Chapter 1 - THE VOICE BEHIND THE STONE
Adrian Mercer saw his daughter disappear beneath the swimming pool’s surface before he understood what Vanessa had done. One moment Mia was gripping the edge with both hands while Vanessa stood above her in a cream-colored dress. The next, Vanessa seized the little girl’s wrists, pulled them away from the coping and shoved her backward into deeper water. Mia’s brown hair vanished beneath the blue surface. Her cream cardigan floated up for a second, then sank after her.
Adrian was through the glass doors before Vanessa turned around. He crossed the terrace, stepped straight into the pool in his navy suit and caught Mia as she struggled toward the surface. She came up coughing, clinging to him with such force that her small fingers caught against the tattoos on his neck. He lifted her out, sat her on the warm stone and checked that she was breathing while water streamed from his sleeves. “I’ve got you,” he said, keeping his voice steady despite the rage moving through him. “Look at me, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
Vanessa took a step closer. “Adrian, she slipped. I tried to grab her.” Mia buried her face against her father’s shoulder and shook her head. Adrian looked up at Vanessa, but before he could speak, Graham Ellis charged from the seating area and seized both sides of his wet suit collar. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Graham shouted. Adrian moved Mia safely behind him, broke Graham’s grip and struck him once. Graham stumbled backward into a wooden chair, which collapsed beneath him.
Vanessa rushed toward Adrian with one hand raised. He turned, intercepted her movement and drove her backward into the white-curtained seating area. The lightweight frame toppled, spilling fabric across the terrace. Adrian did not follow her. He went immediately back to Mia, wrapped her in a dry cushion cover and called the house manager to summon an ambulance and police.
Mia should have been watching Vanessa. Instead, she was staring at the limestone wall beside the pool.
“Daddy,” she whispered.
Adrian crouched.
“There’s someone in there.”
She pointed toward a narrow decorative opening between two stones, partly concealed by climbing ivy. Adrian had lived in the mansion for four years and had never noticed it. He heard the pool’s filtration system humming beneath the terrace. Then, through the narrow opening, came three faint knocks.
Adrian stood.
“Mia, did you hear that before?”
She nodded. “The man told me to get you.”
“What man?”
“The man behind the wall.”
Vanessa stopped struggling beneath the fallen curtain.
Graham, still on the ground beside the broken chair, looked toward the stone opening with an expression that made Adrian’s stomach tighten.
Adrian approached the wall. “Can you hear me?”
Two knocks answered.
A faint voice followed.
“Don’t let them open the pump room.”
The voice was male, strained and unfamiliar. Adrian leaned closer. “Who are you?”
“Daniel Reyes. Maintenance.”
Adrian recognized the name. Daniel was the pool systems contractor who had supposedly failed to arrive for a scheduled inspection that morning. Vanessa told Adrian the contractor canceled.
The voice behind the wall continued.
“They locked me in here.”
Adrian turned toward Vanessa.
May you like
She was no longer pretending Mia had slipped.
She was trying to reach her phone.
