Chapter 8 - What Her Mother Taught Her

At the mansion, Maisie sat at the kitchen table with Anika and a police officer. Her feet didn't reach the floor. The medic had given her apple juice, but she hadn't touched it.

“Is Mommy coming home?”

Anika put her phone on speaker. “We're working on it, honey.”

“Mommy says working on it isn't the same as doing it.”

“Your mommy is very smart.”

“She draws houses.” Maisie ran a finger around the rim of the juice box. “When I'm scared, she tells me how every room has a way out.”

Anika smiled sadly. “That's good advice.”

“No. I mean the house has a way out.”

The girl slipped off her chair and pulled a folded square of paper from the pocket of her dress. It was covered with crooked rectangles, blue crayon waves, and a fat yellow star.

“She drew it when I couldn't sleep.”

Anika unfolded it. Above the star Elena had written in careful block letters: IF THE LIGHTS GO OUT, FOLLOW THE YELLOW MARKS TO THE OLD GARDEN DOOR.

Anika called Roman immediately.

On the riverbank, Elena recognized the drawing. “I made that map for her after she got lost in the mansion. There are painted emergency markings from the old flood shelter. Roman, one passage leads to the south spillway.”

“Can the rescue crew reach it?”

“Yes. Without crossing the submerged stairwell.”

Mara passed the new route to the fire captain. A rescue team entered through a concrete hatch fifty yards south, carrying ropes and a portable radio repeater.

“What happened to this place?” he asked.

Elena looked out at the swollen water. “Someone realized an empty shelter could hide a lot.”

At 8:56, the rescue team found a locked steel door. Voices answered their knocks from the other side. Five people were alive.

“Door secured with a hydraulic latch,” the captain said. “Need the override code.”

Roman knew where the code should be. His father had engraved emergency overrides on brass plates in each pump house. They'd been removed.

A call came from Victor's number.

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Roman answered on speaker.

“Ask nicely,” Victor said. “Maybe I'll tell you the code before they drown.”