Chapter 4: The Brother I Never Knew
“It's time you told Ethan what happened to his brother.””
The voice came through the hidden speaker again.
My mother made a sound I had never heard from her before. It wasn't a scream or a cry. It was something between a gasp and a prayer.
“No,” she whispered.
“You promised you would never contact me again.””
I stared at her.
“Who is that?””
She didn't answer.
The police officers rushed down the cellar stairs, their flashlights sweeping across the stone walls. One of them immediately moved toward Emily.
“Ma'am, are you injured? We need to get you medical attention.””
Emily nodded weakly.
“Please. Get me away from her.””
The officer glanced at Margaret.
“Ma'am, step away from the woman.””
My mother raised both hands.
“I can explain everything.””
“Then you can explain it at the station.””
But before the officer could reach her, the hidden speaker crackled.
“Margaret, don't you dare pretend you don't know me.””
The voice was unmistakably male.
Older. Rough. Calm in a way that made the hairs on my arms stand up.
I moved toward the speaker.
“Who are you?””
A long silence followed.
Then the man answered.
“Hello, Ethan.””
My heart hammered.
“How do you know my name?””
“Because I watched you grow up.””
I turned toward my mother.
She was crying silently now.
“Mom, who is this?””
She shook her head.
“Don't listen to him.””
The voice laughed.
“She's still doing that, I see. Telling people what to believe before they have a chance to hear the truth.””
I looked at the small metal box beside the wall. A red light blinked inside it.
“Officer, can you turn that thing off?””
The younger officer approached the control panel.
“I'm not sure what we're dealing with here.””
He examined the wires.
“Looks like some kind of old intercom system.””
The speaker crackled again.
“Ethan, before you let anyone disconnect that system, you need to understand something.””
“What?””
“Your mother has spent thirty years pretending you were an only child.””
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“Thirty years?””
My mother covered her face.
The man continued.
“You had a brother. His name was Daniel.””
I shook my head.
“No. I don't have a brother.””
“That's what she told you.””
“Where is he?””
The man paused.
“That's the question your mother has been avoiding since the day he disappeared.””
I turned toward Margaret.
“Tell me he's lying.””
She couldn't look at me.
“Ethan, I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
“From your father.””
I stared at her.
“My father died when I was twenty-four.””
“And he took the truth with him.””
The officer looked between us.
“Ma'am, we need you to come upstairs.””
My mother didn't move.
Instead, she stared at the speaker.
“Why are you doing this now?””
The man answered immediately.
“Because Emily is free.””
Emily, who had been leaning against the stone wall, suddenly lifted her head.
“You knew?””
The voice softened.
“Of course I knew.””
She looked horrified.
“You knew I was down here?””
“I tried to get you out.””
Emily shook her head.
“You never came.””
“I couldn't.””
“You left me here!””
The man's voice became colder.
“Margaret made sure I couldn't get close.””
I looked at Emily.
“Who is he?””
She swallowed.
“Someone who came to see me once.””
“When?””
“About a year ago.””
My stomach tightened.
“What did he want?””
“He wanted me to sign a document. He said it would help me get out.””
“Did you?””
“No.””
“Why?””
Emily looked toward my mother.
“Because your mother told me he was the reason I was imprisoned.””
Margaret stepped forward.
“That's enough!””
The officer blocked her path.
“Ma'am, stay where you are.””
My mother turned toward me.
“Ethan, listen carefully. That man is dangerous. Your father trusted him, and look what happened to our family.””
I stared at her.
“You said Dad knew about the cellar.””
She closed her eyes.
“He knew about Daniel.””
The name seemed to hang in the air.
I remembered a photograph from my childhood.
It had been taken in front of our old house. I was standing beside my father, holding a toy airplane. Behind us was a woman holding a baby.
My mother had always told me the baby was a cousin.
Now I wondered whether that had been Daniel.
“Was he older than me?”” I asked.
Mom nodded.
“Three years.””
I tried to picture it.
A brother.
A child who had shared my house, my parents, my childhood.
Someone who should have been in every family photograph.
“Where did he go?””
My mother sat down on the bottom step.
“When you were little, Daniel became very sick. Your father took him to a hospital in another state.””
“That doesn't explain why I never heard about him.””
“He died.””
The man on the speaker laughed bitterly.
“That's a lie, Ethan.””
Mom closed her eyes.
“Daniel died to us.””
I felt something break inside me.
“What does that mean?””
The speaker crackled.
“It means your brother is alive.””
I looked toward the darkness beyond the second opening.
A faint metallic sound came from below.
Then a man's voice spoke again.
“Ethan, I am your brother.””
I couldn't breathe.
One of the officers stepped toward the opening.
“Sir, we're going to need you to identify yourself.””
A light flickered somewhere beneath the floor.
Then a figure appeared at the bottom of the narrow passage.
A man.
He was tall, thin, and leaning heavily on a wooden cane. His hair was almost completely gray, although he couldn't have been much older than forty.
He looked up.
His eyes settled on me.
And I recognized them.
They were the same eyes I saw in the mirror every morning.
“Hello, little brother,” he said.
I stared at him.
“Daniel?””
He nodded.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then my mother suddenly screamed.
“GET HIM OUT OF HERE!””
Daniel looked at her.
“You've had thirty years to keep me away from him, Margaret.””
He slowly climbed the last few steps.
“And now he's going to hear everything.””
My mother began shaking her head.
“No. You can't.””
Daniel stopped directly in front of me.
He reached into his coat and pulled out an old photograph.
It showed two little boys sitting on the grass.
One was Daniel.
The other was me.
On the back, in my father's handwriting, were five words.
My sons. Before she took one.
Daniel placed the photograph in my hand.
Then he leaned closer and whispered:
“Ethan, your father didn't die of a heart attack.””
May you like
He glanced at Margaret.
“He was murdered.””
