Chapter 2 - The Back Door

I followed Vanessa's eyes.

The back door stood open three inches.

Ocean air moved the white curtains. Beyond them, the lawn sloped toward the pool house and the cliff road.

"Who is out there?" I asked.

Vanessa recovered quickly. She always did.

"No one. The housekeeper probably left it open."

Sophie pressed against my side. "Mom uses that door."

Vanessa snapped, "Enough."

Sophie jerked like she'd been struck.

I stepped between them.

"Go upstairs and lock your door," I told Vanessa.

Her laugh was small and unbelieving. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"This is my house too."

"Not for the next ten minutes."

Her face hardened. For the first time, I saw something underneath the softness. Not fear. Calculation.

"You're going to regret humiliating me over a child's fantasy."

"If it's a fantasy, you'll have nothing to worry about."

She walked away without another word.

I called Marcus Reed, the investigator I'd hired three weeks earlier.

"I'm home," I said.

"You're not supposed to be."

"Plans changed. I need everything now."

There was a pause.

"Then get Sophie somewhere safe."

My hand tightened around the phone. "Why?"

"Because Claire wasn't hiding from you, Ethan. She was hiding from someone close enough to know your travel schedule."

I looked toward the stairs.

"How close?"

"Close enough to have access to your house security system."

A cold weight settled in my chest.

I took Sophie to my office and locked the door. She sat on the couch hugging a pillow.

"Sweetheart, I need you to tell me the truth, even if you think it'll make me mad. When did you first see Mom?"

"A long time ago."

"How long?"

"Before Christmas."

Five months.

"Where?"

"By the pool house. She cried when she saw me. She called me Moonbeam."

Only Claire had called her that.

My throat closed.

"What happened next?"

Sophie looked at the office door.

"Vanessa came outside. She told Mom to leave. Then she grabbed me really hard and said dead people stay dead."

I felt sick.

A notification appeared on my phone.

MOTION DETECTED: POOL HOUSE.

I opened the live camera.

For one second, I saw a woman with dark hair standing inside.

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Sophie kept watching the hallway while she talked, as if Vanessa might appear even through a locked door. That frightened me more than the bruise. Children who make up stories usually watch the adult they're trying to convince. Sophie watched the exits. She had learned to expect consequences.

Then the feed went black.