Chapter 25 - What Lucas Remembers
The room felt smaller.
Nobody spoke.
Evan finally broke the silence.
“You said Lucas was a baby.”
“I thought he was.”
Anna shook her head.
“David corrected me later.”
“When?”
“Months before I disappeared.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I didn't know what to believe.”
Diane stood trembling.
“My son was three years old.”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“But Richard said…”
“Richard lied.”
“Why?”
Anna looked at the old hospital record.
“Because a three-year-old can remember faces.”
I felt a chill.
“What does Lucas remember?”
Anna looked at me.
“The night he disappeared.”
The investigator pulled up a chair.
“Tell us everything.”
Anna sat.
“David had been investigating Richard for months. He knew money was being moved through shell accounts. He knew Victor was involved. But he didn't know why.”
“And Lucas?”
“Lucas had started talking.”
“About what?”
“People.”
“Which people?”
Anna hesitated.
“Victor.”
Diane cried quietly.
“Why would a three-year-old remember him?”
“Because Victor used to visit.”
Evan stared.
“Visit where?”
“Our house.”
“Why?”
“Richard said he was a family associate.”
“And David allowed him around the kids?”
“David didn't know what he was doing.”
I interrupted.
“What did Lucas say about him?”
Anna looked at me.
“He called him the man with the silver ring.”
My heart tightened.
Victor had a silver ring.
I remembered seeing it in the old photograph.
Anna continued.
“Lucas used to hide whenever Victor came.”
“Why?”
“He said Victor smelled like smoke.”
Evan frowned.
“That's not enough to remember twelve years later.”
“No.”
Anna shook her head.
“But there was more.”
“What?”
“One night Lucas disappeared for three hours.”
Diane looked up.
“What?”
“We thought he was asleep upstairs.”
“But?”
“He wasn't.”
“Where was he?”
Anna whispered:
“In Victor's car.”
Diane stood.
“What?”
Anna looked at her.
“David found him.”
“When?”
“That night.”
“What happened?”
“David brought him home.”
“Did Lucas say anything?”
Anna's face went pale.
“He said Victor took him somewhere underground.”
The investigator stopped writing.
“Underground where?”
“We didn't know.”
I suddenly thought about the farmhouse.
The basement.
The room.
The photographs.
I asked:
“Did Lucas describe what he saw?”
Anna nodded.
“He said there were boxes.”
“Anything else?”
“A door with a number.”
“What number?”
“Seventeen.”
Evan looked at me.
The chess piece.
Room seventeen.
Anna continued.
“He said there were names written on the wall.”
We all looked at each other.
“The farmhouse.”
“Yes.”
The investigator stood.
“Then that's where Victor kept him.”
Anna shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“It wasn't the farmhouse.”
“Then where?”
“She said seventeen,” Anna replied.
“The number was on the piece.”
“No.”
She pointed toward the old hospital.
“Seventeen was a room number.”
The investigator looked at the clerk.
“Does this hospital have a Room 17?”
The clerk frowned.
“Not anymore.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Basement.”
Diane whispered:
“No.”
We rushed downstairs.
Room 17 had been sealed decades ago.
The door was behind a maintenance wall.
A metal plate still showed the number.
The investigator opened it.
Inside was a narrow chamber.
Empty.
Except for a chair.
And scratches on the wall.
Evan ran his fingers over them.
“Those are names.”
We looked.
Some were almost erased.
Some remained.
The last name was carved deeper than the others.
LUCAS.
Underneath it:
I KNOW.
Diane dropped to her knees.
“Oh God.”
The investigator searched the room.
Behind the chair was a loose tile.
He removed it.
Inside was a small metal box.
No lock.
No key.
Just a note.
For Natalie.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a flash drive.
And another note.
David's handwriting.
Lucas saw the truth here.
He is the only one who remembers.
Do not ask him what happened until you know who is listening.
The investigator looked around.
“We're leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever created this room knew someone would come looking.”
As we turned, Anna stopped.
“Listen.”
We heard footsteps above us.
Slow.
Heavy.
Someone was walking down the stairs.
Evan moved in front of Diane.
The investigator drew his weapon.
The footsteps stopped.
Then came a voice.
Victor.
May you like
“You finally found it.”
Every light went out.
