Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Gone
“Natalie who?” Rosa asked.
Emma answered before Daniel could. “His sister.”
Daniel's younger sister had vanished from family life after accusing Victoria of stealing from a children's charity. Victoria told everyone Natalie had suffered a breakdown. Daniel had repeated the story. Emma had never forgiven herself for not asking Natalie what happened.
“Natalie is alive?” Emma asked.
Daniel stared at the monitor. “She moved overseas. That's what Mother said.”
The screen showed the woman entering Lily's bedroom, then the feed ended. Rosa noticed a tiny detail on the coat sleeve: a torn seam Emma had stitched with burgundy thread the previous winter. It really was Emma's coat—the backup coat that had been hanging in the upstairs closet.
“Your mother dressed somebody like me,” Emma said. “Why?”
“So the cameras would show you taking Lily,” Rosa replied.
The forged custody papers lay on the kitchen island. Emma studied the signature. It was beautifully copied, including the little upward slash she used in the final letter of her surname. Whoever made it had practiced.
Daniel's first instinct was to defend his mother. Emma watched him swallow the words. It was a tiny hesitation, the kind she had mistaken for thoughtfulness throughout their marriage. Tonight she finally understood what those silences had cost them.
A faint vibration came from the antique clock's shelf. Daniel reached behind the mantel and discovered a second phone taped out of sight. Its lock screen displayed a photograph of Emma and Lily from last summer. There was one message: IF EMMA CALLS POLICE, SEND THE VIDEO.
“Which video?” Emma demanded.
Daniel pressed the file. Onscreen, grainy footage showed Emma apparently shoving Lily near the staircase. Emma recognized her coat. Her hair. But the woman's left wrist bore a thick gold bracelet Emma had never owned.
“It's staged,” Emma said. “Look at the bracelet.”
Daniel enlarged the image. The bracelet carried a tiny engraved V.
Rosa whispered, “Mrs. Whitmore has one like that.”
Emma's phone rang from an unknown number. She answered on speaker.
A woman's husky voice said, “If you want your daughter alive and home by dawn, stop asking your husband questions. Ask him what happened to the adoption file.”
“Adoption file?” Emma said.
May you like
The voice cracked. “Emma, it's Natalie. And Lily is not the first child our mother has tried to take.”
CHRISTMAS EVE BETRAYAL • THE MISSING DAUGHTER
