The footsteps outside Mara's bedroom stopped.
She stood beside her desk, staring at the door. The cassette recorder lay beside her phone, its final words still echoing in her mind.
She's still here.
The handle moved again.
"Who's there?" Mara called.
No answer.
She approached quietly and looked through the narrow gap beneath the door. A shadow stretched across the carpet.
Then came a soft knock.
"Ms Vale?"
It was Adrian Cross.
Mara unlocked the door but kept the chain in place.
"What do you want?"
"I need to speak with you."
"It's nearly midnight."
"I'm aware."
She removed the chain and opened the door.
Adrian stood alone in the corridor. His expression was calm, but his eyes moved immediately towards the desk.
"Have you listened to the cassette?"
Mara said nothing.
"I thought so."
"How did you know I had it?"
"Because someone told me."
"Who?"
Adrian looked down the corridor.
"Not here."
Mara folded her arms.
"You seem to know an awful lot about what happens in this house for someone who claims to know nothing."
"I never said I knew nothing."
"Then tell me what you know about Nora."
Adrian took a breath.
"Some things are better discussed in the morning."
"That's what everyone keeps saying."
He stepped closer.
"Listen carefully. Whatever you found in that room, do not play it again."
"Why?"
"Because you don't understand what you're listening to."
"Then explain it."
For a moment, Adrian seemed ready to answer. Instead, he looked at the recorder once more.
"Keep your door locked tonight."
He turned and walked away.
Mara watched until he disappeared around the corner.
Then she closed the door and secured the lock.
Someone had told Adrian about the cassette.
That meant either someone had been watching her, or someone had entered her room.
She examined the window. It was locked from the inside. The balcony was too narrow to stand on, and there were no signs of damage.
She returned to the desk and placed the cassette inside her handbag.
Sleep was no longer an option.
At seven the following morning, Mara left her room.
The corridor was silent. Pale sunlight entered through the windows, revealing dust floating in the air.
She walked downstairs and found Leah Mercer standing near the entrance to the study.
"You're up early," Leah said.
"So are you."
"I couldn't sleep."
Mara glanced at the study door.
"Has anyone been inside?"
"Not that I've seen."
Mara tried the handle.
It was locked.
"Do you have a key?"
"No. Adrian keeps it."
Mara examined the lock. There were faint scratches around the keyhole.
"Someone tried to open it recently."
Leah moved closer.
"How can you tell?"
"Look at the metal. Those marks weren't made years ago."
Before Leah could respond, footsteps sounded behind them.
Daniel approached, carrying a cup of coffee.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking at the study," Mara replied.
"Why?"
"Because the recorder disappeared from inside it yesterday."
Daniel looked at the locked door.
"Adrian has the key."
"Exactly."
He placed his coffee on a nearby table.
"Stay away from this door until we know what's going on."
Mara turned towards him.
"Do you always tell people to stop asking questions?"
"Only when I think they're about to make a mistake."
"And what mistake would that be?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead, he walked away.
Leah watched him disappear.
"He's frightened," she said.
"Of what?"
"That's what I would like to know."
At breakfast, the seven guests gathered around the dining table.
Ruth looked exhausted. Simon had barely touched his food, while Evelyn appeared irritated by the lack of information.
Peter was absent.
"Where is Peter?" Mara asked.
"His room," Mrs Finch replied as she placed a pot of tea on the table.
"Is he unwell?"
Mrs Finch hesitated.
"He says he doesn't want breakfast."
Evelyn sighed.
"Wonderful. We're already losing people."
"Perhaps he has a reason," Ruth said.
Evelyn looked at her.
"Perhaps we all do."
Before the conversation could continue, Adrian entered.
He placed a small black folder on the table.
"Judge Harrow's instructions state that the seven sealed files are to be distributed this morning."
"Finally," Leah said.
Adrian opened the folder.
But it was empty.
He stared inside, then checked the table.
"Where are they?"
Daniel stood.
"What's missing?"
"The files. They were in the study drawer last night."
Mara exchanged a glance with Leah.
"Was the drawer locked?"
"Yes."
"Who has the key?"
Adrian looked towards the guests.
"I do."
The room fell silent.
Evelyn leaned back in her chair.
"Then perhaps you should explain how seven sealed files disappeared from a locked drawer when you were the only person with the key."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"I did not take them."
"Can you prove that?" Mara asked.
He closed the folder.
"Someone has been entering rooms without permission. Until I understand how, nobody is to leave the house."
Daniel looked at him sharply.
"You cannot detain us."
"I am not detaining anyone. But I would advise against leaving before we understand what has happened."
Ruth stood.
"I've spent twenty years waiting for answers. I'm not going anywhere."
Mara looked around the table.
Nobody seemed surprised by the missing files.
Almost as though they had expected something like this to happen.
An hour later, Mara returned to the study with Leah.
Adrian had gone to inspect the security system, and Daniel was speaking with Simon in the drawing room.
The study door remained locked.
Leah examined the shelves.
"Do you remember the knocking last night?"
"Of course."
"Could someone have been behind these shelves?"
"Peter mentioned a passage."
Leah ran her fingers along the wooden frame.
"Then perhaps we should find it."
Mara examined the books. Most were old legal texts, historical records and personal collections belonging to Judge Harrow.
One book looked different.
It was a thick volume titled The History of Blackthorn Estate. Unlike the others, it appeared almost untouched.
Mara pulled it.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, turning the book slightly.
A quiet click came from inside the wall.
Both women stepped back.
A narrow section of the bookshelf shifted forward.
Behind it was a dark opening.
Leah stared.
"That's impossible."
Mara took out her phone and switched on its flashlight.
The opening revealed a narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person.
A cold draft came from inside.
"Should we tell Daniel?" Leah asked.
"Not yet."
Mara stepped through.
The passage smelled of damp wood and old dust. A few metres ahead, another door stood slightly open.
She pushed it gently.
Beyond it was a small room containing a desk, a chair and several empty shelves.
A photograph lay on the floor.
Mara picked it up.
It showed Judge Edmund Harrow standing beside a young woman.
The woman's face had been scratched out.
On the back was a handwritten message.
She was never meant to disappear.
Leah read it over Mara's shoulder.
"Who is she?"
"I don't know."
Mara turned the photograph towards the light.
At the bottom corner was a date.
18 August 2006.
The exact date Nora Bell disappeared.
Then they heard something.
A faint sound came from the passage behind them.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching.
Mara quickly switched off her flashlight.
Leah covered her mouth.
The footsteps stopped outside the hidden room.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
"Ms Vale. I know you're in there."
Adrian Cross.
Mara looked at Leah.
Neither moved.
The handle slowly turned.
But before the door opened, another sound came from behind them.
Three knocks.
This time, they came from inside the wall.
Mara turned towards the far end of the room.
There was another door.
And from the other side came a whisper.
"Mara?"
She froze.
Nobody in Blackthorn House had called her by her first name in that voice.
It was a woman's voice.
A voice she had heard before.
The voice from Nora's cassette.