Chapter 5: What Mrs. Hallett Recorded
I stood up slowly.
"What do you mean?" I said.
Mrs.
Hallett set Perrin's mug on the counter.
She reached into her apron pocket and produced her phone — an old model, the kind with a cracked screen and a rubber case.
She held it out to me.
"Three days ago," she said.
"I heard something from the basement.
I didn't know what it was.
I thought maybe a pipe." She paused.
"Then I heard it again the next morning.
And I knew it wasn't a pipe."
I took the phone.
"I didn't know what to do," she said.
"Miss Rhea told me it was a stray cat that had got in.
She said she'd handle it.
But the sound didn't stop." Her jaw tightened.
"So I started recording.
Every time I heard it.
Every time Miss Rhea went down there.
Every time she came back up and said something to me about minding my business."
The audio files were dated.
Six of them.
The most recent was from that morning.
I pressed play on the oldest one.
The recording was muffled at first — the sound of the kitchen, water running, Mrs.
Hallett moving around.
Then, underneath it, faint but unmistakable: a voice.
Calling out.
The words were unclear but the tone was not.
It was someone asking for help.
I pressed stop.
Rhea was standing in the kitchen doorway.
Her eyes went from the phone to Mrs.
Hallett and something in her face cracked open for just a moment before she sealed it back up.
"That proves nothing," she said.
"Background noise.
It could be anything."
"There are six files," Mrs.
Hallett said.
She didn't raise her voice.
"And in the fourth one, you can hear you telling me the basement is off-limits and that I should focus on my work.
In your voice.
Clearly."
Rhea's mouth opened.
Closed.
"You're a housekeeper," she said.
"You have no idea what you've walked into."
"I know what I heard." Mrs.
Hallett folded her hands in front of her apron.
"And I know what I recorded."
I handed the phone back to her.
"Don't let that out of your hands."
Then I took out my own phone.
"What are you doing?" Rhea's voice had a new edge in it.
"Calling the police."
She moved toward me.
"Joel.
Stop.
Think about what I told you.
The records — "
"Are forged." I kept dialing.
"Which is a crime.
Which adds to the list."
"You can't prove they're forged."
"I don't have to prove it tonight." I looked at her.
"Tonight I just have to make the call.
The proof comes later.
That's how it works."
She grabbed my arm.
I stepped back.
"Don't."
"If you make that call, I will tell them everything.
I will tell them you knew.
I will tell them this was your idea.
I will tell them Nora came to you willingly and you are the one who — "
"Miss Rhea." Mrs.
Hallett's voice cut across the kitchen like a blade.
"I've been in this house since before you arrived.
I know what happened here.
And I know what didn't." She looked at Rhea with the particular calm of someone who has already decided.
"I will say exactly what I saw.
Every day.
To anyone who asks."
The line connected.
I turned away from Rhea and spoke into the phone.
"Yes.
I need to report a person being held against their will.
I have a witness and recorded evidence." I gave the address.
"Please send someone quickly.
There is a child in the house."
When I turned back around, Rhea was gone from the doorway.
May you like
I heard the front door open.
Then I heard it close.
