Chapter 1 - THE TAPPING ABOVE THEIR BED.
Ranger woke Ethan Blackwood before the sound behind the wall became loud enough for human ears.
The Belgian Malinois stood on the mattress, pressed both front paws against one exact section above the headboard, and barked twice.
Claire sat upright, clutching the blanket.
“Ethan—what does he hear?”
Ethan ordered the dog down, but Ranger ignored him.
He sniffed the sage-green drywall, scratched at the same point, then froze as a faint rhythmic tapping answered from inside.
The Blackwood mansion had belonged to Ethan’s family for four generations.
Claire had lived there for only eleven months, yet she knew the walls better than her husband did.
Before marrying Ethan, she worked as a preservation architect.
The original plans showed no hollow space above the bedroom.
Ranger pulled away one loose piece of drywall.
Dust fell onto the headboard cover, revealing a narrow black cavity.
Ethan shone a flashlight inside.
Something moved beyond the beam.
Claire whispered, “There’s someone in there.”
A metallic scraping answered her.
Ranger gave one warning bark, then pushed his nose toward the opening.
Ethan widened the loose edge carefully and reached inside.
His fingers touched cold metal.
He pulled out an antique brass service bell attached to a severed wire.
The bell was still trembling.
Behind it lay a strip of midnight-blue fabric embroidered with the Blackwood family crest.
Ethan recognized it immediately.
It came from the dress his older sister Nora wore the night she disappeared fifteen years earlier.
The family had always said Nora left Seattle after stealing money from the Blackwood Foundation.
Claire examined the cloth.
It was clean.
It had been placed inside the wall recently.
Then a woman’s voice came from the darkness.
“Ethan, don’t call your mother.”
May you like
The flashlight flickered.
When it steadied, the narrow passage was empty.
