The Voice Behind the Nursery Wall
Chapter 02 - The Voice Behind the Nursery Wall
Nathan followed the music upstairs while Eleanor begged him to stop. The melody led him to the twins’ nursery, a bright room filled with dolls, books, and two identical beds.
The sound came from behind a painted wall panel.
Nathan found a hidden switch beneath the window ledge. The panel opened to reveal an old speaker connected to a timer. Beside it lay several small recording tapes, each labeled with a date.
The most recent tape had been recorded only two weeks earlier.
Nathan pressed play.
Claire’s voice filled the room.
“My sweet girls, if you hear this, remember that I never chose to leave you.”
Rose began to cry. Ava stood perfectly still, holding her sister’s hand.
Claire continued, warning that the accident had not been an accident. She had discovered that Victor Hale—Nathan’s business partner and the twins’ legal trustee—had been moving money from the family foundation into private accounts. Her husband planned to expose him. Before he could, their car was forced off the lakeside road.
Nathan felt the floor shift beneath him. Victor had been the one who called him after the crash. Victor had identified the damaged car, arranged the memorial, and convinced everyone that Claire’s body had been carried away by the current.
The recording ended abruptly.
Eleanor closed the hidden panel. “Now you understand why I kept you away.”
Nathan turned on her. “You knew Claire was alive?”
“I knew she survived the crash. I did not know where Victor took her.”
The twins stared at their grandmother in disbelief.
Eleanor explained that Victor had threatened to separate the girls and accuse her of being mentally unfit if she contacted police. He controlled the estate’s security, the legal records, and the trust. For three years, Eleanor had pretended to accept his story while secretly searching for Claire.
“Then why didn’t you trust me?” Nathan asked.
“Because Victor built his fortune with you.”
The accusation landed hard. Nathan had signed documents Victor placed in front of him without reading the details. His carelessness may have helped finance the very scheme that destroyed his brother’s family.
A car engine sounded outside.
Through the nursery window, Nathan saw Victor stepping from a black sedan. Two men followed him toward the manor.
Eleanor grabbed Nathan’s arm. “He cannot know you found the note.”
Rose opened her palm. Inside was a tiny brass key that had been hidden behind the recording tapes.
On one side, someone had engraved a single word:
BOATHOUSE.
May you like
Downstairs, Victor called cheerfully, “Nathan, come welcome me. We need to discuss what happens to the girls tonight.”
Then the front doors locked from the inside.
