Chapter 3 - THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS
The first facility was empty.
I did not go with the police.
I had no official reason to.
But by midnight, Detective Keller called me because the hotel footage had become central to the investigation.
The Lake Forest property had been registered to a medical consulting company that no longer existed.
Inside, investigators found a bedroom.
A treatment room.
Prenatal vitamins.
Medical equipment.
And a calendar.
Every day had been marked by hand.
Three years of days.
Alexander arrived before sunrise.
Detective Keller allowed him into the building after the evidence team finished the first sweep.
He stood in the doorway of the bedroom for a long time.
The windows had been covered from the outside with steel panels.
A narrow bed stood against one wall.
A bookshelf contained fourteen novels.
Every book had Elena’s handwriting in the margins.
Alexander touched one.
I stayed behind him.
I had barely known this man twenty-four hours earlier.
Now I was watching him walk through the prison where his wife had lived for years.
On the wall beside the bed were small scratches.
Groups of five.
Hundreds of them.
She had been counting days.
Alexander reached the last row.
It stopped four days earlier.
The day Mercer said she was moved.
Detective Keller entered.
“We found blood in the treatment room.”
Alexander turned quickly.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Is it recent?”
“Some is.”
His face tightened.
Keller added.
“It may be from routine medical procedures.”
That did not reassure him.
An officer called from the hallway.
“Detective.”
We followed.
A section of drywall had been removed behind a cabinet.
Inside was a small plastic bag.
Keller put on gloves.
She opened it.
A folded piece of paper.
A memory card.
And a wedding ring.
Alexander stopped breathing.
He reached toward the ring.
Keller blocked him gently.
“Evidence first.”
He nodded.
But tears filled his eyes.
“Elena’s.”
Keller unfolded the paper.
The handwriting was shaky.
If Alexander ever finds this, tell him I did not leave him.
Alexander turned away.
I saw his shoulders tremble.
Keller kept reading.
Nathan said Alexander stopped looking after six months.
He said Alexander believed I was dead.
I do not know what is true anymore.
Vanessa comes sometimes.
She says my husband married her.
She shows me photographs.
She says he is happier.
Alexander slammed his fist against the wall.
Keller stopped.
I touched his arm.
“Don’t destroy anything.”
He pulled his hand back.
The note continued.
They want something from me.
They keep asking about the embryos.
I told them I would never help them create a Whitmore heir.
I think they found another way.
Alexander stared at the page.
Below that was another paragraph.
Dr. Mercer came today.
He would not look me in the eyes.
I asked him if Alexander knows I am alive.
He said nothing.
If I am pregnant, I did not consent to this.
The room seemed to tilt.
Alexander sat on the edge of a chair.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Keller inserted the memory card into an evidence laptop.
There were seven short videos.
Elena had apparently recorded them using a small camera hidden from her captors.
The first showed Nathan entering the room.
He looked younger than he had at the hotel.
“Your husband signed the death certificate.”
Nathan said.
Elena’s voice came from behind the camera.
“My husband would never stop looking.”
Nathan laughed.
“He remarried.”
The second video showed Vanessa.
She stood beside Elena’s bed.
“You should be grateful.”
Vanessa said.
“For what?”
Elena asked.
“Alexander is moving on.”
“He deserves someone who knows how to support him.”
Elena’s voice was weak.
“You?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Eventually.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
The third video was newer.
Elena was visibly pregnant.
She had turned the camera toward a mirror.
She looked thin except for her abdomen.
Her dark hair was longer than in the wedding photographs I had seen.
She placed one hand over her stomach.
“If this child is Alexander’s, please tell him I tried to protect the baby.”
Alexander covered his mouth.
Then Elena looked directly into the mirror.
“And tell him I knew he would come.”
Alexander began crying.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
He simply sat there as tears ran down his face.
The fourth video changed the investigation.
Nathan and Cynthia were arguing outside the bedroom.
The audio was faint.
But clear enough.
“You said she’d cooperate after the implantation.”
Cynthia said.
Nathan answered.
“She doesn’t have to cooperate.”
“She only has to deliver.”
“And then?”
A pause.
Cynthia lowered her voice.
“Vanessa takes the baby.”
Nathan replied.
“And Elena?”
Neither spoke for three seconds.
Then Cynthia said.
“She dies a second time.”
Alexander stood so quickly the chair fell over.
Detective Keller grabbed his arm.
“Alexander.”
“Find them.”
“We will.”
“Find her before they do that.”
Keller looked directly at him.
“We need information.”
He pointed toward the video.
“You have information.”
“We need a destination.”
I looked again at the room.
Something bothered me.
Elena had hidden the ring, note, and memory card behind the wall.
That meant she had prepared for discovery.
Maybe she had left something else.
I walked toward the calendar.
The final days had strange markings.
Not just scratches.
Letters.
M.
R.
W.
Then numbers.
I called Keller.
“These aren’t random.”
Alexander came closer.
The sequence continued.
M17.
R4.
W11.
S2.
Keller frowned.
“Could be medication.”
Alexander stared at the letters.
Then his expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“Elena and I used codes when we traveled.”
Keller looked at him.
“What kind?”
“Books.”
He walked toward the bookshelf.
“First letter is the title.”
“Number is the page.”
He pulled a book beginning with M.
Page seventeen.
One word had been circled.
North.
R.
Page four.
Another word.
River.
W.
Page eleven.
Road.
S.
Page two.
Red.
Seven books produced seven words.
NORTH.
RIVER.
ROAD.
RED.
BARN.
SILVER.
LAKE.
Keller immediately radioed her team.
Alexander whispered.
“She knew they were moving her.”
May you like
He looked at the hidden message.
“And she left us a road home.”
