Chapter 2: He Has the Key
The female officer didn't hesitate.
She stepped past me into the hallway.
"Ma'am?
Can you hear me?"
The pounding stopped.
Then Milo screamed again.
"He has the key!
Daniel has the key!"
The male officer turned to me.
"Sir.
I need you to step outside."
"This is my house—"
"Step outside.
Now."
I moved toward the hallway instead.
I don't know why.
Maybe I thought I could still fix it.
The female officer blocked me with one arm.
Her hand was no longer near her radio.
They found the key in my jacket pocket.
The one I told them I didn't have.
The male officer crouched at the basement door, examining the locks.
Three deadbolts.
All installed from the outside.
"How long has your wife been visiting her sister?"
"A few days."
"Which sister?"
I couldn't remember the name I'd already given them.
Milo had gone quiet.
That was almost worse than the screaming.
Then the female officer pressed her ear to the basement door and went very still.
"There's someone breathing down there."
She looked at her partner.
Something passed between them that I wasn't meant to see.
"Daniel." Her voice was flat and careful.
"Where is the key to the third lock?"
---
What they found when that door finally opened changed everything.
May you like
The full story — including what Megan had hidden down there to protect herself — is in the link below.
Read it before Part 3 is gone.
