Chapter 7: Come Home Alone
I stared at the message until the words stopped looking real.
*Come home alone.*
Marcus reached for my phone.
“Absolutely not.””
I pulled it away.
“She knows where Lily is.””
“You don’t know that.””
“She filmed inside my house.””
“That doesn’t mean she has Lily.””
“No. It means she wants me to believe she can reach her.””
That was enough.
I called Emily.
She answered immediately.
“Ryan?””
“Is Lily with you?””
“Yes.””
“Lock every door.””
A pause.
“What happened?””
“Just do it.””
“Ryan, you’re scaring me.””
“Don’t open the door for anyone. Not Vanessa. Not Patricia. Nobody.””
I heard movement.
Then Lily’s voice in the background.
“Is that Daddy?””
My chest tightened.
“Put me on speaker.””
A second later, Lily spoke.
“Daddy?””
“Hey, princess.””
“When are you coming back?””
“Soon.””
“Promise?””
I closed my eyes.
“Promise.””
There was silence.
Then Lily whispered, “Daddy?””
“Yes?””
“Don’t go see Vanessa.””
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“How did you know?””
“She does that.””
“Does what?””
“She tells people to come alone.””
Marcus and I exchanged a look.
“Who else did she tell that to?””
Lily became quiet.
“Mommy.””
I stopped breathing.
“Lily, you were two when Mommy died.””
“I know.””
“How do you remember that?””
“I don’t.””
Her answer came quickly.
“Vanessa told Grandma Patricia once.””
I gripped the phone.
“What exactly did she say?””
Lily hesitated.
“She said, ‘Rachel should’ve listened when I told her to come alone.’ Then Grandma said not to talk about it around me.””
The room seemed to shrink.
“Daddy?””
“I’m here.””
“Are you mad?””
“Never at you.””
I forced my voice steady.
“Stay with Aunt Emily.””
After ending the call, I looked at Marcus.
“Call the police.””
He already had his phone out.
Twenty minutes later, Detective Sarah Bennett met us outside my neighborhood.
I showed her everything.
The notes.
The photographs.
The messages.
Dr. Hayes’ letter.
The files from the abandoned clinic.
She read them without interrupting.
Finally, she looked at me.
“You understand some of this could have been planted?””
“Yes.””
“And the email printouts alone don’t prove who sent them.””
“I know.””
“But the threats are current.””
“Yes.””
She glanced toward my house.
“We go in first.””
“No.””
“Mr. Carter—”
“She asked for me.””
“And that is exactly why you’re not walking into that house alone.””
For the first time all day, someone said something that cut through my panic.
Vanessa wanted me isolated.
That was how she controlled Lily.
Maybe that was how she controlled Rachel.
I nodded.
Police approached from the front and rear.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, nothing moved.
“Police!””
Silence.
They cleared the first floor.
Then the second.
Vanessa wasn’t there.
But something was waiting for me on the dining table.
A photograph.
Rachel.
Alive.
Standing beside Vanessa.
I stumbled forward.
“No.””
The date printed in the corner was five years ago.
A full year before Rachel died.
Vanessa had always claimed she never knew my wife.
Yet there they were.
Rachel looked angry.
Vanessa looked frightened.
Detective Bennett put on gloves and lifted the photograph.
“Do you recognize the location?””
I did.
It was the parking garage beneath Rachel’s old office.
I turned it over.
Three words were written on the back.
*ASK ABOUT CLAIRE.*
“Who’s Claire?”” Marcus asked.
“I don’t know.””
Detective Bennett looked at me.
“Think carefully.””
Then I remembered.
Not a person I knew.
A name Rachel had mentioned once.
A woman from her office.
“She worked with Rachel.””
“What was her last name?””
“Monroe. Claire Monroe.””
Marcus searched quickly.
His expression changed.
“Ryan.””
“What?””
He turned the phone toward me.
Claire Monroe had disappeared four years ago.
Two days after Rachel died.
The police had classified her as a missing adult.
No body.
No arrest.
Nothing.
Detective Bennett immediately called someone.
While she spoke, I noticed an envelope beneath the photograph.
Inside was a key.
Small.
Brass.
A storage number was engraved on it.
*214.*
Beneath it was another handwritten message.
This time, the handwriting wasn’t Rachel’s.
*Your wife hid the truth where Vanessa could never find it.*
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One photograph arrived.
Emily’s house.
Taken from across the street.
Then another.
Lily standing behind the living room window.
My heart stopped.
A message followed.
*You brought the police.*
Another appeared.
*Now I bring the truth to your daughter.*
I called Emily.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
“Detective!””
Bennett turned.
I showed her.
She was already moving.
“Units to the sister’s address. Now.””
I ran toward the door.
My phone buzzed one final time.
This message wasn’t from Vanessa.
It was from Emily.
May you like
Only three words.
*She’s inside, Ryan.*
