Chapter 3
Noah stopped crying halfway to the hospital.
That should have comforted me.
It didn’t.
The paramedic immediately leaned closer.
“Noah?”
He touched my baby’s foot.
Noah reacted weakly.
The paramedic looked at his partner.
“Let’s move.”
My heart pounded.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re checking him. Keep talking to him.”
I leaned over my son.
“Mommy’s here.”
My tears fell onto the blanket.
“Stay with me, sweetheart. Please.”
Chloe sat beside me, white-faced.
She had never looked so small.
I reached for her hand.
“You did the right thing.”
“What if Dad finds us?”
“He won’t.”
I said it with more confidence than I felt.
The police officer sitting near the ambulance doors glanced at us.
“We have officers at your home and at the hospital. He won’t get near you.”
Chloe nodded.
But she did not relax.
Neither did I.
At the emergency department, Noah was taken from my arms.
I wanted to follow.
A nurse blocked me gently.
“We need to examine him immediately.”
“I’m his mother.”
“I know. We’ll bring you back as soon as we can.”
The doors closed.
I stood there staring at them.
Chloe pressed against my side.
The officer introduced himself as Detective Marcus Reed.
He had joined us at the hospital after patrol officers contacted the family crimes unit.
“Mrs. Harper, I need to ask you about the phone call you received.”
“I don’t know who she is.”
“You recognized her voice?”
“Yes.”
“From the recording?”
“Yes.”
“Had you ever heard it before today?”
I started to say no.
Then something stopped me.
There had been something familiar about the woman’s voice.
Not enough to recognize.
Enough to bother me.
“I’m not sure.”
Detective Reed studied me.
“Think.”
I closed my eyes.
The voice.
Low.
Controlled.
A slight rasp.
Then I remembered Christmas.
Two years earlier.
Jason’s company party.
A woman standing near the bar.
Dark hair.
Red dress.
She had hugged Jason too comfortably.
He introduced her as Miranda Cole.
A financial consultant.
I opened my eyes.
“Miranda.”
“Last name?”
“Cole.”
Detective Reed wrote it down.
“What is her relationship to your husband?”
“He said she worked with his company.”
“Do you know where?”
“Hollis Development.”
He stopped writing.
“Hollis?”
“Yes.”
Something changed in his expression.
“What?”
“Nothing yet.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
He looked at Chloe.
Then at me.
“I don’t want to speculate.”
“Detective, my husband threw my baby on the floor. My daughter recorded him discussing my baby’s death with another woman. That woman just called me and told me he isn’t the only person I should fear. I think we’re past the point where protecting me from speculation helps.”
He nodded slowly.
“Hollis Development is already under investigation.”
“For what?”
“Financial fraud.”
My stomach dropped.
“How serious?”
“Serious enough that federal investigators have asked local departments to preserve anything connected to certain employees.”
“Jason?”
“I can’t discuss names.”
That answered the question.
Chloe tugged my hand.
“Mom.”
She held up the old phone.
“There are more files.”
Detective Reed looked at her.
“How many?”
She opened the recording folder.
Seven.
Seven recordings.
I stared at my daughter.
“You recorded him seven times?”
She nodded.
“Sometimes he talked when you were at work.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face collapsed.
“Because Dad said if I made trouble, you’d leave me too.”
My chest cracked open.
I dropped to my knees.
“Chloe.”
“He said you were tired of being my mom.”
“No.”
“He said Noah was your real baby now.”
“No, baby.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“That was a lie. Every word.”
She sobbed against me.
I felt rage unlike anything I had ever known.
Jason hadn’t only hurt Noah.
He had been poisoning Chloe’s mind.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Making her afraid to trust me.
Detective Reed looked away, giving us a moment.
A doctor appeared twenty minutes later.
“Mrs. Harper?”
I stood so fast I nearly fell.
“How is he?”
“Noah has a skull fracture.”
The world went silent.
I stared at her lips.
I knew she was still speaking.
I could not hear the words.
Then sound returned.
“We’re also concerned about signs of previous trauma.”
“Previous?”
My voice barely existed.
The doctor looked toward Chloe.
Then back at me.
“We found healing injuries that suggest this may not be the first incident.”
My knees buckled.
Detective Reed caught my elbow.
“I didn’t know.”
“I understand,” the doctor said gently.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
“We’ve contacted child protection as required.”
I nodded.
“Is he going to live?”
That was the only question that mattered.
“He’s stable right now.”
Right now.
Two terrible words.
“Can I see him?”
“In a moment.”
The doctor looked at Detective Reed.
“He needs imaging and neurological observation. We’re admitting him.”
I turned to Chloe.
“Can she stay with me?”
Detective Reed answered.
“We’ll work it out.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number again.
A text.
ASK CHLOE WHAT SHE FOUND IN THE GARAGE.
I stopped breathing.
Detective Reed saw my face.
“What?”
I showed him.
He immediately took a screenshot.
“Don’t respond.”
Chloe stared at the message.
“What did I find?”
I looked at her.
“You tell me.”
Her eyes widened.
Then she remembered.
“The box.”
“What box?”
“Dad’s black box.”
Detective Reed crouched.
“Chloe, where did you see it?”
“In the garage.”
“Was it locked?”
She shook her head.
“Dad left it open one day.”
“What was inside?”
“Papers.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
She swallowed.
“And a picture of Mom.”
I felt cold.
“What picture?”
“You were asleep.”
My skin prickled.
“Where?”
“In bed.”
Chloe whispered.
“There were other pictures too.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“Doing what?”
“Driving.”
“Going to work.”
“Getting groceries.”
Each answer hit harder.
Jason had been following me.
Or someone had.
Detective Reed stood.
“I’m sending a unit back to the house.”
An officer approached from the hall.
“Detective.”
Reed stepped aside.
They spoke quietly.
Then Reed turned back.
“Your husband’s car has been located.”
“Where?”
“About two miles from your home.”
“Was he in it?”
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
The officer handed Reed a small evidence bag.
Inside was a smashed phone.
“Found on the driver’s seat,” he said.
I recognized Jason’s case.
Detective Reed looked at me.
“Does he have another phone?”
“Not that I know of.”
Chloe spoke.
“He does.”
We all turned.
“He keeps one in the garage cabinet.”
The locked cabinet.
Reed’s expression sharpened.
“Anything else you haven’t told us?”
Chloe thought hard.
Then nodded.
“Dad has another name.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“I heard the lady call him Michael.”
Detective Reed stared at her.
“When?”
“On one of the recordings.”
I looked at him.
“Jason’s name is Jason Harper.”
Reed said nothing for a moment.
Then he asked, “Have you ever seen his original birth certificate?”
“No.”
“Passport?”
“He told me he lost it.”
“Social Security card?”
“He keeps everything at work.”
Detective Reed slowly closed his notebook.
“Mrs. Harper, how long have you known your husband?”
“Eleven years.”
“How did you meet?”
“At a fundraiser.”
“Who introduced you?”
I opened my mouth.
Then stopped.
It had been Miranda.
I had forgotten.
She was using a different last name then.
But it was her.
Same eyes.
Same voice.
Same laugh.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“Miranda introduced us.”
Detective Reed’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Reed.”
He listened.
His expression changed.
“Secure the scene. Touch nothing.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked at Chloe.
Then me.
“Officers opened the locked cabinet in your garage.”
“And?”
“There are passports inside.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
My mouth went dry.
“All with your husband’s photograph.”
Chloe gripped my hand.
Reed continued.
“Different names.”
I could barely breathe.
May you like
Then he said the part that changed everything.
“One of those names belongs to a man who supposedly died twelve years ago.”
