Chapter 8 - THE SECRET HIDDEN UNDER THE FLOORPolice surrounded Evelyn's house.
The front door was open.
No lights were on.
The house looked abandoned.
But there were fresh footprints in the mud.
The detective motioned for everyone to stay back.
We heard a sound inside.
A woman screaming.
“Trevor!”
Evelyn.
Trevor tried to rush inside.
The officers stopped him.
“Wait.”
Then a gunshot echoed.
Everything erupted.
Police stormed the house.
I stayed behind the vehicle.
Minutes passed.
Then an officer emerged.
“She's alive.”
I nearly collapsed with relief.
But Bell was gone.
Again.
Evelyn was found tied to a chair in the basement.
She was bruised but conscious.
She looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at her.
“You should be.”
She began crying.
“I never wanted this.”
“You helped him.”
“I know.”
“You gave him access to my babies.”
“I thought he was helping them.”
“You believed a man who told you your grandchildren would be better off dead?”
She covered her face.
“I was wrong.”
Trevor stood beside me.
“Where is Bell?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Under the floor.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
She pointed toward the basement.
“There is a hidden room.”
The officers searched.
They found a concealed panel beneath an old cabinet.
Behind it was a narrow staircase.
At the bottom was a room filled with boxes.
Photographs.
Documents.
Medical supplies.
And something else.
A wall covered with pictures of my family.
My wedding.
My pregnancy.
Emma's birthday.
The twins' birth.
Every important moment of our lives.
Bell had been watching us for years.
Then the detective found a folder labeled:
FINAL PHASE.
Inside were instructions.
Bell planned to disappear after framing Trevor.
But there was a second part.
He intended to kidnap Emma.
I felt sick.
“Why Emma?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Because she saw him.”
The detective looked at her.
“What did she see?”
“The night of the funeral.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Emma didn't just see me.”
Silence.
“She saw Dr. Bell.”
I looked at Emma.
She had been too young to understand.
But she had remembered him.
“He was there that night?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He came into the house after Trevor left.”
Trevor looked horrified.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he threatened to kill Trevor.”
The detective suddenly found another recording.
Bell's voice filled the room.
“If Emma remembers me, she becomes a problem.”
My blood ran cold.
Evelyn cried.
“I tried to protect her.”
“You tried to protect yourself.”
“I know.”
Then the recording continued.
Bell said something that changed everything.
“The twins weren't the first.”
The detective stopped the recording.
“What did he mean?”
Nobody knew.
We searched through the files.
Then we found photographs of other children.
Three families.
Three unexplained deaths.
All connected to Bell.
The same pattern.
Medical records altered.
Families blamed.
Mothers accused.
Fathers manipulated.
It wasn't just our family.
Bell had done this before.
And he had escaped justice every time.
Then I found a photograph.
A woman holding two infants.
On the back was a handwritten note.
She survived.
I turned the photograph over.
The woman looked familiar.
Very familiar.
I had seen her face before.
On television.
She was the woman who had exposed a major medical scandal years earlier.
She had disappeared shortly afterward.
The detective looked at the photograph.
“We need to find her.”
“Why?”
“Because she may be the only person who can prove Bell's history.”
Then the basement door slammed shut.
Everyone turned.
The lights went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You should have stopped digging.”
Bell.
The detective shouted:
“Marcus Bell! You're surrounded!”
Bell laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
Then he said:
“The woman in that photograph isn't a victim.”
I froze.
“She was my partner.”
The room went silent.
May you like
Bell continued.
“And she knows exactly what happened to your twins.”
