Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEARED TWICE
Nathan stopped the recording.
Neither he nor Emma spoke.
The hospital monitor continued beeping.
Steady.
Mechanical.
Unforgiving.
Nathan stared at the cracked phone in his hand.
“That’s my mother.”
Emma said nothing.
He played the sentence again.
“We should have dealt with Emma the same way we dealt with her mother.”
He stopped it.
Again.
The same words.
The same voice.
Nathan slowly lowered the phone.
“She lied.”
Emma looked at him.
“She said she was near the dining room.”
“I know.”
“She was at the staircase.”
“Yes.”
Nathan stood.
“I’m calling Hayes.”
Emma grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked down.
“Why?”
“Because he already has a copy.”
Nathan stared at her.
“When?”
“The recorder automatically uploads.”
“To where?”
“A secure account.”
Nathan looked at the phone again.
“You expected something to happen.”
“I expected Evelyn to threaten me.”
“You expected my mother?”
“No.”
Nathan sat.
That answer frightened him more.
Emma closed her eyes.
“She surprised me too.”
Nathan looked toward the door.
“We need protection here.”
“There’s an officer outside.”
“One officer.”
“Nathan.”
“My mother is missing.”
“Evelyn is missing.”
“Someone abandoned a car with blood inside.”
“And now we have a recording that sounds like my mother knows what happened to Rebecca.”
He stood again.
“I want Hayes here.”
Emma nodded.
“Okay.”
Nathan unlocked the door.
The hallway was empty.
The officer who had been stationed outside was gone.
Nathan frowned.
He stepped into the hallway.
“Officer?”
No answer.
A nurse walked around the corner.
Nathan stopped her.
“There was a police officer here.”
She looked around.
“I saw him a few minutes ago.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan returned to the room.
“Emma.”
She immediately saw his expression.
“What?”
“The officer is gone.”
Emma sat up slightly.
Pain crossed her face.
“Call Hayes.”
Nathan dialed.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then Emma’s phone buzzed.
Both looked at it.
A message had appeared.
Unknown number.
Nathan picked it up.
The message contained a photograph.
He opened it.
His blood went cold.
“What?”
Emma watched his face.
“What is it?”
Nathan turned the screen toward her.
The photograph showed Evelyn.
She was sitting on a concrete floor.
Her green dress was torn near the shoulder.
Her hands appeared tied behind her.
A dark bruise covered one side of her face.
Behind her was a gray wall.
Nothing else was visible.
Emma stared.
Nathan looked at the message beneath the image.
DON’T TRUST HAYES.
Nathan read it aloud.
Emma frowned.
Another message arrived.
HE KNOWS WHERE REBECCA IS.
Nathan looked at Emma.
She shook her head.
“That makes no sense.”
“Rebecca is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
Emma stared at him.
“I buried her.”
Another message.
Nathan opened it.
THEN ASK WHO YOU BURIED.
Emma stopped breathing.
Nathan looked at her.
“Emma?”
Her face had become white.
“No.”
“What?”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“I saw her.”
“When she died?”
Emma shook her head.
Nathan frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“My father called me.”
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“He told me she had died.”
“Did you see her body?”
Emma swallowed.
“At the funeral.”
Nathan waited.
“The casket was closed.”
His expression changed.
“Why?”
“He said the illness had changed her appearance.”
Nathan sat slowly.
“What illness?”
“Cancer.”
“Did you see medical records?”
“No.”
“Did you speak to doctors?”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“Stop.”
Nathan did.
Emma pressed both hands against her temples.
Memories she had accepted for years suddenly felt wrong.
Thomas had arranged everything.
The funeral.
The cemetery.
The paperwork.
The closed casket.
He had told Emma her mother wanted privacy.
Emma had been grieving too deeply to question it.
Nathan looked at the unknown messages.
“Whoever is sending these knows about your mother.”
Emma nodded.
“And Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“Which means they’re involved.”
“Or watching.”
Another message appeared.
This one contained an address.
Nathan recognized the area.
An abandoned industrial district twenty miles outside the city.
Below it were four words.
COME ALONE.
MIDNIGHT.
NO POLICE.
Nathan checked the time.
11:56 p.m.
Four minutes.
“That’s impossible.”
Emma looked at him.
“They don’t expect you to arrive by midnight.”
“Then why send it?”
Emma stared at the timestamp.
“Because midnight means something.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
Emma suddenly remembered.
Her eyes widened.
“My mother’s files.”
“What about them?”
“She used dates as passwords.”
Nathan waited.
“Midnight was her phrase for danger.”
“What?”
“She used to tell Thomas something when I was little.”
Emma looked toward the window.
“I remember hearing it.”
Nathan leaned closer.
“What did she say?”
Emma whispered.
“When midnight comes, burn the letters.”
Nathan stared.
“Letters?”
Emma suddenly grabbed her phone.
She opened an encrypted storage app.
Nathan watched.
“What are you doing?”
Emma typed a password.
Incorrect.
Again.
Incorrect.
She stared at the screen.
Then typed MIDNIGHT.
The app unlocked.
Nathan looked at her.
Inside were dozens of scanned documents.
Bank statements.
Letters.
Photographs.
Legal records.
Emma scrolled.
Then stopped.
A folder had appeared that she had never seen before.
Its name was simple.
FOR EMMA.
Her hands began trembling.
“That wasn’t there.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“This folder.”
“When did you last check?”
“This afternoon.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Someone had accessed her secure account.
Emma opened the folder.
One audio file appeared.
Uploaded eleven minutes ago.
Nathan looked toward the hallway.
“Don’t play it.”
Emma looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because whoever uploaded that might be trying to manipulate you.”
Emma considered it.
Then pressed play anyway.
Static filled the room.
A woman began speaking.
Emma froze.
Nathan watched her.
“What?”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
“I know that voice.”
The woman on the recording sounded older.
Weak.
But Emma knew it.
A daughter knows her mother’s voice.
Even after years.
“Emma.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Nathan stared at the phone.
The recording continued.
“If you are hearing this, then they found you.”
Emma began crying.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Tears simply rolled down her face.
The voice continued.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for every lie.”
“I’m sorry I let you believe I was dead.”
Nathan’s eyes widened.
Emma gripped the phone.
Rebecca continued.
“But disappearing was the only way I could keep you alive.”
Emma whispered.
“Mom…”
The recording continued.
“The Whitmores took your grandfather’s company.”
“They took his land.”
“They took his name.”
“And when I tried to expose them, they tried to take my life.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“But Charles Whitmore was never the person I feared most.”
Nathan looked at Emma.
Rebecca’s voice became quieter.
“The person you must fear is Margaret.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“She knew everything.”
“She arranged everything.”
“She found me every time I ran.”
“And if she knows you are my daughter, she will come for you too.”
Emma’s breathing quickened.
Nathan took her hand.
This time, she let him.
Then Rebecca said something neither expected.
“But Margaret is not the reason I disappeared again six years ago.”
Emma opened her eyes.
“The detective who promised to protect me was.”
Nathan slowly looked toward the door.
Rebecca continued.
“His name is Daniel Hayes.”
Nathan stood.
Emma stared at the phone.
“No.”
The recording crackled.
“If Detective Hayes is still investigating the Whitmores, do not trust him.”
“He has his own reason for wanting the Bennett records.”
“And whatever you do…”
Rebecca paused.
“…do not let him find the original ledger.”
The recording ended.
Emma and Nathan stared at each other.
Then footsteps sounded outside.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Approaching the room.
Nathan moved between Emma and the door.
The handle turned.
Emma grabbed the call button.
The door opened.
Detective Daniel Hayes stepped inside.
He looked at Nathan.
Then Emma.
Then the phone in Emma’s hand.
His expression changed.
Not much.
Just enough.
Hayes quietly closed the door behind him.
“What did you just listen to?”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Why don’t you tell us?”
Hayes stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Emma looked directly at the detective she had trusted for four months.
“The original ledger.”
Hayes’s face went completely blank.
May you like
And in that instant, Emma knew her mother had been telling the truth.
Hayes knew exactly what she meant.
