Chapter 4: The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
For three seconds, I couldn't move.
Vanessa had taken her car, her phone, and the matching chain from Claire's locket. She had left behind her purse, her keys to the house, and the dinner she had spent an hour preparing.
But the thing that frightened me most was what Emily had just said.
She was going to find my real mommy.
I knelt in front of the little girl.
“Emily, sweetheart, did Vanessa tell you where she was going?””
Emily nodded, hugging Lily's rabbit against her chest.
“She said Mommy was waiting for me.””
“Where did she say Mommy was?””
“By the water.””
My heart began pounding.
“Did she say which water?””
Emily shook her head.
“She said there were boats. And a big white building.””
I looked at Megan, who had come downstairs behind us.
“Do you know what she's talking about?””
Megan shook her head slowly.
“Not yet. But we need to call the police.””
I reached for my phone.
Emily suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“No!””
Her scream startled Lily, who dropped her coloring book.
Emily scrambled backward, shaking her head so violently that her tangled hair covered her eyes.
“Please don't call them. Mommy said the police take children away.””
I put my phone down.
“Emily, look at me.””
She couldn't.
“Sweetheart, nobody is taking you away from us right now. I promise we'll make sure you're safe.””
“Mommy said that, too.””
The words stopped me cold.
I couldn't promise Emily that everything would be all right. I couldn't promise that Vanessa would return. And I couldn't promise that the woman I had loved eleven years ago was still alive.
But I could promise one thing.
“No one is putting you back inside that wall,” I said.
“Not ever.””
Emily slowly lowered her hands.
Megan sat beside her.
“Ryan, I'm taking both girls to my house for a little while. You need to find out where Vanessa went, and Emily needs a proper medical examination.””
I looked at Lily.
She was watching us with wide, confused eyes.
“Daddy, is Mommy coming home?””
I swallowed.
“I don't know, sweetheart.””
Her lower lip trembled.
“Did I do something bad?””
I pulled her into my arms.
“No. Absolutely not.””
“But Mommy left.””
I held her tighter.
“That's not your fault.””
For years, I had believed my greatest responsibility was providing a good life for my daughter. A safe house. A loving family. A future where she never had to worry about anything.
Now I understood how little I had actually known about the place where she slept.
While Megan packed a small bag for the girls, I went upstairs to search the hidden room.
I couldn't stop thinking about the photograph.
Claire in a hospital bed.
A newborn baby in her arms.
The date of her supposed funeral.
And the message asking me to find out what Vanessa had done that night.
I crawled into the narrow passage with my phone flashlight.
The space smelled of damp wood and old fabric. Scratches marked the inside of the panel, some at adult height and others close to the floor.
I had assumed Emily had been placed there three months earlier.
But the scratches suggested otherwise.
Someone had spent a long time inside that space.
At the far end, I found a small wooden box tucked beneath the mattress. It was covered with dust, except for a clean rectangle where someone had recently moved it.
Inside were three children's drawings, a folded hospital bracelet, and a stack of envelopes.
The first drawing showed a house with a yellow wall.
Two little girls stood outside it.
One had blonde hair.
The other had brown hair.
Above them, a child's handwriting spelled out:
LILY AND EMILY FOREVER.
The second drawing showed a woman standing beside a car. Her face had been scribbled over with black crayon.
The third showed a man holding a little girl.
Beneath the picture, someone had written a name.
DADDY RYAN.
I stared at the paper.
Emily had known who I was before she ever saw my face.
I opened the envelopes.
Most contained blank sheets or scraps of paper with childish writing. But the last envelope held a photograph of a house I recognized immediately.
Claire's childhood home.
I had visited it countless times when we were teenagers. Her mother used to leave the porch light on until midnight because Claire hated coming home to a dark house.
The house had been sold after Claire's supposed death.
On the back of the photograph was an address in New Haven.
Beneath it, a message had been written in blue ink.
If Vanessa comes back, don't let her take Emily to the basement.
I read the sentence twice.
Then I heard Megan calling from downstairs.
“Ryan! You need to see this!””
I climbed out of the wall and hurried down.
Megan was standing in the living room with her phone in her hand. The girls were beside her, both wearing jackets.
“What's happened?””
She turned the screen toward me.
It was a local news article from two years earlier.
*WOMAN DIES AFTER LATE-NIGHT CRASH NEAR NEW HAVEN HARBOR.*
The photograph showed a wrecked sedan resting against a concrete barrier.
According to the article, the driver had been identified as Rachel Bennett, age thirty-one.
Claire's younger sister.
The report stated that the woman had died at the scene, and that investigators had been unable to locate her next of kin for several days.
I stared at the photograph.
Rachel had died two years ago.
Not Claire.
Vanessa had told me that Claire died two years ago and Rachel had brought Emily to her three months ago.
But the newspaper said Rachel had died two years earlier.
The timeline was falling apart.
“Megan,” I said, “when did this article appear?””
“Two years ago. The date is right here.””
“Then who brought Emily to Vanessa three months ago?””
Megan's face tightened.
“Someone who wanted you to believe Rachel was still alive.””
I looked at the girls.
Emily was staring at the television, but she wasn't watching the cartoon. She was listening to every word we said.
I lowered my voice.
“Did you know Rachel?””
Emily nodded.
“She had a blue car.””
“Was Rachel the person who brought you to Vanessa's house?””
“No.””
“Who brought you?””
Emily looked toward the window.
“A lady with a red scarf.””
“Do you know her name?””
She shook her head.
“But she smelled like Mommy.””
Megan and I exchanged a look.
Then Emily reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small folded note.
“I found this before we left,” she said.
“Where, sweetheart?””
“Under my mattress.””
I unfolded it.
The handwriting was different from Claire's, but I recognized the name at the bottom.
Vanessa.
Ryan, if you discover the box, don't go to the harbor.
If you love Emily, leave the past alone.
You have already lost Claire once.
Don't make the mistake of looking for her again.
I stared at the note.
Vanessa had written it recently.
Which meant she knew I would eventually discover the box.
She had planned for this moment.
I called her phone.
It went straight to voicemail.
I called again.
Nothing.
Then I remembered the address on the photograph.
Claire's childhood home in New Haven.
And the warning about the basement.
I called Daniel Foster, the attorney.
He answered on the second ring.
“Mr. Mitchell?””
“I found something in my house. I need you to tell me the truth about Claire.””
“Have you located Emily?””
“Yes. She's safe.””
“Where is Vanessa?””
“I don't know.””
A long silence followed.
Then Daniel asked, “Did you find a photograph of a house?””
I froze.
“How did you know?””
“Because Claire gave me the same photograph before she disappeared. She told me that if anything happened to her, I was to find the house and look beneath the basement stairs.””
I gripped the phone.
“What's there?””
“I don't know. I never went inside. Claire made me promise that I wouldn't unless Emily was in danger.””
“She is in danger.””
“Then listen carefully. Don't go alone.””
“Why?””
“Because the last person who searched that house disappeared.””
I looked at the note in my hand.
“Who?””
“Vanessa's father.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Vanessa's father had died five years earlier.
At least, that was what she had told me.
“Mr. Foster,” I said slowly, “are you telling me Vanessa's father disappeared before he was declared dead?””
“Yes.””
“Why wasn't that in the news?””
“Because his family reported that he had died overseas. There was never a body, but the estate was settled.””
I stared at the girls.
Megan was already reaching for her car keys.
“Ryan,” she said quietly, “whatever is happening, it started long before we met Emily.””
I looked at the photograph again.
The house.
The basement.
The missing man.
And Vanessa, driving toward a harbor to find a woman who was supposed to have been dead for eleven years.
I knew what I had to do.
I couldn't let her reach Claire first.
I couldn't let Emily be taken back into hiding.
And I couldn't keep pretending that the truth would remain buried if I simply refused to look for it.
I kissed Lily's forehead.
“I'll be back soon, sweetheart.””
She grabbed my hand.
“Daddy, please don't leave me.””
The fear in her voice nearly stopped me.
I knelt and looked into her eyes.
“I'm not leaving you. Aunt Megan is staying with you, and Emily is staying here, too. You're going to be safe.””
Lily studied my face.
“Promise?””
“I promise.””
Megan took the girls to her car.
I watched them drive away before returning to my own vehicle.
The address on the photograph was forty minutes away.
As I pulled out of the driveway, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One message.
A photograph of Vanessa standing outside a white building beside the harbor.
May you like
And beneath it, six words.
*YOU'RE TOO LATE. CLAIRE IS HERE.*
