Chapter 10 - The House on Linden Road.
The Carter childhood home stood empty behind iron gates on Linden Road.
Eleanor had refused to sell it after Robert's death.
She called it a family asset.
Ethan called it a museum of fear.
Police surrounded the property before dawn.
Detective Voss ordered Ethan and Lily to remain in the command vehicle.
Ethan argued until Lily touched his arm.
"Noah needs one parent who isn't running toward danger."
He looked at her.
Then he sat down.
Officers entered through the front and rear doors.
The first floor was empty.
The second floor was empty.
In the basement, they found a locked steel door behind a shelving unit.
A tactical officer broke it open.
Inside was Rachel.
Lily saw her sister on the live camera feed and screamed.
Rachel was alive.
She was sitting on a cot, furious rather than injured, with her hands free.
Beside her stood Claire Morgan.
Claire raised both hands when officers entered.
"I'm not armed."
Rachel pointed at her.
"She kidnapped me."
Claire's face tightened.
"I protected you."
"You put me in a basement."
"Because Eleanor had people watching you."
The officers separated them.
Claire was taken outside first.
Ethan stepped out of the command vehicle despite Voss's warning.
He saw his sister for the first time in twenty-two years beneath flashing police lights.
Claire looked older than the child in his memory and younger than the ghost he had imagined.
She had his father's eyes.
Ethan stopped ten feet away.
"You were alive."
Claire's face crumpled.
"I tried to write."
"I have the letters."
"Then you know."
"I know you watched my wife suffer."
Claire flinched.
"I was trying to catch her."
"You let Lily become bait."
Claire looked past him at Lily.
"I didn't know it would go that far."
Lily walked toward her slowly.
"You knew enough to put cameras around our lives."
"Those cameras weren't mine."
Everyone went still.
Voss stepped closer.
"Explain."
Claire said the surveillance network had been installed before she began watching Eleanor.
She discovered it while following Mercer.
Some cameras belonged to Eleanor.
Others transmitted to an unknown server.
"Someone else has been watching all of us."
Ethan felt cold.
"Who?"
Claire looked toward the old house.
"I came here because the server is somewhere inside."
Officers searched again.
Behind a false wall in Robert's old study, they found a network rack still humming.
The equipment was newer than the house should have contained.
A technician connected a forensic laptop.
Dozens of folders appeared.
Each folder was labeled with a name.
LILY.
ETHAN.
CLAIRE.
RACHEL.
NOAH.
ELEANOR.
Voss pointed at the last folder.
"Someone was watching Eleanor too."
The technician opened it.
A recent video showed Eleanor seated at a restaurant across from a man whose face was hidden from camera.
The audio was clear.
Eleanor leaned forward.
"I kept my part of the agreement."
The man slid a folder across the table.
"Not anymore."
Eleanor's voice became tense.
"You said Ethan would never learn about the trust."
The technician paused the video.
Voss looked at Ethan.
"What trust?"
May you like
Ethan shook his head.
"I have no idea."
