Chapter Thirty-two - The Chapel

I sat alone in the dark for the rest of the night.

My father. The man in the mask. The man who had threatened me and followed me and left warnings in my room.

Had sprayed paint in my eyes and run away rather than face me.

He was a coward.

Just like he'd always been.

The sun rose at 6:17 AM. I watched it through the window, the gray light seeping through the curtains, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air.

I didn't sleep.

I didn't cry.

I just sat there, staring at nothing, feeling everything.

---

Ashley came back at 8 AM with coffee.

She didn't ask questions. She didn't push. She just handed me a cup and sat beside me on the bed.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"For what?"

"I’ve been a terrible friend lately.”

"You're not a terrible friend." She leaned her head on my shoulder. "You're just a person who's been through terrible things. There's a difference."

"I don't know if I believe that."

"I believe it for you."

We sat in silence for a while.

"Myles is worried about you," she said eventually.

"I know."

"He really cares about you, Alexa. I've never seen him like this, not after Alice."

The words settled into my chest, warm and painful.

"I care about him too."

"Then talk to him.”

I nodded. But I didn't move.

---

At noon, I finally left the room.

The campus was bright, the sun high, the quad full of students living their ordinary lives. No one looked at me. No one knew that I'd found another body in the lake. No one knew that my father was a murderer.

Normal sounds. Normal sights.

But nothing was normal anymore.

I walked to the dining hall. Myles was there, sitting at our usual table, his coffee untouched, his eyes fixed on the door.

He saw me. Stood up.

"Alexa."

"Myles."

"I was worried."

"I know. I'm sorry."

He walked to me. Stopped inches away. His hand found mine.

"Talk to me," he said. "Please."

I looked at him. At his tired eyes and his worried face and the way he held my hand like he was afraid I'd disappear.

"Not now," I said. "Somewhere private."

He nodded. "The roof?"

"Yeah,sure.”

---

We climbed the fire escape in silence.

The roof was empty, the same as before, the same low wall overlooking the campus, the same gravel crunching beneath our feet.

We sat with our backs to the wall, our shoulders touching.

"My dad," I said.

Myles turned to look at me. "What about him?"

"He's alive."

"I thought you said..."

"I know what I said. I thought he was dead. Or gone. Or something." I stared at the sky. "But he's here. He's been here the whole time. He's the man in the mask."

Myles didn't speak for a long moment.

Then he said, "The man who threatened you? The man in the greenhouse?"

"Yes."

"The man who killed Earl?"

"I don’t know yet, he left like he always did."

"What did he say to you ?"

“Nothing that explains what has been happening.”

I thought about it. About my father's face. About his eyes. My eyes.

Myles put his arm around me. I leaned into him, letting myself be held.

"We'll figure it out," he said. "Together."

I wanted to believe him.

But after everything I'd learned, I wasn't sure I believed in anything anymore.

---

At 3 PM, my phone buzzed.

A text from an unknown number.

I want to meet. Alone. No police. No friends. The old chapel. Midnight.

Come if you want answers.

I stared at the screen.

Then I deleted the message.

And started planning.

****

At exactly 10 PM, I left the dorm and headed to the chapel.

I know I said I wasn't going to do this alone. I know I promised Myles I'd stop keeping secrets. I know Ashley would kill me if she found out where I was going.

But I needed answers. Real answers. The kind that came from looking someone in the eye and asking the questions that kept me up at night.

And if my father was involved,if he was the man in the mask, if he had anything to do with Alice's death,I needed to hear it from him. Not from a text message. Not from a note left on a pillow.

From him.

The path to the chapel was dark, the trees pressing close on either side, their branches scratching at my jacket like skeletal fingers. The moon was hidden behind clouds, casting everything in shades of gray. My flashlight cut a narrow beam through the darkness, illuminating roots and rocks and the occasional scurry of something small and alive.

I walked faster.

The chapel appeared through the trees like a tomb. Its stone walls were stained with age, its broken windows like empty eye sockets staring into nothing. The doors were chained shut, just as I remembered, but one of the chains hung loose—the same chain I'd loosened days ago, when I'd first started exploring.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Darkness. Cold. The smell of mold and old wood and something else. Something that made my skin prickle.

I was not alone.

---

I stood in the shadows near the door, my back against the cold stone wall, my flashlight off. The nave stretched before me, empty and silent, the pews covered in dust, the altar crooked at the far end.

The minutes crawled by.

10:07. 10:12. 10:18.

I started to think he wasn't coming. Started to think the text was a trick, a trap, a way to get me here alone so someone could...

The door creaked.

I held my breath.

The door swung open slowly, the chains rattling against the wood. A figure stepped inside, silhouetted against the moonlight.

He was taller than I remembered from the shed. Broader. His shoulders were hunched, his head down, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his back. He moved carefully, quietly, the way someone moves when they've spent years trying not to be noticed.

He wore a dark jacket, dark jeans, boots that didn't make a sound on the stone floor. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets. His face was hidden in shadow.

He stopped in the center of the nave, just beneath the broken cross.

"Alexa," he said. "I know you're here."

His voice was rough, tired, the same voice I'd heard in the shed. The same voice that had told me Earl's death was an accident.

I stepped out of the shadows.

He flinched. Just a little. Just enough for me to see.

"You came," he said.

"You texted."

"I know." He ran a hand through his gray hair. "I didn't think you would. After everything."

"After everything, I don't have much left to lose."

He flinched again. Good.

We stood there for a long moment, father and daughter, strangers bound by blood and loss and the silence of twenty years.

"You," I said. My voice was shaking now. "It was you. The greenhouse. The warnings. The photograph on my pillow."

"Yes."

"Did you kill Earl?"

His jaw tightened. "I..it was an accident, I needed to stop him from saying anything ... it got out of hand."

"Got out of hand?" I stepped closer, my hands balled into fists. "So you are a killer now Dad, after all these years this is how you decide to come back? Earl is dead. Caleb is dead. Alice is dead. And you're standing here telling me it got out of hand?"

"I didn't kill Alice, nor did I kill Caleb,”

"Then who did?"

He didn't answer. He just looked at me with those eyes. My eyes. And for a moment, I saw something that looked almost like grief.

"I've been watching you for a long time," he said. "Longer than you know. After your mother died, I wanted to reach out. But I couldn't. I was in too deep."

"In too deep with what?"

"With everything." He ran a hand through his gray hair. "Just like you I have been trying to figure out the deaths that have been going on here. I used to work here,Janitorial staff. Maintenance. No one looks at the janitor. No one notices the man who cleans the floors."

"Until Earl."

"Until Earl. He got curious. Started asking questions. I was supposed to scare him. Instead..." He trailed off.

"Instead you killed him."

"It was an accident." My father looked away.

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you do all of this? Why did you leave us? Why did you never come back? Why did you let me think I was alone?"

"Because I was protecting you."

"Protecting me?" My voice cracked. "You left me in foster homes. You left me and Alice to raise ourselves alone. You left me to watch her casket lower into the ground while you were here, hiding in a basement, wearing a mask."

"I know."

"You know?" I was shouting now. Tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "That's all you have to say? You know?"

"I know it's not enough." He stepped closer. "I know I failed you. I know I failed your mother. I know I failed Alice. But I'm trying to fix it. I'm trying to protect you now."

"By threatening me? By leaving dead bodies in my path? By scaring me half to death?"

"By keeping you away from all of this. The first day I saw you in the office trying to register I knew

I had to stop you, what you are chasing is more dangerous than you know….”

"I'm not afraid of anyone.”

"You should be."

"I'm not afraid of you either."

He flinched. Good.

"Come with me," I said. "Come to the police. Tell them what you know. Help me stop him."

"I can't."

"You can."

"If I go to the police, they'll ask questions. They'll look into my past. They'll find out about..." He stopped.

"Find out about what?"

He didn't answer.

"Find out about what?" I demanded again.

“I have to go, please Alexa stop. I already lost Alice, I’m not going to loose you too.”

And just like that he turned and strolled out of the dark room.”