Chapter 20
The Room with No Window
They returned to Bellwether after midnight.
The resort road was closed. Daniel parked at the old boat launch and carried the map beneath his jacket. Claire walked ahead with the flashlight. Tess followed, the cassette recorder pressed against her ribs.
The lake was black and loud. Wind pushed waves against the dock. Far across the water, Cabin 12 showed one light on the second floor.
“Someone is waiting,” Tess said.
“Someone wants us to think they are,” Daniel answered.
They crossed the service path through the trees. Claire found the entrance beneath the lodge without the map. Her body remembered the angle of the stones, the low branch, the place where the old foundation met the new deck.
The maintenance door was unlocked.
Inside, the corridor lights came on one at a time.
The control room was empty. The monitors had been removed. The cables were cut. Only the desk remained, with a white paper cup in the center.
Claire picked it up.
Inside was a brass key.
The tag read: NO WINDOW.
Daniel took the key. “We do not know what it opens.”
“The room that was not on the plans,” Claire said.
They followed the corridor toward the lake. A door appeared at the end where there had been solid concrete before. Daniel inserted the key.
The room beyond was small and white.
No window. No camera. No visible speaker.
In the center stood a chair with leather restraints. Against the wall sat a tape machine and a stack of blank paper.
Claire felt her throat close.
“You have been here,” Tess said.
“I do not remember.”
Daniel remained in the doorway. “We should leave.”
Claire stepped inside.
The tape machine turned on.
Mara's voice filled the room.
“If Claire returns, do not tell her what she is. Ask what she wants.”
Tess looked at Daniel. “This was made for us.”
“It was made for her,” Daniel said.
The tape continued.
“Claire, you asked me to make the copy because you believed your memory would be used as a weapon. You were right. You also believed I could control what the copy became. I was wrong.”
Claire touched the chair.
The leather was warm.
“The copy is not your replacement,” Mara said. “She is the witness who can survive the story you cannot.”
The tape clicked.
A second voice entered.
Claire's voice.
“What happens to me?”
Mara answered, “You wake up.”
“And if I do not remember?”
“Then she will remember for you.”
The room door slammed shut.
Daniel turned the handle. It would not move.
The tape machine continued.
“The first rule is simple,” Mara said. “Never let Claire and the copy occupy the same room.”
The lights went out.
In the darkness, a woman behind Claire whispered her name.