The Hidden Message

Leo bolted from the kitchen. Claire let him go. A minute later she found him in his room, kneeling on the bed, both hands under the pillow.

He pulled out a cracked black smartphone with a strip of tape over the camera lens. Taped to the back was a tiny brass key on a ring.

Claire didn’t reach for it. “That from your mom?”

He nodded once.

“Does it work?”

He hesitated, then hit play.

Static filled the room first. Then a man’s voice, low and flat, came through the speaker.

“If he keeps bringing in new help, you know what to do. Break something. Scream if you have to. I don’t care how ugly it gets. The next time he pushes me, your father pays for it.”

Leo’s hand shook hard enough that the phone rattled against his palm.

Claire stepped closer and lowered herself to the edge of the bed. “How many times did you hear that?”

He swallowed. “Too many.”

Outside, somewhere in the house, a door shut.

Claire took the phone only after he let go of it. On the screen, the message thread at the top showed one name.

Nathan Mercer.