Chapter 4 - THE GHOST IN THE CABIN
The conductor’s eyes were dead and flat. He didn't look like a man checking fares. He looked like a man executing a warrant.
“Your flight is waiting, Mrs. Reed,” the conductor said, stepping closer.
Daniel stood up, blocking his wife and son. “We’re getting off at the next stop.”
The conductor smiled. A cold, practiced expression. “The next stop is Providence. You won't make it that far. The Architect has secured the next three stations. But if you come quietly, the boy won't have to see you get hurt.”
Noah whimpered.
Daniel looked at the emergency brake handle on the wall.
“Don't do it, Daniel,” the conductor warned, dropping his hand to his belt.
“Close your eyes, Noah!” Daniel yelled.
He lunged. But not at the conductor. Daniel grabbed the heavy fire extinguisher from its bracket on the wall and hurled it through the train’s double-paned window.
Glass exploded outward into the rainy night.
The train was moving fast, but they were passing through a dense, wooded residential zone.
Daniel slammed his hand onto the emergency brake.
The train screeched, metal sparking against metal. The sudden deceleration threw the conductor backward into the seats.
“Go!” Daniel shouted.
Sophie grabbed Noah. They didn't hesitate. They climbed through the shattered window and jumped out into the wet grass lining the tracks, just as the train ground to a halt.
They tumbled down an embankment, the freezing rain instantly soaking through their clothes. Daniel grabbed them both and pulled them into the thick tree line before the train’s exterior floodlights could find them.
“Are you hurt?” Daniel asked, checking Noah’s head.
“No,” Noah whispered, shivering. “Dad, I lost my shoe.”
Daniel picked up his son. “It’s okay. I’ll carry you.”
“We’re only a few miles from the cabin,” Sophie breathed, checking her surroundings. “Elias told me it was off Route 114.”
They walked for an hour in the freezing dark. Daniel’s muscles screamed, but he refused to put Noah down. Finally, through the trees, they saw it.
An old, A-frame cabin, completely dark.
Daniel felt a wave of nausea. He hadn't been here since he was a teenager, right before his father died of a sudden stroke.
Sophie used the brass key. The door clicked open.
Inside, it was cold and dusty. Daniel found a kerosene lamp and lit it. The flickering orange light revealed the same worn leather couch and heavy oak table from his childhood.
“Why would Elias use my father’s cabin?” Daniel asked, setting Noah down on the couch and wrapping him in a dusty blanket.
“I don't know,” Sophie said, searching the cupboards for food. “He just said it was secure. He said the property records were buried.”
Daniel walked to the fireplace. Sitting on the mantle was a small wooden box. He recognized it immediately. It was his father’s cigar box.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Inside wasn't a cigar. It was a silver pocket watch.
Daniel picked it up. He pressed the button. The lid popped open. Inside, engraved on the metal, were the words: To Arthur. For securing the future.
Daniel’s breath hitched. “Arthur…”
“What is it?” Sophie asked, walking over.
“Arthur is my boss,” Daniel said, his mind spinning violently. “Arthur Vance. He gave me my job at the firm. He was my father’s best friend. He practically raised me after my dad died.”
Sophie looked at the watch. “Daniel… Arthur is the one who introduced us.”
“I know.”
“He set up the blind date. He paid for our fertility treatments as a gift.”
The room seemed to shrink. The foundation. The fertility clinic. The cabin.
It was all Arthur.
Arthur Vance was The Architect.
“Dad?”
Noah’s small voice cut through the silence.
Daniel turned. Noah was standing by a bookshelf on the far wall. He was pointing at the floorboards.
May you like
“I hear someone crying,” Noah said.
Daniel walked over. He knelt down. Through a thin crack in the floorboards, a sliver of light was visible. And beneath the cabin, in the old storm cellar, a woman was sobbing.
