Chapter 6
The blue wall.
I knew exactly which wall.
It stood behind the shelves in the basement laundry room.
Nathan had painted it himself after we moved in.
He said the old color bothered him.
He said everything down there needed to look clean.
Now I knew clean meant hidden.
Reed got a warrant within hours.
I could not go.
So Claire went with him.
She video-called me from the basement.
The cage had been removed, but the marks remained on the floor.
I could not look at them long.
Claire turned the camera toward the blue wall.
“Ready?”
“No,” I said. “Do it anyway.”
Officers cut into the drywall.
Behind it was a metal cabinet.
Locked.
They opened it with a crowbar.
Inside were files.
Cash.
Fake IDs.
And photographs.
Claire stopped speaking.
“Claire?”
She lifted one picture toward the camera.
A woman.
Pregnant.
Standing in our backyard.
I had never seen her.
On the back was a name.
Mara Keller.
Nathan’s first wife.
I went cold.
Nathan told me Mara left him.
He said she hated family life.
He said she disappeared and never looked back.
Reed read through the files.
His jaw tightened.
“Mara Keller was declared missing seven years ago.”
My throat closed.
“Declared by who?”
“Evelyn.”
Claire found another envelope.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
Baby Boy Keller.
Date of birth.
Seven years ago.
I whispered, “Nathan had a child?”
May you like
Reed looked at the wall cavity again.
“No,” he said quietly. “He had two.”
