Chapter 15 - THE WOMAN AT THE BACK DOOR
The surveillance feed on Ethan’s phone loaded in jerky, high-definition frames.
The screen showed the backyard of their home. Mrs. Alvarez’s teenage son, who had been hired to sit inside with Lily while Ethan and Daniel were at the courthouse, was supposed to be watching cartoons with her in the living room.
On the camera screen, the heavy glass sliding door to the patio was wide open.
Standing in the center of the kitchen, wearing an impeccably tailored black woolen trench coat and oversized dark sunglasses, was an older woman with silver-streaked auburn hair. In her gloved right hand, she held an antique silver teacup—Sarah’s teacup.
Beside her, leaning heavily against the counter with a hospital wristband still visible on her thin wrist and an electronic monitoring cuff flashing green on her ankle, was Vanessa.
Vanessa looked gaunt, her skin pale, but her eyes burned with the same vicious, calculating malice that had terrorized Lily for an entire year.
"Dad," Ethan choked out, his vision swimming with adrenaline. "They're in the house. *Now.*"
Daniel didn't wait for the elevator. He shoved through the office doors, sprinting down the marble courthouse corridor with Ethan right at his heels, screaming for police escorts into his phone.
Back at the house, the camera microphone picked up audio that chilled Ethan to the marrow of his bones.
"Where is it, little bird?" Vanessa’s raspy voice echoed through the speaker of Ethan’s phone as he sprinted to his truck. "Tell Nana Helena where your father hid the box, and maybe we won't have to lock you in the dark pantry again."
The camera panned slightly as the motion sensor adjusted. Lily was backed against the kitchen refrigerator, her small hands clutching a kitchen broom like a spear. Her face was soaked in tears, but her jaw was set.
"I won't tell you," Lily sobbed, her voice trembling but defiant. "My brother Ethan told me monsters only have power if you stay quiet. You're a monster, Vanessa! And Ethan is coming to put you in a cage forever!"
Helena Vance took a slow, calm sip from the teacup, then set it down on the counter with a crisp, terrifying *clink*.
"My dear," the older woman purred, her voice cultured, smooth, and devoid of any human empathy. "Your brother Ethan is a child playing a man's game. And games always end when the board is burned."
Helena reached into the pocket of her trench coat, pulled out a small glass vial filled with clear liquid, and held it out toward Vanessa.
May you like
"Finish what you failed to do four years ago, Vanessa. Clean the ledger."
***
