Chapter 4
I left Claire with Lily and met Rachel at a twenty-four-hour diner six miles away.
I didn’t tell Claire everything.
Only that someone had information.
She argued.
I went anyway.
Rachel was sitting in the farthest booth from the entrance.
She looked about forty-five.
Thin.
Tired.
Gray streaking through dark hair.
She stood when I approached.
“You’re Emily.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen your pictures.”
That stopped me.
“Where?”
“Margaret’s social media.”
I sat across from her.
“Tell me about Sarah.”
Rachel wrapped both hands around her coffee.
“She was my best friend.”
“And Daniel’s sister?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me she existed?”
“Because Margaret made sure people stopped talking.”
“That doesn’t explain Daniel.”
Rachel stared at me.
“Daniel adored Sarah.”
“Then why erase her?”
“Because he was a child when everything happened.”
“He was twelve when she disappeared.”
“Eleven.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“Daniel’s birthday was later that year.”
A meaningless correction.
Except Rachel said it like someone who had remembered everything.
“Start at the beginning.”
She looked toward the windows.
“Sarah got pregnant at sixteen.”
“By who?”
“A boy from school. Jason Miller.”
“Did Margaret know?”
“Not until Sarah was nearly six months along.”
“What happened?”
“Margaret went insane.”
I thought about the woman holding Lily down.
“Insane how?”
“She kept Sarah home from school. Told everyone she had mono. Then she sent her away.”
“To where?”
“That was the story. That she’d sent her to an aunt.”
“But?”
Rachel leaned forward.
“She never left that house.”
My skin prickled.
“The basement.”
Rachel nodded.
I felt nauseated.
“She kept her own daughter downstairs?”
“For months.”
“Why?”
“Margaret was obsessed with reputation. Her husband, Robert, was running for a church board position. They were well-known in town. An unmarried pregnant daughter embarrassed her.”
“Daniel knew?”
“Not everything.”
I thought of eleven-year-old Daniel walking above his imprisoned sister.
“Sarah gave birth?”
Rachel nodded.
“To a little girl.”
“What happened to the baby?”
“That’s where everything becomes complicated.”
Rachel looked down.
“Sarah told me Margaret wanted to raise the child herself.”
“As what?”
“Her daughter.”
I recoiled.
“What?”
“Margaret told Sarah that she was unstable, immature, unfit. She said no one would believe a seventeen-year-old over two respected parents.”
“And Sarah?”
“She wanted to leave with the baby.”
“Did she?”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“She tried.”
The waitress approached.
Neither of us spoke until she walked away.
Rachel continued.
“One night Sarah called me. She was whispering. She said she had gotten out of the basement and found papers.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know. She said her mother was planning to take the baby.”
“Legally?”
“Maybe through guardianship. Maybe forged documents. Sarah was terrified.”
“What was the baby’s name?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Lily.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
My daughter’s name had been Daniel’s suggestion.
The moment the ultrasound showed a girl, he had said it.
Lily.
I had loved it instantly.
I had never questioned why.
Rachel must have seen the realization on my face.
“Your daughter is named Lily?”
I nodded.
She covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
My chest hurt.
“Keep going.”
“Sarah told me to meet her at the bus station. She said she was taking Lily and running away.”
“Did she arrive?”
“No.”
“Did anyone search?”
“I did. Jason did. Sarah’s father claimed she had run away alone. Margaret said Sarah abandoned the baby.”
“What happened to the baby?”
Rachel shook her head.
“That’s the problem. A week later, they said the baby had died.”
I felt ice spread through me.
“How?”
“They claimed sudden infant death.”
“Was there a funeral?”
“No.”
“Death certificate?”
“I never saw one.”
“What did police say?”
“No one investigated seriously. Margaret and Robert told everyone Sarah was troubled. A runaway.”
“And Daniel?”
“He was sent to relatives for a while.”
“Why?”
“Margaret said he was traumatized.”
I stared down at the table.
This was impossible.
Except it wasn’t.
Not anymore.
“Why contact me now?”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“Because I tried before.”
“What?”
“When you got engaged, I found Daniel online. I sent him a message.”
“What did you say?”
“That he needed to tell you about Sarah.”
“What happened?”
“He blocked me.”
My stomach dropped.
So Daniel knew enough.
Maybe everything.
Rachel reached into her purse.
She pulled out an envelope.
“I kept this.”
Inside was a photograph.
Sarah stood beside a lake.
Seventeen.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
A soft smile.
And in her arms was a newborn.
I stared.
The resemblance wasn’t vague.
Sarah looked like Lily grown older.
Same eyes.
Same tiny dimple in the left cheek.
“Genes,” Rachel whispered. “Daniel and Sarah looked alike too.”
I touched the edge of the photo.
On the back, someone had written:
Sarah & Lily — June 1999.
My hands trembled.
“Can I take this?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Robert?”
“Heart attack. 2006.”
“And Jason?”
Rachel’s face tightened.
“He disappeared from town a year after Sarah.”
“Disappeared?”
“Moved, supposedly.”
“You don’t believe that?”
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
My phone rang.
Claire.
I answered immediately.
“What happened?”
Her voice was panicked.
“Emily, where are you?”
“At the diner. Why?”
“Come back.”
“What happened?”
“There’s a car parked outside.”
My heart slammed.
“What car?”
“Black SUV. It’s been there ten minutes.”
“Lock the doors.”
“They’re locked.”
“Call police.”
“I already did.”
I stood so quickly the table shook.
Rachel grabbed my wrist.
“What?”
“Someone’s watching my sister’s house.”
She went pale.
“Go.”
I raced outside.
Before I reached my car, Detective Mason called.
“Mrs. Hayes, where are you?”
“On my way to my sister.”
“Do not go there.”
I stopped.
“Why?”
“We have officers responding.”
“My daughter is there.”
“I understand.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
“Emily, listen carefully. Daniel was released.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“We did not have grounds to hold him longer.”
“He locked me in the house.”
“We’re working on charges.”
“Where is Margaret?”
“Still being questioned through counsel.”
“And Daniel?”
“We don’t know.”
I almost dropped the phone.
“You released him and you don’t know where he is?”
“He left before we could establish surveillance.”
“You think he’s outside Claire’s house?”
“We don’t know.”
I jumped into my car.
“I’m going.”
“Emily—”
I hung up.
The drive felt endless.
When I turned onto Claire’s street, police vehicles were everywhere.
The black SUV was gone.
I ran inside.
Lily flew into my arms.
“Mommy!”
I held her so tightly she complained.
Then Claire pointed toward the front porch.
“He left something.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. One of the officers found it.”
A small white envelope sat inside an evidence bag.
My name was written on the front.
Emily.
Detective Mason arrived twenty minutes later.
He put on gloves and opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Another picture of Sarah.
But this one was different.
She was standing beside the hidden basement door.
Her expression was terrified.
Someone had written a message across the bottom.
ASK DANIEL WHAT HE DID THAT NIGHT.
I stared at it.
“What night?”
Mason flipped the photograph over.
There was a date.
August 14, 1999.
I looked at Rachel, who had followed me to Claire’s house.
All color disappeared from her face.
May you like
“What?” I demanded.
Rachel whispered, “That’s the night Sarah disappeared.”
