Chapter 10 - THE MAN I BURIED
I had buried Michael.
I had stood beside his coffin.
I had watched it lowered into the ground.
But I had never seen his body.
The medical examiner had told me the crash had left identification difficult.
Dental records confirmed him.
Or so I had been told.
Agent Brooks reopened everything.
The dental records had been altered.
The body buried under Michael Hayes's name belonged to another man.
Nobody knew who.
I sat in my kitchen until sunrise staring at the photograph.
Michael was alive.
Or had been alive after the crash.
Three years of grief.
Three years of loneliness.
Three years of believing the man I loved had vanished forever.
And somewhere during at least part of that time, he had been breathing.
Caleb sat across from me.
He shouldn't have been there.
But Rebecca refused to leave him at the hospital after the kidnapping.
Police had moved all of us to a protected location.
Caleb stared at Michael's photograph.
“He helped my mom.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe Mom helped him.”
I looked at him.
That possibility hadn't occurred to me.
My phone rang.
Blocked number.
Every person in the room froze.
Agent Brooks answered it.
“Hello?”
A man's voice spoke.
“Put Laura on.”
My heart stopped.
I knew that voice.
Even after three years.
Even through static.
Even after hearing it in dreams.
“Michael?”
Silence.
Then a breath.
“Laura.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Michael.”
“I'm sorry.”
I started crying.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Don't do this to me.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
My voice broke.
“You let me bury you.”
“I had to.”
“You had to?”
“If Victoria believed I survived, she would have killed you.”
“She nearly killed children anyway.”
“I know.”
“Where have you been?”
“Trying to finish what I started.”
Agent Brooks motioned for me to keep him talking.
“Is Melissa with you?”
“She was.”
“Was?”
“She disappeared two days ago.”
My heart sank.
“Victoria?”
“Yes.”
“What about Emma?”
“Which Emma?”
The room became completely silent.
I stared at Caleb.
“What do you mean?”
Michael inhaled.
“There are two.”
My blood went cold.
“Two Emmas?”
“Caleb's sister.”
“And the baby.”
“Who is the baby?”
Michael's answer changed everything.
“Victoria's granddaughter.”
Agent Brooks leaned closer.
“What?”
Michael continued.
“Victoria's daughter tried to expose the network.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was killed.”
“And the baby?”
“Victoria ordered her hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because the child's DNA connects Victoria to one of the original trafficking cases.”
I closed my eyes.
This nightmare kept becoming larger.
“Michael, where are you?”
“Laura, listen carefully.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“Come home.”
“I can't.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I need you to do something.”
“What?”
“Go back to the minivan.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Caleb didn't hide only a note.”
Caleb looked confused.
“What did you hide?” I asked him.
“Nothing.”
Michael heard him.
“He doesn't know.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The baby blanket.”
I remembered it.
The wool blanket.
Police had bagged it as evidence.
“What about it?”
“Check the seam.”
Agent Brooks was already calling the evidence unit.
Michael continued.
“Melissa stitched something inside.”
“What?”
“The ledger.”
Agent Brooks froze.
“What ledger?”
Michael answered.
“The one that names everyone.”
Then another voice entered the call.
A woman's voice.
Calm.
Elegant.
Victoria Crane.
“That's enough, Michael.”
I stopped breathing.
There was a struggle.
A crash.
May you like
Then Michael shouted.
The line went dead.
