Chapter 3 - BELOW THE MANOR
Hawthorne Manor had three visible floors.
It also had a basement Ethan had used since childhood.
Wine storage.
Mechanical rooms.
A small gym.
But Maria led them past all of it.
At the rear of the basement was a stone corridor blocked by shelves of old wine bottles.
Maria removed two bottles.
Behind them was a metal latch.
The entire shelving unit shifted.
Ethan stared.
“I’ve lived here almost my entire life.”
Maria nodded.
“Mrs. Hawthorne wanted it that way.”
Behind the wall was a narrow staircase descending deeper underground.
Claire turned on her phone flashlight.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
The brass key fit perfectly.
Ethan touched Claire’s arm.
“Maybe we should wait for police.”
Claire looked at him.
“Your mother tried to kill me because I had this key.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I fell off a balcony, Ethan.”
His face tightened.
“You’re right.”
Claire turned the key.
The lock opened.
The room smelled of dust and old paper.
Metal cabinets lined the walls.
A desk sat beneath a single hanging bulb.
On the desk was a photograph.
Claire picked it up.
She stopped breathing.
It showed Ethan.
He was seventeen.
Beside him stood his father, Richard Hawthorne.
The photograph had been taken eleven years ago.
But Ethan’s father had supposedly died thirteen years ago.
“This is impossible.”
Ethan whispered.
Claire turned the photograph over.
A date had been written on the back.
October 14.
Two years after Richard Hawthorne’s funeral.
Ethan staggered backward.
“No.”
Claire opened the nearest cabinet.
Inside were folders labeled with family names.
Ethan.
Eleanor.
Richard.
Claire.
Claire stared at her own name.
“That file existed before I married you.”
Ethan said.
Claire opened it.
The first document was a background investigation.
The second was a psychological profile.
The third was a photograph of Claire at age nineteen.
She had never met the Hawthornes then.
“What the hell?”
Ethan whispered.
Claire turned another page.
At the bottom was Eleanor’s handwriting.
APPROPRIATE MATCH FOR ETHAN.
STRONG FAMILY HISTORY.
NO LIVING FATHER.
LIMITED FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
EASILY ISOLATED.
Claire felt sick.
May you like
Their marriage had not begun with a chance meeting.
Someone had selected her.
