PART 4 — THE ROOM BENEATH OAKRIDGE
Hailey stared at the floor.
Three knocks.
Then silence.
She whispered:
“Could it be the pipes?”
Edith shook her head.
“No.”
Another three knocks.
This time louder.
Hailey crouched beside the bed.
She pressed her palm against the floor.
Nothing.
Then—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Directly beneath her hand.
Hailey jumped back.
“Someone is down there.”
Edith nodded.
“That's what I told you.”
“How do we get down?”
“There is an old service passage.”
“Where?”
Edith pointed toward the wardrobe.
Hailey pushed it aside.
Behind it was a narrow wooden panel.
She pulled.
Nothing.
Edith handed her a hairpin.
“Try the lower corner.”
Hailey inserted it.
The lock clicked.
The panel opened.
Behind it was darkness.
And a staircase.
Hailey stared down.
“How do you know this exists?”
“I discovered it thirty years ago.”
“Why didn't you leave?”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“They brought me back.”
Hailey turned.
“Who?”
Edith didn't answer.
They descended.
The air became colder with every step.
At the bottom was a concrete corridor.
Old pipes ran across the ceiling.
Several doors lined the walls.
Most were rusted shut.
Then they heard something.
A woman crying.
Hailey froze.
“Someone is alive.”
Edith grabbed her arm.
“Quiet.”
They moved forward.
The crying stopped.
A voice whispered:
“Edith?”
Edith went pale.
“Who are you?”
The voice came again.
“It's been so long.”
Edith approached the door.
She touched it.
“Sarah?”
Hailey’s heart stopped.
“Mom?”
The woman behind the door began to sob.
Hailey grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“Move.”
She searched for something heavy.
A pipe lay nearby.
She lifted it.
Edith shouted:
“Wait!”
But Hailey swung.
Once.
Twice.
The lock broke.
The door opened.
A frail woman sat on a narrow bed.
Her hair was white.
Her face was thin.
But Hailey recognized her immediately.
The pendant around her neck.
The same one from the photograph.
“Mom?”
The woman looked up.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Hailey.”
Hailey collapsed beside her.
“Oh my God.”
She wrapped her arms around her mother.
Sarah held her tightly.
“I knew you would come.”
“How?”
Sarah looked at Edith.
“She promised.”
Edith began crying.
“I failed you.”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“You saved me.”
Hailey pulled away.
“What happened?”
Sarah looked at her.
“Walter found me twelve years ago.”
“But you were declared dead.”
“I was forced to disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because I had the final account.”
Hailey frowned.
“What account?”
Sarah looked at Edith.
“The one that proves who really owns the Ledbetter empire.”
Hailey stared.
“Who?”
Sarah whispered:
“Edith.”
Edith shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Sarah reached beneath her mattress.
She pulled out a sealed document.
“Walter stole everything.”
“But legally?”
“Legally, it belongs to Edith.”
Hailey looked at her mother.
“Then Carter can't inherit it.”
“Not unless Edith is declared incompetent.”
Hailey finally understood.
“That’s why he wants the psychiatric transfer.”
Sarah nodded.
“But there is something else.”
“What?”
Sarah looked frightened.
“Carter isn't working alone.”
Hailey's face hardened.
“Who?”
“Someone inside Oakridge.”
Edith whispered:
“Miller.”
Sarah nodded.
“Director Miller.”
Hailey remembered the hallway conversation.
The 72-hour deadline.
The paperwork.
Everything.
“Miller has been working for Walter for decades.”
Sarah looked at her.
“Not just Walter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Walter died.”
Hailey froze.
“So who?”
Sarah lowered her voice.
“Carter.”
Hailey shook her head.
“No.”
“He inherited the network.”
“But Carter is trying to take Edith’s money.”
“He isn't trying to take it.”
Sarah looked at her daughter.
“He already controls part of it.”
Hailey felt a chill.
“How?”
“Through the companies your grandfather created.”
“Grandfather?”
Sarah nodded.
“Jonathan Morgan.”
Hailey stared.
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
Sarah looked toward the ceiling.
“He was the one person Walter feared.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonathan created the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The list of every person who disappeared.”
Hailey felt her stomach tighten.
“Where is it?”
Sarah pointed toward Edith.
“She has it.”
Hailey looked at Edith.
Edith slowly turned around.
She lifted the back of her shirt.
Beneath the scars was a pattern of numbers.
Hailey looked closely.
“It isn't a code.”
“No,” Edith whispered.
“It’s a map.”
Hailey traced the markings with her eyes.
A sequence.
A location.
A set of coordinates.
She suddenly understood.
“These aren't account numbers.”
Edith nodded.
“They lead to a vault.”
“Where?”
“Under the original Ledbetter factory.”
Hailey looked at her mother.
“What’s inside?”
Sarah answered:
“Everything.”
Suddenly, footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Someone was coming.
Sarah's face went white.
“They found us.”
Edith grabbed Hailey.
“Run.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here.”
The footsteps grew louder.
A man's voice echoed through the corridor.
“Edith.”
Hailey recognized it.
Carter.
“Mother, come out.”
Then another voice.
Older.
Calmer.
One Hailey had never heard before.
“You've kept this secret long enough.”
Sarah began trembling.
Hailey whispered:
“Who is that?”
Sarah stared at the door.
“Jonathan.”
Hailey’s grandfather.
