Chapter 5 - Behind the Machine
The machine was disconnected.
Its electrical cables had been cut years ago.
Rust covered the back panel.
Emily approached carefully.
Margaret remained outside the doorway.
Daniel stood motionless.
Noah had been sent upstairs with security.
"You remember this machine?" Emily asked.
Daniel nodded.
"I remember Claire climbing into laundry baskets."
"Did she ever climb inside?"
"I don't know."
Margaret suddenly said, "Yes."
Daniel turned.
Margaret's face looked older.
"She liked hiding in it."
Emily stared at her.
"You knew?"
"Everyone knew."
"Then why lock this room?"
"Because after she disappeared I couldn't look at it."
Daniel walked toward the machine.
On the floor beneath it were scratches.
Parallel marks.
As if the machine had been moved repeatedly.
Daniel crouched.
"Help me."
Security pulled it away from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Not a room.
More like an unfinished maintenance space.
Inside were old cardboard boxes.
Margaret whispered, "No."
Daniel turned.
"You knew those were there?"
She did not answer.
They removed the first box.
Children's clothing.
A yellow sweater.
Daniel stopped.
The same yellow sweater Claire wore in the family photograph.
He touched it.
"Mom."
Margaret began crying.
Emily had never seen her cry.
"Why is this here?"
Margaret covered her mouth.
Daniel opened another box.
Toys.
A small pair of shoes.
School drawings.
Photographs.
Everything associated with Claire.
Preserved.
Hidden.
Emily looked at Margaret.
"You kept all her belongings behind the washing machine?"
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
"Then who did?"
"Richard."
Daniel looked up.
His father had died nine years earlier.
"Dad?"
Margaret nodded.
"After Claire vanished, he couldn't bear seeing her things."
"So he hid them?"
"Yes."
Daniel held up the yellow sweater.
"Why not throw them away?"
Margaret whispered, "Because he believed she might come back."
The sentence changed the room.
"You said she was dead," Emily said.
Margaret looked away.
"I said after twenty-seven years it was reasonable."
"Richard didn't think so."
"No."
"Why?"
Margaret said nothing.
Daniel began searching the boxes faster.
At the bottom of the third one he found a cassette tape.
Label:
November 18, 1999.
The date Claire disappeared.
They found an old cassette player in the storage cabinets.
Daniel inserted the tape.
Static.
Then Richard Carter's voice.
"If anyone finds this, Margaret doesn't know I'm recording."
Margaret's face went white.
Daniel pressed closer.
Richard continued.
"Claire is missing. Police think she left through the garden door. I don't believe it."
Margaret whispered, "Turn it off."
Daniel ignored her.
"I found blood on the laundry floor this morning. Margaret cleaned it before detectives arrived."
Emily looked toward Margaret.
Daniel's breathing changed.
Richard continued.
"She says Claire cut her knee yesterday."
Margaret shouted, "Turn it off!"
Daniel did not.
"I also found a man's cuff link behind the machine."
A pause.
"Not mine."
Emily felt cold.
"Margaret says nobody else was here."
Another pause.
"She is lying."
The tape ended.
Daniel stared at his mother.
"Who was here?"
Margaret cried silently.
"Who?"
She whispered, "Your uncle."
Daniel frowned.
"I don't have an uncle."
Margaret looked at him.
"Richard did."
Daniel's face changed.
"Who?"
"Thomas."
Emily had never heard the name.
Margaret continued.
"Thomas Carter was Richard's younger brother."
"What does he have to do with Claire?"
Margaret looked toward the machine.
May you like
Then said something that made Daniel step backward.
"Thomas was Claire's biological father."
