Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the Wall
By sunset, county engineers had secured the upper well and fitted an inspection camera to a cable.
Detective Ellis allowed Mark to watch from behind the safety barrier because the chamber might hold evidence relevant to Lily's rescue.
The camera descended past the ledge where Lily had waited.
Below it, a second circular shaft opened into a dry side passage.
There was no bottomless pit, only an old pumping system built in layers long before the mansion.
A rusted iron plate carried the faded words WELL TWO.
The camera drifted left.
A red door appeared beyond a short tunnel.
And someone had placed a clean plastic water bottle outside it.
"That hasn't been sitting there for fifty years," Ellis said.
She sent a search team through a separate service entrance found on county maps.
Mark waited in the garden until a radio crackled.
"Door's locked. We hear movement behind it."
Ellis took the radio.
"Identify yourselves."
A woman's frail voice came through the speaker.
"Don't let Margarethe down here."
Mark stopped breathing.
He knew that voice.
Aunt Evelyn, his father's younger sister, had disappeared from the family sixteen years ago after Margarethe accused her of stealing money.
He'd been told she left the country and wanted no contact.
"Evelyn?" he shouted toward the radio.
A pause.
Then the voice answered, "Mark?"
He pressed his fist against his mouth.
"Where have you been?"
"Trying to keep the proof alive."
The radio filled with sudden scraping and a metallic crash.
"Get the door open," Ellis ordered.
A second voice came through, low and furious.
May you like
"She shouldn't have spoken."
The connection cut out.
