Chapter 5 - The Empty Hospital Hallway

I was out of the family room before Ruiz could stop me.

A nurse was checking Emily's monitor. The hallway outside was empty except for a janitor pushing a cart. No stranger. No phone held up for a picture. Nothing that explained how the message had arrived.

Ruiz called hospital security. Naomi stayed with Emily, who looked between us and whispered, “Did he come?”

“No one is taking you anywhere,” I promised.

I wanted it to be a promise I could enforce with my hands alone. I was learning how powerless that feeling could be.

Security moved Emily to a protected room and restricted visitors. A camera recording from the hallway showed a woman in a yellow visitor badge pausing at the window. Her face was hidden by a surgical mask. She left less than thirty seconds before my phone buzzed.

“Do you recognize her?” Ruiz asked.

“No.”

Emily studied the still image. “The shoes.”

The woman wore bright green running shoes with white stripes.

“Mom has those,” Emily said. “But Jason bought the same ones for his sister.”

“What sister?”

“Aunt Nicole. She comes when Mom works late.”

Jason had introduced Nicole once at a school fundraiser. I remembered a woman who talked fast, smiled harder than she needed to, and had been very interested in which weekends Emily spent with me.

Ruiz made another call. “We need a welfare check on Nicole Vale.”

A few minutes later, the hospital receptionist delivered a plain envelope addressed to me. No return address. Security insisted it had been left at the desk before the new restrictions began.

Inside was a photograph of Sarah standing next to a little boy I didn't recognize. The boy looked about twelve. Sarah was kneeling beside him, her hand on his shoulder, and both seemed frightened of the camera.

On the back, in Sarah's handwriting, were four words: ASK ABOUT THE OTHER CHILD.

Emily saw the picture and began to cry.

“That's Noah,” she whispered. “Jason told everybody Noah ran away.”

“Who is Noah?” I asked.

Her answer was barely audible.

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