Chapter 6 - TRAPPED
Julian immediately ran toward the door.
“Hey!”
He pounded the steel with both hands.
No response came from the other side.
Richard pulled out his phone.
No signal.
Elena turned on her flashlight.
“Someone knew we were down here.”
Julian looked toward his father.
“Security?”
“They were told nobody was allowed into the cellar.”
“That clearly worked.”
Richard moved toward the mechanical release.
It had been disabled.
Elena’s pulse raced.
“How much air is in here?”
Richard looked at the old ventilation grate.
“Enough if the system still works.”
Julian shined his light toward it.
“It isn’t running.”
For the first time, fear entered Richard’s expression.
Elena forced herself to think.
Victoria wanted the tape destroyed.
Maybe she also wanted the people who heard it silenced.
Julian searched the shelves.
“There has to be another way out.”
Elena remembered the original estate plans she had seen while organizing Richard’s office years ago.
“There might be.”
Both men looked at her.
“The house was built during Prohibition.”
Richard nodded.
“There were tunnels.”
“One connected the cellar to the old carriage house.”
Julian looked around.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
They searched the walls.
Minutes passed.
The air began feeling warmer.
Elena pushed against wooden shelves.
Nothing.
Then she noticed scratches across the floor behind a filing cabinet.
“Here.”
Julian helped move it.
Behind the cabinet was a narrow door.
Locked.
Richard kicked it.
Nothing.
Julian tried.
The rotten frame cracked.
On the third strike, the door opened.
Cold air rushed through.
Elena nearly laughed from relief.
They entered the tunnel.
The passage was barely wide enough for one person.
Julian went first.
Elena followed.
Richard came behind her.
Halfway through, Elena stopped.
“What?”
Julian turned.
She pointed her flashlight downward.
A modern electrical cable ran along the ancient brick wall.
“That doesn’t belong here.”
Julian crouched.
The cable led toward a tiny black device mounted between two bricks.
A camera.
Someone had been watching the tunnel.
Richard’s face darkened.
“Victoria.”
Julian removed the camera.
A small memory card was inside.
They continued toward the carriage house.
When they emerged, security officers were running across the lawn.
Richard demanded answers.
The head of security looked stunned.
“Mrs. Harrington told us you had already left the property.”
Julian stared at him.
“You believed her?”
“She showed us a message from your phone.”
Julian checked his device.
He had sent nothing.
Richard turned toward the mansion.
“Where is Victoria?”
The guard hesitated.
“She left twelve minutes ago.”
“With whom?”
“A driver.”
“Which driver?”
The guard checked his tablet.
Then his face changed.
“There’s no record of the vehicle.”
Elena looked toward the dark road beyond the estate gates.
Victoria hadn’t simply run away.
She had prepared her escape.
Julian held up the camera memory card.
“Maybe she left us something.”
They loaded the footage in the security office.
The most recent recording showed Victoria entering the tunnel two nights earlier.
But she wasn’t alone.
A man followed her.
Elena recognized him instantly.
She had seen him in the original police report from her grandfather’s crash.
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He had been the detective who removed the evidence about the cut brake lines.
And according to public records, he had died nine years ago.
