Chapter 6: The Truth Beneath the Floor
Richard didn’t speak after reading the message.
He just stared at the screen.
Again and again.
Like seeing those words made something inside him collapse.
Daniel looked at him.
“Did she know we were coming?””
Richard slowly locked his phone.
“Yes.””
“How?””
Richard didn’t answer.
That scared me more than anything.
Because Richard was a man who always seemed to have answers.
But now he looked lost.
I stood up.
“We need to go.””
Richard looked at me.
“You understand what this means?””
“Yes.””
“No, you don’t.””
His voice cracked.
“If Vanessa knows about the room, she knows what might be inside.””
Daniel stepped forward.
“Then we call the police.””
Richard nodded.
“We will.””
“But?””
He looked toward the door.
“But I need to see it first.””
I didn’t like that answer.
Not at all.
But something told me Richard had spent three years searching for a truth nobody wanted him to find.
And now he was finally close.
The drive to the mansion felt longer than it should have.
Nobody talked.
May sat in the back seat holding her rabbit.
At one point, I looked at her through the mirror.
She was staring out the window.
“May?””
She turned.
“Yes, Mommy?””
“Are you scared?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“Why not?””
She looked confused.
“Because Lily was scared.””
That answer hurt more than I expected.
When we arrived, Richard didn’t take us through the front entrance.
He walked around the side of the mansion.
Toward an older section of the property.
The guest wing.
The part nobody used anymore.
The hallway looked completely different from the rest of the house.
The expensive decorations were gone.
The lights were dimmer.
The walls looked older.
At the end of the hallway was a door.
Painted purple.
My breath caught.
May pointed immediately.
“That one.””
Richard stopped walking.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then he reached for the handle.
It was locked.
Daniel looked at him.
“You don’t have a key?””
Richard shook his head.
“No.””
“Why?””
His face became heavy.
“Because Vanessa changed the lock after Lily disappeared.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
Richard called someone to bring tools.
While we waited, May walked closer.
She didn’t touch the door.
She just stared.
“Lily was here.””
I knelt beside her.
“How do you know?””
“She told me.””
“What did she say?””
May looked at the door.
“She said she put something where nobody would find it.””
Richard heard her.
His eyes widened.
“What?””
“She said only a person who believed her would find it.””
The door finally opened.
Slowly.
The room smelled old.
Dust covered everything.
A small bed sat against the wall.
A bookshelf.
A faded rug.
A child’s drawings still hung on one side of the room.
It felt frozen in time.
Like someone had walked away and never returned.
Richard stepped inside.
His hands were shaking.
“This was Lily’s room.””
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
Then May walked toward the corner.
“Here.””
Richard followed her.
She pointed at the floor.
“Under there.””
Richard looked down.
A wooden panel sat beneath the rug.
He dropped to his knees.
With trembling hands, he lifted it.
Underneath was a small hidden space.
Empty.
Except for one thing.
A tiny purple box.
Richard stopped breathing.
He reached inside.
And pulled it out.
The box was covered in dust.
But it was clearly protected.
Like someone had hidden it carefully.
Daniel whispered:
“What’s inside?””
Richard didn’t answer.
He opened the lid.
Inside was a small necklace.
A handwritten note.
And a photograph.
Richard picked up the photograph first.
The second he saw it, his face changed.
“What?””
I stepped closer.
He handed it to me.
It showed Lily standing beside Vanessa.
But that wasn’t what shocked me.
It was what was behind them.
A person standing in the doorway.
A person nobody had mentioned.
A person who had been there the night Lily disappeared.
Richard stared at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
“That’s impossible.””
I looked at him.
“Who is that?””
His voice shook.
“Because this person was never supposed to be in the house.””
Then his phone rang.
Again.
May you like
This time, it wasn’t Vanessa.
It was the police.
