PART 3: THE MAN WHO LIVED NEXT DOOR
\n\u201cEvan, don\u2019t listen to her.\u201d
\nThe elderly woman stood at the top of the basement stairs.
\nSnow covered the shoulders of her burgundy coat.
\nOfficer Reynolds immediately reached for his weapon.
\n\u201cStay where you are,\u201d he ordered.
\nThe woman raised both hands.
\n\u201cMy name is Ruth Keller.\u201d
\nNatalie\u2019s voice came through my phone.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d she whispered. \u201cMy grandmother is dead.\u201d
\nRuth stared at the phone.
\nHer expression changed.
\n\u201cAsk Natalie where she is.\u201d
\n\u201cNatalie, where are you?\u201d
\n\u201cI can\u2019t tell you.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you alone?\u201d
\nShe began crying again.
\n\u201cJust leave the house, Evan.\u201d
\n\u201cDid someone tell you to say Ruth was dead?\u201d
\nSilence.
\n\u201cNatalie?\u201d
\nA man spoke in the background.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s enough.\u201d
\nThe call disconnected.
\nI tried calling back.
\nThe number was unavailable.
\nOfficer Reynolds climbed two steps toward Ruth.
\n\u201cHow did you enter this house?\u201d
\n\u201cThe side door was open.\u201d
\n\u201cIt was being watched.\u201d
\n\u201cApparently not very well.\u201d
\nReynolds didn\u2019t appreciate that answer.
\nHe guided Ruth down the stairs and asked another officer to search her shopping bag.
\nThey found tea, a wallet, an old photograph, and a folded newspaper clipping.
\nNothing that could be used as a weapon.
\nReynolds examined the identification in her wallet.
\nThe name said Ruth Keller.<\/p>\n
The birth date made her eighty-one years old.
\n\u201cThis license was issued three years ago,\u201d he said.
\nRuth nodded.
\n\u201cMy granddaughter is being forced to repeat a lie.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat lie?\u201d
\n\u201cThat I died twelve years ago.\u201d
\nI held up my phone.
\n\u201cShe sounded terrified.\u201d
\n\u201cBecause Victor was standing beside her.\u201d
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, I do.\u201d
\n\u201cHow?\u201d
\n\u201cHe used the same words with Caroline.\u201d
\nRuth\u2019s voice cracked when she said her daughter\u2019s name.
\nReynolds unfolded the newspaper clipping.
\nIt was an obituary.
\nRuth Keller.
\nBeloved wife of the late Harold Keller.
\nMother of Caroline Mercer.
\nGrandmother of Natalie Mercer.
\nAccording to the date, Ruth had died twelve years earlier after suffering a stroke.
\nThe photograph beside the obituary showed a younger version of the woman standing in front of us.
\n\u201cYou have an obituary,\u201d Reynolds said.
\n\u201cMany living people do.\u201d
\n\u201cExplain.\u201d
\n\u201cMy son-in-law needed me legally dead.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d
\n\u201cTo control the family trust.\u201d
\nRuth pointed toward the metal box inside the hidden room.
\n\u201cThe real documents are in there.\u201d
\nReynolds stepped closer to her.
\n\u201cYou expect us to believe someone declared you dead without a body?\u201d
\n\u201cThere was a body.\u201d
\nNobody spoke.
\nRuth lowered her eyes.
\n\u201cA woman about my age died in a private care facility. Victor identified her as me.\u201d
\n\u201cHow could he do that?\u201d
\n\u201cHe owned part of the facility through another company.\u201d
\nReynolds studied her face.
\n\u201cAnd where were you?\u201d
\n\u201cIn another facility under my maiden name.\u201d
\n\u201cYou were held there for twelve years?\u201d
\n\u201cFor eight.\u201d
\n\u201cHow did you get out?\u201d
\n\u201cA nurse discovered my records had been changed. She helped me contact an attorney.\u201d
\n\u201cThen why didn\u2019t you go to the police?\u201d
\n\u201cI did.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat happened?\u201d
\n\u201cMy medical history said I had dementia. Victor had papers showing I was confused, unstable, and dangerous. Every accusation I made became further proof that I was sick.\u201d
\nHer voice remained calm.<\/p>\n
That calmness made her story more frightening.
\n\u201cWhy did you disappear for the last four years?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cI stopped trying to convince people who had already decided I was dead.\u201d
\n\u201cBut you contacted Natalie.\u201d
\n\u201cThree weeks ago.\u201d
\n\u201cDid she believe you?\u201d
\n\u201cNot at first.\u201d
\n\u201cThen why did she meet you Monday?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause I told her something only her grandmother could know.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat?\u201d
\nRuth looked at me.
\n\u201cWhen Natalie was nine, she broke a blue glass bird in my bedroom. She was afraid her grandfather would be angry, so she buried the pieces beneath the maple tree. Harold saw her do it, but he never said a word. He bought another bird and told her glass sometimes heals itself overnight.\u201d
\nI remembered a small blue bird on the shelf in our bedroom.
\nNatalie had carried it through every apartment we ever rented.
\nShe told me it was the last gift her grandmother gave her before she died.
\n\u201cIf Natalie knows you\u2019re alive, why did she just deny it?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause Victor made her.\u201d
\nReynolds pointed toward the hidden room.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s examine the box.\u201d
\nThe metal box was locked, but the same brass key opened it.
\nInside were dozens of folders wrapped in plastic.
\nThe first contained the original Keller family trust.
\nThe second held property records.
\nThe third contained copies of bank transfers totaling more than two million dollars.
\nEach transfer had been authorized with Ruth\u2019s signature after the date listed in her obituary.
\n\u201cShe was legally dead when these were signed,\u201d Reynolds said.
\n\u201cExactly,\u201d Ruth replied.
\nAnother folder contained medical records from Hawthorne Ridge Care Center.
\nThe patient\u2019s name was Sarah Cole.
\nA photograph had been attached to the first page.
\nIt was Ruth.
\nAcross the top, someone had written:
\nNO VISITORS. PATIENT SUFFERS FROM VIOLENT DELUSIONS.
\nRuth turned away.
\nI opened another envelope.
\nInside was a handwritten statement from Harold.
\nIf you are reading this, Victor has discovered that I kept copies.
\nCaroline did not leave her daughter voluntarily.
\nShe was preparing to report him.
\nIf anything happens to me, protect Natalie.
\nMy hands began trembling.
\nThere were two signatures at the bottom.
\nHarold Keller.
\nAnd Frank Walters.
\nI stared at the second name.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s my neighbor.\u201d
\nRuth grabbed the document.
\n\u201cWho?\u201d
\n\u201cFrank Walters. He lives next door.\u201d
\nThe color drained from her face.
\n\u201cHow long has he lived there?\u201d
\n\u201cAbout ten months.\u201d
\n\u201cDescribe him.\u201d
\n\u201cLate sixties. Gray beard. Thin. Wears glasses.\u201d
\n\u201cDoes he have a scar near his right ear?\u201d
\nI thought about it.
\nFrank usually wore a cap pulled low.
\nBut I remembered seeing a pale line behind his ear when he helped me repair the backyard fence.
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\nRuth nearly dropped the document.
\nOfficer Reynolds noticed.
\n\u201cYou know him?\u201d
\nRuth looked toward the basement window facing Frank\u2019s house.
\n\u201cFrank Walters died sixteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cold pressure filled my chest.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s impossible. I spoke to him this morning.\u201d
\n\u201cThe real Frank was Harold\u2019s friend. He witnessed that statement.\u201d
\n\u201cThen who lives next door?\u201d
\nRuth backed away from the window.
\n\u201cVictor.\u201d
\nI almost laughed.
\nNot because it was funny.
\nBecause my mind refused to accept it.
\n\u201cNatalie would recognize her own father.\u201d
\n\u201cVictor looked different before his supposed death. He was heavier. No beard. No glasses.\u201d
\n\u201cHe has lived beside us for ten months.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why Natalie became frightened.\u201d
\nI remembered the night Frank moved in.
\nHe had brought over a bottle of wine and introduced himself.
\nNatalie took one look at him and dropped her glass.
\nShe said it had slipped.
\nFor months afterward, she kept the curtains closed on that side of the house.
\nI had asked why.
\nShe said she wanted more privacy.
\nAnother memory returned.
\nThree weeks earlier, Natalie saw Frank standing at the end of our driveway.
\nShe turned the car around and didn\u2019t come home for two hours.
\nWhen I asked where she had gone, she said she needed air.
\n\u201cShe recognized him,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cNot immediately,\u201d Ruth replied. \u201cBut something about his voice bothered her. Then she saw the scar.\u201d
\nOfficer Reynolds spoke into his radio.
\nHe ordered two officers to approach Frank\u2019s house.
\nNo one answered the front door.
\nHis truck was still parked in the driveway.
\nThe officers checked the windows.
\nThe house appeared empty.
\nMike, the contractor, called us back to the hidden room.
\n\u201cYou need to see this.\u201d
\nHe pointed toward a bundle of wires running through the rear wall.
\n\u201cThese aren\u2019t old.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat do they connect to?\u201d Reynolds asked.
\n\u201cWe\u2019d have to follow them, but they\u2019re heading toward the neighboring property.\u201d
\n\u201cCameras?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cPossibly.\u201d
\nMike removed a loose section of wood.
\nBehind it was a narrow passage barely wide enough for a person to crawl through.
\nFresh mud covered the floor.
\nThe passage traveled beneath the side yard.
\nDirectly toward Frank\u2019s house.
\nReynolds aimed his flashlight inside.
\nA pair of orange snow boots sat near the entrance.
\nThe same boots Frank had worn that morning.
\n\u201cHe didn\u2019t stay off my property,\u201d I said.
\nFrank had pretended to examine the depression from the sidewalk.
\nBut his boots were already beneath my house.
\n\u201cHe knew about the collapse before I called him.\u201d
\nA terrible realization struck me.
\nThe headlights I saw at two in the morning might not have come from the street.
\nThey could have come from Frank\u2019s driveway.
\nReynolds sent an officer through the passage while the others entered Frank\u2019s house through an unlocked rear door.
\nRuth, Mike, and I were ordered to remain in my basement.
\nTen minutes later, Reynolds returned.
\n\u201cMr. Brooks, I need you to identify something.\u201d<\/p>\n
He led me outside.
\nThe snow between our houses had been disturbed by police footprints.
\nFrank\u2019s back door stood open.
\nInside, the house looked completely normal.
\nClean kitchen.
\nOld furniture.
\nFamily photographs.
\nA half-finished cup of coffee sat on the counter.
\nThen Reynolds opened the basement door.
\nThe room below looked nothing like the rest of the house.
\nSix monitors covered one wall.
\nEach displayed a different part of my property.
\nMy driveway.
\nMy backyard.
\nMy living room.
\nMy bedroom.
\nThe hidden room beneath the porch.
\nSomeone had been watching Natalie and me inside our own home.
\nI stepped closer to the bedroom screen.
\nThe camera angle came from the ceiling vent.
\nI remembered Frank offering to clean our air ducts the month after he moved in.
\nHe said retired inspectors got bored.
\nI had let him spend an entire afternoon inside the house.
\n\u201cHe installed the cameras,\u201d I said.
\nOn a desk beneath the monitors were photographs, documents, and several mobile phones.
\nReynolds picked up a driver\u2019s license.
\nThe photograph showed Frank without his beard.
\nThe name was Victor Mercer.
\nA second identification called him Frank Walters.
\nA third called him Daniel Price.
\nAll three had different birth dates.
\nRuth stared at the photograph.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s him.\u201d
\nI felt sick.
\nFor ten months, Natalie\u2019s supposedly dead father had waved to us across the driveway.
\nHe had borrowed my tools.
\nHe had eaten hamburgers at our summer cookout.
\nHe had stood in my kitchen and complimented Natalie\u2019s cooking.
\nEvery time he looked at her, he knew exactly who she was.
\nReynolds opened a drawer.
\nInside was Natalie\u2019s missing silver necklace.
\nA small amount of blood stained the broken clasp.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re treating this as an abduction,\u201d he said.
\nAnother officer hurried down the stairs.
\n\u201cWe found the sedan.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere?\u201d
\n\u201cAbandoned near the old water-treatment plant.\u201d
\n\u201cAny sign of the woman?\u201d
\n\u201cNo, but there\u2019s blood on the back seat.\u201d
\nMy knees weakened.
\nRuth caught my arm.
\n\u201cVictor won\u2019t hurt her until he has the box.\u201d
\n\u201cHow can you know that?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause Natalie is his only way to control you.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy me?\u201d
\n\u201cYou own the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care about the house.\u201d
\n\u201cBut legally, everything found beneath it belongs to you until a court decides otherwise.\u201d
\nI looked toward the documents we had carried from the hidden room.
\n\u201cWhat does he want?\u201d
\n\u201cNot the money records.\u201d
\n\u201cThen what?\u201d
\nRuth searched through the folders.
\nHer movements became faster.
\nMore desperate.
\nFinally, she looked up.
\n\u201cThere should be a red envelope.\u201d
\n\u201cThere wasn\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u201cHarold put it inside the box.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat was in it?\u201d
\n\u201cEvidence showing what Victor did to Caroline.\u201d
\n\u201cYour daughter?\u201d
\n\u201cAnd proof that she survived.\u201d
\nI stared at Ruth.
\n\u201cYou said her body was never found.\u201d
\n\u201cBecause she wasn\u2019t in the car.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is she?\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. Harold believed Victor kept her alive somewhere.\u201d
\n\u201cFor more than twenty years?\u201d
\nRuth wiped tears from her face.
\n\u201cAs long as Caroline was alive, Victor could force her to sign whatever he needed.\u201d
\nOne of the monitors suddenly went black.
\nThen another.
\nThen all six screens flickered.
\nA video appeared on the center monitor.
\nNatalie sat tied to a chair inside a concrete room.
\nBlood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
\nHer eyes were open.
\nShe was alive.
\n\u201cNatalie!\u201d I rushed toward the screen.
\nShe couldn\u2019t hear me.
\nA digital clock on the wall behind her showed the current time.
\nThe video was live.
\nA man stepped into view.
\nFrank.
\nVictor.
\nMy neighbor removed his glasses and pulled off his gray beard.
\nWithout the disguise, I could see the face from Natalie\u2019s old family photographs.
\nHe looked directly into the camera.
\n\u201cHello, Evan.\u201d
\nHis voice came through a speaker beneath the desk.
\n\u201cYou have something that belongs to me.\u201d
\nRuth leaned toward the monitor.
\n\u201cVictor, where is Natalie?\u201d
\nHe smiled.
\n\u201cHello, Ruth. You look remarkably healthy for a dead woman.\u201d
\n\u201cLet her go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBring me Harold\u2019s red envelope.\u201d
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have it.\u201d
\nHis smile disappeared.
\n\u201cThen find it.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere are you?\u201d Reynolds demanded.
\nVictor ignored him.
\n\u201cYou have sixty minutes, Evan. Come alone.\u201d
\n\u201cTo where?\u201d
\n\u201cThe place where Caroline\u2019s car entered the river.\u201d
\nA second light switched on inside the concrete room.
\nAnother chair stood beside Natalie.
\nA thin woman with long gray hair was tied to it.
\nHer face was bruised.
\nHer clothing hung loosely from her body.
\nRuth made a sound like all the air had been torn from her lungs.
\nShe pressed both hands against the monitor.
\n\u201cCaroline.\u201d
\nThe woman slowly lifted her head.
\nEven after more than twenty years, she looked like the photograph of Natalie\u2019s mother.
\nNatalie turned toward her and whispered one word.
\n\u201cMom?\u201d
\nVictor stepped between them.
\n\u201cBring me the red envelope,\u201d he said, \u201cor you\u2019ll watch them both disappear.\u201d
\nThe screen went black.
\nAt that exact moment, my phone received a photograph.
\nIt showed the frozen river outside Cleveland.
\nTwo chairs sat near a hole cut into the ice.
\nBeneath the picture was a message.
\nFIFTY-NINE MINUTES.
\nThen Ruth grabbed my arm.
\n\u201cEvan, the red envelope was never inside the box.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is it?\u201d
\nShe looked toward my house through the basement window.
\n\u201cHarold hid it inside the blue glass bird.\u201d
\nAnd the bird was sitting on the shelf in the bedroom where Victor had installed a camera\u2026.<\/p>\n