Page 31 of The Last To Know (Hallowed Halls Series #2)

“S omething’s wrong.” Hannah sensed it the moment she and Cooper entered the conference room and saw the solemn expressions on their team’s faces.

“What’s going on?” Hannah asked as she and Cooper went over to the group gathered in the middle of the room.

“Detective Siegler is missing.” Jack told them how Chief Milam reached out. “Kate wasn’t responding to her radio. He arrived at her house. There are signs of a struggle. Some of her clothing is missing.”

“He’s taken her.” Hannah turned to Cooper. Embalmer had taken a police officer right from her home.

“Sierra, Zeke, and I are heading over to her house now.” Jack reached for his jacket. “Detective Jordan’s there already.”

“She won’t have long. We need to figure out where he’s taking his victims.” Cooper swiped a hand across his neck. “Hannah and I will keep looking into that.”

Jack nodded before following his team out.

“This has to be connected to your great-grandparents’ house somehow.” Hannah took off her jacket while trying to push aside the frightening things they’d learned about Luis Noland.

“I agree, but we searched the property. The house. There’s nothing.”

“We missed something. He takes them there somewhere.” Hannah grabbed Zeke’s laptop. “Zeke has the survey of the property.”

Cooper sat down beside her. “Any news on Pete Albertson’s whereabouts or the rest of the family?”

Megan looked up from her computer. “Nothing yet. I’m working on it now. Did you find out anything helpful from the doctor?”

Cooper told her what they’d learned about Noland and about Hannah’s dreams.

Megan abandoned what she’d been working on. “You really think those dreams could be cellular memories manifesting themselves?”

Hannah wasn’t sure what she hoped for. That her heart’s memories had been trying to tell her something through the years or that she’d imagined the whole thing.

She’d enlarged the satellite photo of Cooper’s family’s property and had begun searching every square inch of the landscape while Cooper leaned over her shoulder.

“Wait—what’s that?” He pointed to a spot past the apple orchard.

“I see it, and I have no idea.” Hannah blew the photo up more until they could make it out. “It looks like some type of ventilation pipe going into the ground . . . Cooper, he’s keeping them underground.”

“Let’s go.” Cooper rose quickly.

“Go, I’ll call the police and let Jack know,” Megan said.

Hannah shoved her arms into her coat and carried the laptop with the exact location of the pipe on the map as they raced from the hotel.

Cooper pulled away from the portico. “I have a bad feeling about this.” He spared her a look. “I hope we reach her in time.”

Hannah felt the same way. “There’s a different entrance to the property than from where we went in before.”

She pointed it out on the screen. Cooper nodded. “I remember playing back there as a kid.”

Her cell phone rang. “It’s Doctor Hoffman.” Hannah answered the call on speaker. “Did you remember anything further?”

Blood-curdling screams filled the air.

“Doctor Hoffman?”

As the screams continued, the call suddenly went dead. Hannah tried the number several times without answer. “I’m calling the local police.” She dialed the number. As soon as the dispatcher answered, she identified herself and gave the doctor’s address. “We believe he’s under attack.”

The dispatcher assured her officers were on their way.

“Please have them call me as soon as they know anything.” Hannah ended the call. Her first instinct was to rush to the doctor’s house, but they had another serial killer to catch.

Cooper reached for her hand. “You did everything you could. It’s up to the police now.”

“I just hope he’s alright.” The terror in his voice told her the doctor was far from okay.

They passed the turnoff to Cooper’s great-grandparents’ house and circled around until they reached the back side of the property.

“There.” Hannah pointed to the opening. A single set of tire tracks confirmed someone had been there recently.

“We should wait for backup,” Hannah warned.

“He could get away. We can’t risk it.” Cooper turned onto the drive and sped down it. “How close are we to the pipe?”

“Head to the left.” Hannah guessed about a quarter mile away.

“I see it.” Cooper slowed down and stopped near the pipe.

Hannah called Zeke. “Where are you guys?”

“Ten minutes out. Don’t go in, Hannah. Wait for us.”

“Hurry.” She ended the call. Both got out and went over to the pipe.

Cooper knelt. “It sounds like there’s a generator running.”

“He has power down there.” Her heart rate went ballistic. “There’s no vehicle.”

Cooper looked around. “You’re right. Maybe he’s not here after all. ”

“I don’t see an entrance.” She shielded her eyes against the sun and searched the countryside. “There’s a group of trees over there.” They both headed toward them.

Down the drive sirens blared. She noticed the black SUV leading the way followed by a multitude of police officers. Thank goodness. Their backup had arrived.

Jack and the rest of the team, along with the police officers, spotted them and came over.

“What are you thinking?” Jack asked.

“There has to be a hidden entrance somewhere.” Cooper told him about the generator.

“I’ve got something over here.” Sierra waved them over to where she and one of the officers stood.

“What is it?” Hannah asked as they reached them.

A downed tree had been rolled away from its resting place to reveal what appeared to be some type of camouflage covering.

Cooper lifted the cover. “There’s a door.”

It appeared to be made of steel.

“It’s locked.” Sierra pointed to the heavy-duty padlock.

“Stand back.” Chief Milam waited until everyone was away from the area before he fired. The bullets didn’t harm the lock. “I need bolt cutters.”

One of his officers returned to a patrol car and retrieved a set of bolt cutters.

The officer cut the lock. Whatever was down there, someone didn’t want it found.

Once the destroyed lock was removed, Chief Milam opened the door.

“There’s a camera.” Zeke pointed above the door to the small light flashing. “We’re being watched.”

“He’s not here.” Hannah told them.

“Be careful, everyone.” Jack warned the team. “We don’t know what we’ll find down there.”

A sense of apprehension settled into the pit of Hannah’s stomach as Chief Milam stepped inside. “There’s a light switch.” He clicked it on. Startling bright light filled the space. A set of stairs led underground.

Once they reached the floor below, Hannah realized there was something familiar about the space. It was set up like a living room from years ago.

“I know this place.” She looked around at the pieces of furniture and realized how. “This was in one of the photos from Oliver’s childhood.”

Cooper’s eyes widened as he saw what she did. “You’re right. The one photo from inside that house in Pennsylvania.”

Hannah noticed a photo on an end table. “Look at this.” She picked it up and showed it to Cooper. “That’s your father and his siblings.”

“He recreated the inside of the house. Maybe it represented happier times for him.”

“Let’s search every inch.” Jack gave the order.

“What is this place?” Hannah whispered.

“I don’t know. It’s creepy, right?” Cooper reached for her hand as they started down a hallway. There was only one door at the end. The humming of the generator grew louder.

“There are cameras everywhere.” Cooper pointed to the walls where they were mounted near the ceiling. “He wanted to keep tabs on the place.”

Another lock proved as difficult as the first.

Chief Milam hesitated. “I don’t like this. Everybody back up.” He waited until they fell back before breaking open the lock with bolt cutters.

Hannah half-expected the place to explode. She blew out a relieved breath when nothing happened.

The team spread out in the long room that had been decorated in the same fashion as the rest of the place.

“It’s a bedroom,” Cooper said in disbelief. He still held her hand.

There were several beds around the space.

“Oh no . . .” Hannah wasn’t even aware of saying the words. Her shock became an almost physical repulsion when she realized there were bodies lying in all the beds .

Zeke lowered his weapon and closed the space to the first bed. “They’ve been here for a while. They’re . . . mummified.”

Hannah slowly followed him over to the first bed, where a woman was dressed in footed pajamas. “This must be Oliver’s sisters.” Four girls. All at different ages of maturity. One appeared to be in her late forties. From Hannah’s assessment, she’d died recently.

“Y-you’ve got to see this.” Jack’s shocked tone reached out. He stood on the opposite side of the room, where a man stood.

Cooper’s labored footsteps carried him to the impossible.

“Is that . . . ?” Hannah whispered in a strangled tone.

Cooper dropped to his knees and stared into the sightless eyes of a real-life monster. “That’s my father.”

Oliver Ellison had been found. Resting alongside his sisters.