The Hearse at the Locked Gate
Chapter 04 - The Hearse at the Locked Gate
The hearse was halfway down the long driveway when Daniel reached the front steps. He jumped into his rental car and followed, with Aunt Miriam climbing into the passenger seat before the door had fully closed.
“The cemetery is east,” she said. “They are turning west.”
The hearse sped toward an old service road behind the Bennett estate, a route once used by delivery trucks. Daniel had played there with Lily as a child, racing bicycles between the trees while their father shouted for them to avoid the crumbling mausoleum. The memory made the route feel less like a shortcut and more like a destination chosen in advance. Daniel followed through a stand of pine trees until a steel gate blocked the road. Grant’s car waited on the other side.
The hearse passed through. The gate began closing.
Daniel accelerated and slipped through with inches to spare. Miriam gripped the dashboard but said nothing. Ahead, the vehicles stopped beside an abandoned family mausoleum that had not been used in decades.
Grant stepped out and shouted at the driver. Two men began unloading the coffin.
Daniel stopped twenty yards away. “Call the police,” he told Miriam.
“I already did.”
He got out, holding the brass key. Grant walked toward him with both palms raised.
“You are grieving,” the attorney said. “Go home before you create a problem that cannot be repaired.”
“What is inside the coffin?”
“Your father.”
“Then why are you bringing him here instead of the cemetery?”
Grant glanced toward Vivian’s car approaching behind them. “Your father requested a private family interment.”
“He also left a note telling me not to trust the burial.”
For the first time, Grant lost his composure.
Vivian stepped from her car. “Daniel, give me the key.”
He looked at the lock on the coffin. Its brass face matched the key in his hand.
A muffled thud came from inside.
Daniel ran. One attendant grabbed his jacket, but Miriam struck the man’s wrist with her cane. Daniel reached the coffin and pushed the key into the lock.
Vivian screamed, “Do not open it!”
The lid rose only a few inches before something beneath it caught. Daniel forced it higher and saw the expected white satin, his father’s folded hands, and the dark suit Richard had worn to every important ceremony.
Then the satin moved.
Beneath Richard’s body was a second compartment.
Daniel tore away the lining. A young woman stared up at him, eyes wide with terror, black tape across her mouth.
May you like
“Lily,” he breathed.
Her wrists were bound, her skin was cold, but she was alive.
