The seam formed a four-foot square, outlined with brass trim that matched the floor joints of the historic Texas mansion.
Evelyn's face lost all its warm color, her fingers digging into the fabric of her expensive dress.
Evelyn: That is an old wine tasting vault from the previous owners. It has been sealed for twenty years.
Lily: She had a big iron key in her pocket! I saw it!
Carter: Where is the key, Evelyn?
Evelyn: I don't carry keys to storage spaces! Why would I have that?
Carter knelt beside the brass outline and spotted fresh scrape marks along the recessed iron handle.
Carter: This latch was greased recently. There is fresh oil on the marble rim.
Evelyn: The exterminators were here on Tuesday! They inspected the foundations!
Carter: Marcus, pry bar. Right now.
The security guard stepped forward, sliding a heavy steel flat bar into the narrow gap between the stones.
Evelyn: If you break that antique floor, you will ruin the historic registry value of this entire estate!
Carter: I do not care about the house, Evelyn! Pry it open!
With a sharp metallic click, the internal latch snapped, and the heavy stone panel shifted upward an inch.
From the narrow opening came the damp, chilled smell of old stone and stagnant air.
Voice from Below: Help... please... is somebody there?
The faint, cracked whisper drifted into the towering rotunda, making every man in the room stop breathing.
Lily: Mommy! That is Mommy!
Carter: Clara?! Clara, answer me!
Carter shoved the security guard aside and gripped the brass ring with both hands, pulling with all his strength.
The heavy stone door swung back on counterweighted hinges, slamming against the carpet with a dull thud.
Below lay a steep flight of narrow brick steps leading into pitch-black shadow.
Clara: Carter... the light... it hurts my eyes...
Carter pulled his phone from his coat pocket, snapping the flashlight on and pointing the beam down into the cellar.
At the bottom of the steps, curled against the stone wall on a pile of moldering burlap bags, was his wife.
Her brown hair was caked with dust, her wrists dark with purple bruises, and her lips cracked from severe dehydration.
Clara: You found me!
Carter: Hold on, sweetheart! I am coming down!
Evelyn: Carter, wait! She is dangerous! She attacked me before she went down there!
Carter turned his head slowly, his eyes burning with an icy, murderous fury that made Evelyn stumble backward.
Carter: You buried my wife alive?!
Evelyn: No! It wasn't like that! She fell! It was an accident!
Carter: You locked an eight-hundred-pound stone hatch over her head and reported her as a runaway!
Lily: She took Mommy's wedding ring off her finger, Daddy! She put it in her purse!
Evelyn clutched her small leather handbag against her ribs, her breath turning into ragged gasps.
Evelyn: She was going to ruin everything! The company, the merger, our entire future!
Carter: Marcus, hold this door open. If that woman takes one step toward the front gate, tackle her.
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