants’ entrance led into a narrow corridor beneath the guest wing.
Dust covered the unused passage.
At the far end stood a storage room.
Maya opened it.
Empty shelves.
Old furniture.
A broken lamp.
Daniel nearly laughed from disappointment.
Then an officer called from behind a cabinet.
“There’s something here.”
They moved the cabinet.
A steel access panel had been installed in the wall.
Behind it ran wiring.
The same obsolete intercom cables found in the hidden room.
Maya followed them to a small control box.
Someone had recently connected a modern audio transmitter to the old system.
Daniel stared.
“That’s how I heard Kate.”
“Likely.”
“Someone played her voice into our bedroom.”
Maya nodded.
“Which means someone wanted you to break that wall.”
That changed everything.
Whoever had called Daniel afterward knew what he had found.
But whoever triggered Kate’s voice had wanted the hidden room discovered.
Were they the same person?
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Everyone turned.
An elderly woman stood at the end of the corridor.
Elise Carter.
She had worked at the mansion for fifteen years.
She had helped raise Kate after Emily died.
“Elise?”
Her eyes filled with fear.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Daniel.”
Maya stepped forward.
“For what?”
Elise looked toward the transmitter.
“I should have done it sooner.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“You played Kate’s voice?”
Elise nodded.
Four months of rage rose through him.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel moved toward her.
Maya put herself between them.
“Elise, start at the beginning.”
Elise’s hands shook.
“The night Miss Kate disappeared, I heard Vanessa arguing with her near the pool.”
Daniel stared.
“You saw them?”
“Not clearly. I was inside the kitchen.”
“What did you hear?”
“Miss Kate kept saying, ‘I took pictures. I’m telling Dad.’”
Daniel felt the words like blows.
Elise continued.
“Later, Vanessa told me Kate had run away.”
“And you believed her?”
“For the first night.”
Elise began crying.
“The next afternoon, I went to clean near the pool construction. I heard knocking.”
Daniel’s throat closed.
“Kate.”
Elise nodded.
“She was behind the wall.”
Maya’s voice remained controlled.
“You opened it?”
“There was a temporary maintenance panel before they sealed everything. I found her inside.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Why didn’t you get her out?”
“I tried.”
“What stopped you?”
“Vanessa came.”
Elise’s voice broke.
“She said Kate had attacked her, that the room was only temporary while she waited for a doctor.”
Daniel stared at her in disbelief.
“And you accepted that?”
“No. But then Vanessa showed me documents.”
“What documents?”
Elise looked ashamed.
“My son had stolen money from the estate years ago.”
Daniel frowned.
Elise’s son had died in prison after an unrelated burglary conviction.
“She said she had proof I helped cover it up. She said if I interfered, I would lose my pension, my house, everything.”
“You chose your pension over my daughter?”
Elise flinched as though struck.
“I chose fear.”
Silence filled the corridor.
Maya asked, “How did you get Kate’s voice?”
“The second night, I went back. I couldn’t open the door, so I held my phone near the wall.”
Elise removed an old phone from her pocket.
“I recorded her.”
Daniel could barely look at it.
“What did she say?”
Elise pressed play.
Static.
Then Kate’s voice.
Weak.
“Dad…”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Another sound.
“Help me.”
The exact words that woke him.
Elise stopped the recording.
“I thought if you heard her yourself, you would search.”
“Four months later?”
“I was watched. Then Vanessa dismissed me. Last week I saw workers near the blue door and realized someone was removing the old wiring. I knew they were cleaning up.”
Daniel turned away.
He wanted to hate Elise.
Part of him did.
But another question mattered more.
“When did you last see Kate?”
“Twenty-three days after she disappeared.”
The floor markings.
Maya leaned forward.
“What happened?”
“I went back.”
Elise looked at Daniel.
“The room was empty.”
“Who moved her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must know something.”
Elise hesitated.
Then reached into her coat.
She produced a small brass key.
“Kate pushed this under the temporary door the last time I spoke to her.”
Daniel took it.
A paper tag was attached.
On it, in Kate’s handwriting, were five words:
WHERE MOM STILL SINGS.
Daniel stared.
Emily had not been a singer.
But every evening when Kate was small, Emily had played one instrument.
The grand piano.
May you like
Daniel turned toward the house.
And suddenly he knew exactly where Kate had hidden whatever she had photographed.
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