Chapter 5 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE WALL
The hidden room had no windows.
It was barely large enough for two people.
The officers found it behind a false panel in Luke's office.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens of them.
Photographs.
Documents.
Medical receipts.
Bank statements.
Old phones.
Hard drives.
And folders labeled with dates.
Detective Reed stood in the doorway.
“This isn't normal.”
The officer beside him nodded.
“It's an archive.”
Luke had been keeping records.
Not because he was afraid of Caroline.
Because he had been preparing for the possibility that she would one day escape.
One folder contained photographs of Caroline leaving hospitals.
Another contained copies of her medical records.
Another contained screenshots of messages between Luke and his mother.
And then they found the folder marked:
PREGNANCIES.
Reed opened it.
His expression hardened.
There were three separate sections.
Each contained dates.
Doctor visits.
Ultrasounds.
Prescriptions.
And notes about Caroline's condition.
At the bottom of one page was a sentence written in Luke's handwriting.
If she loses this one, everyone will believe it's her fault.
Reed stared at it.
“Photograph everything.”
An officer nodded.
Then another officer called from the hallway.
“Detective!”
Reed turned.
“We found a safe.”
“Where?”
“Under the floor.”
Reed's expression changed.
He knew exactly what that meant.
The safe was opened.
Inside was not money.
It was a stack of photographs.
Each one showed Caroline asleep.
Some had been taken in the bedroom.
Some in the hospital.
Some in the bathroom.
Caroline had never known anyone was photographing her.
At the bottom was a small envelope.
Reed opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
If Caroline ever tries to leave me, use these. She'll never survive the embarrassment.
Reed's jaw tightened.
Luke hadn't simply been abusing Caroline.
He had been planning to control her even after she escaped.
But there was one final document.
A contract.
Signed by Luke.
And Margaret.
It stated that Caroline's inheritance would be transferred into Luke's control if she divorced him.
Reed read it twice.
Then he found the signature.
Caroline's.
But something was wrong.
The ink was dated three years earlier.
Caroline had been hospitalized that week.
She couldn't have signed it.
Reed photographed the document.
Then his phone rang.
“Detective?”
It was the hospital.
Caroline's condition had suddenly worsened.
Reed looked at the evidence surrounding him.
May you like
Then at the contract.
For the first time, he wondered whether Luke had planned everything from the beginning.
