The Empty Side of the Bed
Chapter 01 - The Empty Side of the Bed
Daniel Mercer woke at 3:12 in the morning and reached for his wife.
The other side of the bed was empty.
Claire was seven months pregnant and had been ordered to rest after a week of early contractions. She never left the room at night without waking him.
Then Daniel heard a cry from across the hall.
He ran barefoot toward the nursery.
The door stood open beneath the dim blue glow of the moon-shaped night-light. Claire was on her knees beside the white crib, one hand protecting her stomach while Daniel’s mother gripped a fistful of her dark hair.
Margaret Mercer wore a black dress and pearl earrings, as though she had arrived for a board meeting instead of entering her son’s home before dawn.
“Open your hand,” Margaret said.
“No.”
“You have no idea what you found.”
Claire’s fingers were closed around a tiny brass key.
Daniel stepped into the room.
“Mom.”
Margaret released Claire and turned.
For one second, shock crossed her face. Then she pressed a hand against her chest and stumbled backward.
“She attacked me,” Margaret said. “I came because the alarm showed movement in the nursery.”
Daniel crossed the room and knelt beside his wife.
“Claire, are you hurt?”
“My head hurts. The baby is moving.”
Margaret pointed toward the crib.
“She broke into your father’s private compartment. She has been searching this house for money.”
Claire looked directly at Daniel.
“Ask her why she turned off the baby monitor.”
A small green light blinked above the crib.
The monitor was not off.
It had switched to backup recording at exactly 3:12.
Daniel reached for the tablet mounted on the wall.
The screen replayed the previous six minutes.
Margaret entered the nursery using an emergency code.
Claire followed after hearing the door.
Margaret removed the mattress and opened a hidden panel beneath the crib.
When Claire asked what she was doing, Margaret grabbed her and demanded the key.
The recording captured every word.
Margaret stared at the screen.
“That system was disconnected years ago.”
A man’s voice suddenly came through the monitor.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
His father, Robert Mercer, had been dead for five years.
“If this recording has activated,” Robert said, “someone has tried to take the nursery key from Claire.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
Margaret’s hand dropped from her chest.
May you like
The lie had lasted less than one minute.
The secret beneath the crib had waited five years.
