Chapter 7 - Mommy Come Back
Nathan felt the room tilt.
He crouched in front of Ava.
“Look at me.”
She could barely do it.
“Victoria told you someone could bring Mom back?”
Ava nodded.
“How long?”
“Since Christmas.”
Nathan swallowed hard.
Claire had been dead for twenty-one months.
“What exactly did she tell you?”
Ava wiped her face. “She said there were people who knew things. She said if I helped her and didn’t ask questions, maybe I could talk to Mom again.”
Emma closed her eyes in disgust.
Detective Mills remained still, but his mouth hardened.
“What did Victoria ask you to do?” Nathan said.
“Send messages when you came home. Tell her when Aunt Rachel visited. Tell her when Emma used the office phone.”
Nathan’s throat burned.
Ava whispered, “I thought it was a surprise.”
He pulled her into his arms.
For a moment she stayed stiff.
Then she broke.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“No. No, sweetheart. You don’t apologize.”
“I made Aunt Rachel disappear.”
“You did not.”
“But I sent the message.”
Nathan held her tighter. “A grown-up lied to you. That is not your fault.”
Mills waited until Ava was calmer.
“Did Victoria ever let you speak to your mother?”
Ava nodded.
Nathan looked up sharply.
“What?”
“On the tablet. Once.”
“What did you hear?”
“Mom’s voice.”
Nathan’s hands went cold.
Ava described a ten-second audio message.
Ava, my love. Be brave. Listen to Victoria. I’m proud of you.
Nathan nearly stopped breathing.
Claire had said those exact words before surgery two years earlier.
He knew because he had recorded the family video himself.
Victoria had taken Claire’s old recordings and cut them into a fake message.
Mills asked for the tablet.
Ava led them to a locked drawer in Victoria’s dressing room.
The drawer had been emptied.
But Chloe stood in the doorway holding a pink toy purse.
“I have one,” she said.
Nathan turned.
“One what?”
“A Mommy message.”
She pulled out a tiny voice recorder.
“I took it because Victoria said I was too little.”
The room went silent.
Nathan pressed play.
Static.
Then Claire’s voice.
But this recording was different.
Claire sounded frightened.
“Nathan, if you ever hear this, don’t trust the estate amendment. I didn’t sign it.”
Nathan froze.
May you like
Claire had died believing someone was altering her estate.
And Victoria had somehow possessed the recording.
