Chapter 10 - The Basement Door
The basement stairs began behind the kitchen, past the wine room and staff laundry. Jack had been down there during the original security installation, but never beyond the communications corridor.
Dana led. Luis stayed upstairs with Claire, Charles, and the Vales.
Jack hated splitting up.
He hated even more leaving Claire in the same house as Ethan.
“Two minutes,” he told her.
Claire held his gaze. “Go.”
The basement lights flickered as Jack and Dana descended.
At the bottom, the corridor smelled like dust and warm electronics.
The steel communications door stood open.
“That should be locked,” Dana whispered.
Inside, a rack of modern equipment glowed blue and green.
New equipment.
Jack recognized a cellular repeater, network switches, and something that made his stomach tighten.
“A signal blocker?” Dana asked.
“Looks like one.”
They found a laptop connected to the rack.
On the screen were live feeds from cameras Jack had never authorized.
Claire’s bedroom.
The upstairs hall.
Charles’s private sitting room.
The study.
Audio too.
Jack’s hands curled into fists.
Dana scrolled through saved directories.
Folders were labeled by name.
CLAIRE.
CHARLES.
JACK.
Jack stopped her.
“My name?”
She opened it.
There were clips of Jack at his own office, at a diner, walking to his truck, standing at Evelyn’s grave.
Someone had been watching him off the property.
A sound came from the corridor.
Jack spun.
Footsteps.
Running away.
He chased them.
The figure reached the service stairs and slammed the fire door.
Jack hit it shoulder-first and burst through into the garage level.
He caught a glimpse of a gray jacket disappearing behind an SUV.
“Stop!”
The person ran through the side exit.
Jack followed into the sunlight.
By the time he reached the drive, the person was gone.
Dana shouted from behind him.
“Jack!”
She held the laptop.
On the screen, one camera showed the mansion foyer.
Claire stood with Luis.
Charles was beside her.
Ethan was there.
Margaret was gone.
Then another feed appeared.
A hidden camera outside the basement.
It showed the person Jack had chased.
May you like
Gray jacket. Gray-blonde hair.
Margaret Vale.
