Chapter 8 - The Memory Claire Lost

Emma hugged her knees.

“Mommy told me.”

“That’s impossible.”

She was six now.

Claire died when she was one.

Emma could not remember those conversations.

Then she said, “Not my memory. The video.”

I sat beside her.

“What video?”

“The lady video.”

Maria frowned. “What lady?”

Emma pointed toward her closet.

Behind a stack of picture books was an old tablet.

Claire’s tablet.

I had not seen it since the year she died.

Emma said Vanessa gave it to her.

“She said I could watch cartoons if I was good.”

I turned it on.

No password.

There were only four files.

Three children’s videos.

One named C.

I pressed play.

Claire appeared on screen.

Alive.

Tired.

A bruise on her forehead from an earlier fall I remembered.

She spoke directly to the camera.

“If Adrian is seeing this, something has gone wrong.”

My throat closed.

Claire continued.

“I have been having memory gaps. Graham says it’s stress. The doctor says my scans are normal. I don’t believe Graham.”

She held up a pill bottle.

“He keeps bringing me these and telling me they’re vitamins.”

Ortiz leaned closer.

Claire read the label.

The prescription name had been scratched off.

Then Claire whispered, “Vanessa says she can help me leave safely, but I don’t trust her either.”

I paused the video.

“Vanessa was helping her?”

“Maybe pretending to,” Ortiz said.

The next clip showed Claire outside our old country house.

She said, “If I disappear, look at the car.”

My stomach dropped.

The car.

Claire died in that car.

Ortiz called evidence storage and requested the archived crash file.

Then my phone rang again.

Vanessa.

I answered on speaker.

Her voice was shaking.

“Adrian, you need to listen to me.”

“You knew Claire.”

“Yes.”

“You lied for three years.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Graham told me if I ever told you, he would destroy me.”

Ortiz silently gestured for me to keep her talking.

“Where are you?”

“I can’t say.”

“Are you with Graham?”

A pause.

“No.”

Then a muffled sound.

A man’s voice in the background.

Vanessa whispered, “He found me.”

The call cut off.

Seconds later a text arrived.

One photo.

Vanessa sitting in the passenger seat of a dark SUV.

Graham driving.

And through the windshield, behind them, I recognized a road sign.

May you like

My Mother-in-Law Slapped Me While I Was Pregnant at Christmas—But She Ne...

My mother-in-law slapped me across the face in front of the entire family. I was eight months pregnant, standing in the middle of...

Billionaire’s Wife Kicked a Waitress in Front of 300 Elites—One Slap Exp...

The billionaire’s wife tried to kick a waitress in the face in front of 300 wealthy guests. But seconds later, she whispered three...

My Mother Grabbed My Wife by the Hair Over Cold Soup—But What My Father...

My mother grabbed my wife by the hair over a bowl of cold soup. And the most shameful part? For one terrible second, I almost defe...

BLACKWATER ROAD.

The same road where Claire died.