Chương 6
Claire stared at him.
“When?”
“The day she came over.”
“Why was she counting my pills?”
“Because she doesn’t trust me.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“She said you called her.”
Claire’s breath caught.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her carefully.
“She said you called her from the hospital.”
“I didn’t.”
“She had a voicemail.”
Claire’s skin prickled.
“What voicemail?”
“A message from your number.”
“I never called her.”
“She played it for me.”
Claire could hear Lily breathing beside her.
“What did it say?”
Daniel’s face changed.
Not anger this time.
Fear.
“She said it was you asking her to come get Lily.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“That’s what I told her.”
“What else?”
Daniel looked toward the house again.
“Your voice said you didn’t trust me.”
Claire followed his gaze.
The dark kitchen window reflected four adults and one small child standing in the yard.
For a second Claire saw her own pale face in the glass.
Then movement passed behind the reflection.
A shape crossed the kitchen.
Claire froze.
Ethan saw her expression.
“What?”
Claire raised one finger.
Everyone went quiet.
The back door handle moved.
Once.
Slowly.
Lily grabbed Claire with both hands.
“There.”
The handle turned again.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Stay here.”
Claire caught his wrist.
“No.”
A shadow appeared behind the frosted lower pane.
Melina whispered something Claire could not hear.
Ethan moved in front of Claire and Lily.
Daniel stared at the door.
“Who’s in my house?”
Nobody answered.
Then a woman’s voice came softly through the glass.
“Claire?”
Claire’s blood seemed to stop inside her.
The voice was not identical to hers.
It was close enough to explain a frightened child in the dark.
The door opened three inches.
A blonde woman looked through the gap.
Claire had not seen her sister in nearly three years.
Sarah’s face appeared thinner, older, and utterly exhausted.
She looked at Claire, then Lily wrapped in the beige coat, then the open kennel.
Her eyes filled with horror.
“Oh, God.”
Daniel stepped toward the door.
“I told you not to come back.”
Sarah ignored him.
Claire’s voice came out rough.
“What are you doing in my house?”
Sarah opened the door fully.
She was wearing jeans, an oversized gray sweater, and Claire’s blue bedroom slippers.
Claire stared at the slippers.
Sarah looked down at them and gave a short, embarrassed breath.
“My shoes were wet.”
“Why are you here?”
Sarah looked at Lily.
Lily hid behind Claire.
Sarah’s face tightened.
“I came to get her.”
Melina stepped forward.
“You’re trespassing.”
Sarah looked at the kennel again.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“I was too late.”
Claire looked at her sister and felt three years of anger collapse into something less stable.
“Too late for what?”
Sarah stepped onto the patio but stopped when Lily recoiled.
“For this.”
She pointed at the kennel.
Melina laughed once.
“That is convenient.”
Sarah’s face changed.
“You don’t get to speak to me.”
“This is my son’s home.”
“And that is my niece.”
Claire raised a hand.
“Stop.”
Everyone did.
The obedience surprised her.
Maybe it was her voice.
Maybe it was the way Lily had both fists twisted in the back of Claire’s dress.
Claire looked at Sarah.
“You came here to take Lily.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“I couldn’t reach you.”
“You knew where I was.”
“I knew the hospital.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“I called.”
“I never got a call.”
Sarah glanced at Daniel.
He stared back at her.
Claire caught the exchange.
“What?”
Sarah said nothing.
“What did he do?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Nothing.”
Claire’s eyes stayed on Sarah.
“Tell me.”
Sarah swallowed.
“I called the unit twice.”
Claire waited.
“They said someone had already asked that I not be given information.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“They wouldn’t tell me.”
Daniel said, “Because you weren’t authorized.”
Sarah turned on him.
“They wouldn’t even confirm she was there.”
“That is how privacy works.”
“You knew I was trying to reach her.”
“You had no right to.”
Claire looked between them.
“You talked to each other before you met at the coffee shop.”
Daniel’s silence answered first.
Sarah nodded.
Claire pressed her lips together.
“How long?”
“About a week.”
“A week.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
Sarah’s voice softened.
“I was trying to figure out whether you were safe.”
“You don’t get to disappear for three years and decide you’re my emergency contact.”
Pain flashed across Sarah’s face.
“Fair.”
The single word irritated Claire more than defensiveness would have.
“You don’t get to say fair either.”
Sarah looked down.
Lily peeked around Claire’s side.
The movement caught Sarah’s attention, and her expression broke again.
She did not approach.
That restraint mattered.
Claire noticed it despite herself.
“Why did you think I wasn’t safe?”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“No.”
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“No, don’t do that.”
Sarah gave him a tired stare.
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You are making this look like something it isn’t.”
Claire said, “Then make it look like what it is.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
Sarah reached into the pocket of her sweater.
Ethan shifted his weight.
Sarah noticed.
“It’s my phone.”
She pulled it out slowly.
Claire almost smiled at the absurdity of everyone treating ordinary objects like weapons now.
Sarah unlocked the screen.
“I saved the voicemail.”
Daniel moved closer.
“You already played it.”
“I’m not asking you.”
Sarah looked at Claire.
“Do you want to hear it?”
Claire’s first instinct was no.
Her second was stronger.
“Yes.”
Sarah tapped the screen.
Static came first.
Then breathing.
Claire heard a woman’s voice.
Her own voice.
“Sarah, I need you to listen and not call Daniel.”
Claire’s body went cold.
The recording continued.
“I think something is wrong with my medication.”
Lily pressed closer.
Claire stared at the phone.
The voice sounded exhausted, strained, slightly slurred by fatigue.
It sounded exactly like her.
“I keep losing time.”
The voice paused.
“Please come get Lily.”
Sarah stopped the recording.
May you like
No one spoke.
Claire’s heart beat so hard it hurt.
