Chapter 5
I read my name again.
Sarah Carter.
Guarantor.
My address.
My date of birth.
My employer.
Even the last four digits of my Social Security number.
I had never seen the document before.
Vanessa zoomed in.
At the bottom was my signature.
It looked almost perfect.
Almost.
The S curved too sharply.
The final r in Carter was wrong.
I knew because I had signed my own name thousands of times.
“That’s forged.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.”
Daniel suddenly sat down.
For the first time all day, he looked defeated.
Michael stared at him with a level of anger I had never seen.
“You forged her name on a quarter-million-dollar loan?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I didn’t sign it.”
I laughed.
“Who did?”
“Patricia handled the closing.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“Did Patricia forge Sarah’s signature?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You just implied it.”
“I said she handled the paperwork.”
Rebecca’s face appeared on the tablet.
“Daniel, stop protecting her.”
He stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
“You don’t know anything.”
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“I know Patricia has been controlling you since you were a child.”
“You gave me to her.”
“And that was my mistake.”
“You don’t get to become my mother now because you feel guilty.”
I stepped between the screen and Daniel.
“This is not about your childhood anymore.”
He looked at me.
“This is about a crime committed in my name.”
His jaw tightened.
“You’re really going to call your husband a criminal?”
I stared at him.
“If you committed fraud, what would you call yourself?”
No answer.
Vanessa began taking photographs of every screen.
“Sarah, I strongly recommend a credit freeze today.”
“Do it.”
“Also separate checking.”
“Do it.”
“New email password.”
“Do it.”
“Security system.”
“Change it.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You’re locking me out of everything?”
I turned toward him.
“You locked me out of our bank account.”
“That was temporary.”
“You forged my financial identity.”
“I said I didn’t do that.”
“Then tell me who did.”
Silence.
My phone rang.
This time it was a number I recognized.
Emma’s school.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Carter? This is Beth at Willow Creek Elementary.”
My heart started pounding.
“Is Emma okay?”
“Yes, yes. Emma is fine.”
I exhaled.
Then Beth continued.
“I’m calling because we received an unusual request this afternoon.”
Everyone in the kitchen watched me.
“What request?”
“Someone called asking to add an approved pickup person to Emma’s file.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
“The caller identified herself as you.”
I gripped the counter.
“I didn’t call.”
Beth went silent.
“Okay.”
“Who did they try to add?”
She hesitated.
“A Marcus Cole.”
The kitchen disappeared around me.
All I could hear was my heartbeat.
“Do not add him.”
“We didn’t. The caller couldn’t provide your family password.”
Thank God.
At the beginning of the school year, I created a pickup password after another parent told me about a custody dispute.
Daniel had rolled his eyes.
Called me paranoid.
Now that “paranoid” password had protected my child.
Beth continued.
“We flagged the account and wanted to verify.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you like us to temporarily restrict pickup to you only?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Sarah.”
I raised a finger.
“Only me. Not Daniel Carter. Not Patricia Carter. Nobody else unless I personally appear and change it.”
Daniel looked stunned.
Beth said, “Understood.”
I ended the call.
Daniel stared at me.
“You can’t remove me from picking up my own daughter.”
“I just did.”
“I’m her father.”
“And a man you owe money to tried to put himself on her pickup list.”
“I didn’t tell him to.”
“Then why did someone pretending to be me call the school?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa said, “Who knows the school’s name?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Anyone.”
“Who knows Sarah’s personal information?”
He didn’t answer.
Vanessa leaned forward.
“Who has enough data to impersonate her?”
I thought of the loan.
My Social Security number.
My employer.
My address.
Patricia had once helped us file taxes because she worked as a bookkeeper for years.
She had copies of everything.
“Patricia.”
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You know she has my information.”
“She would never involve Emma.”
“Really?”
“You don’t know her like I do.”
I almost laughed.
“No, Daniel. Apparently I don’t know anyone like I thought I did.”
Michael walked toward the broken window.
“I want Sarah and Emma out of this house tonight.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I agree.”
Daniel said, “Absolutely not.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t decide.”
“This is Emma’s home.”
“And someone threatened her school.”
“You’re overreacting.”
Michael spun around.
“Say that again.”
I put my hand on Michael’s arm.
Not for Daniel.
For Emma upstairs.
I needed everyone quiet.
Rachel had been standing near the kitchen island.
She suddenly looked at her phone.
“My sister isn’t answering.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“She usually answers right away.”
“Call again.”
She did.
No answer.
Rachel’s hands started shaking.
“My daughter is with her.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“She’s probably driving.”
“My sister doesn’t drive when Lily is with her. Her husband does.”
She called again.
Voicemail.
Then she called her brother-in-law.
He answered.
Rachel’s face relaxed for half a second.
Then tightened.
“What do you mean?”
We all watched her.
“No, Jessica said she was staying home.”
Pause.
“What playground?”
Rachel grabbed the counter.
“What?”
Then she shouted.
“CALL HER!”
She hung up.
“What happened?” I asked.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
“My sister texted her husband an hour ago saying she was taking Lily to a playground because you asked her to meet you.”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“I didn’t.”
Rachel held up her phone.
“YOU TEXTED HER.”
“No!”
“What playground?”
“Centennial.”
Rachel grabbed her purse.
“I’m going.”
Michael stepped forward.
“Not alone.”
I ran upstairs.
Emma looked up from her movie.
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Uncle Michael’s.”
She smiled.
“Does he have ice cream?”
I almost cried.
“Yes.”
I packed enough clothes for several nights.
Then I returned downstairs.
Vanessa had already called police again.
Rachel was pacing.
Daniel kept insisting he never contacted Jessica.
Vanessa asked to see his phone.
He refused.
That refusal mattered.
We drove in two cars.
Michael took me and Emma.
Vanessa drove Rachel.
Daniel tried to follow.
I told him not to.
He followed anyway.
Police met us at Centennial Park.
Jessica’s SUV was parked near the playground.
Empty.
Rachel jumped from Vanessa’s car before it fully stopped.
“LILY!”
People turned.
She ran toward the playground.
I left Emma with Michael and followed.
“Lily!”
No answer.
Jessica’s handbag was on a bench.
Her phone was inside.
Rachel picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
She looked at me.
“I’m going to throw up.”
Then someone shouted.
A man near the swings.
“Are you looking for the little girl with pigtails?”
Rachel ran to him.
“Yes!”
“She left with a woman maybe twenty minutes ago.”
Everything stopped.
“What woman?”
“Older. Dark hair. Maybe sixties.”
My stomach dropped.
Patricia.
Rachel pulled up a photo.
“Her?”
The man looked.
“Yes. I think so.”
Daniel arrived behind us.
Rachel turned and slapped him across the face.
“You let your mother take my daughter?”
He staggered.
“I didn’t know!”
“You lying piece of—”
Police separated them.
I looked at the officer.
“My mother-in-law may have taken that child.”
“Is she the child’s grandmother?”
“No.”
The officer looked confused.
Of course he did.
Nothing about our family made sense anymore.
Rachel shouted, “She is not related to Lily!”
The officer asked, “Could the child know her?”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s silence told us everything.
Rachel stared at him.
“You introduced Patricia to Lily.”
“It was once.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“You told me she was your aunt.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
One of the officers requested Patricia’s vehicle information.
Daniel gave it.
A white Lexus.
Within minutes, officers were checking traffic cameras.
I walked back toward Michael and Emma.
My daughter was eating crackers in the back seat.
She waved.
I smiled because mothers somehow learn to smile while terrified.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo message.
I opened it.
My body went cold.
Lily was sitting at a kitchen table.
Safe.
At least she looked safe.
Beside her was Patricia.
Patricia smiled into the camera.
Below the photo was a message.
TELL DANIEL TO FIX THIS.
NO LAWYERS.
NO POLICE.
FAMILY ONLY.
I showed Michael.
His face hardened.
“Send that to Vanessa.”
I did.
Then another message arrived.
THIS FAMILY HAS SURVIVED WORSE THAN SARAH CARTER.
I stared at the words.
Then the final message came.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS FIRST WIFE.
I stopped breathing.
Michael saw my face.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
He read it.
Then looked toward Daniel across the parking lot.
“First wife?”
I stared at the man I had been married to for six years.
The man I thought had never been married before.
Vanessa walked toward us.
I showed her.
She read the message.
Her expression became very still.
“Sarah.”
“Yes?”
“Did Daniel ever tell you he had another wife?”
“No.”
Vanessa looked toward the police.
“Then we need to find out who she was.”
Daniel saw us staring.
He started walking toward us.
I raised the phone.
“Who was your first wife?”
He stopped.
Every bit of color left his face.
Rachel heard me.
So did one of the officers.
Daniel looked around like he wanted somewhere to disappear.
Then he whispered,
“Her name was Claire.”
I stepped closer.
“What happened to her?”
His eyes filled with something I couldn’t read.
Fear.
Grief.
Guilt.
May you like
Maybe all three.
“She died.”
