Chương 10
“So?”
“There’s a tag attached.”
“What does it say?”
“C-14.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Does that mean anything to you?”
“No.”
“Ethan?”
“I haven’t asked him yet.”
“Why?”
“He’s being treated at another hospital and investigators are keeping him separate from Vanessa.”
Daniel nodded automatically.
Then he remembered she could not see him.
“Ask him.”
“We will.”
The call ended.
Daniel stood in the hallway for another moment.
His phone showed twelve missed calls.
Two from his office.
Three from an unknown number.
Four from Claire’s sister, Rachel.
Three from neighbors.
He stared at Rachel’s name.
He had no idea who had contacted her.
Then a text arrived.
RACHEL: What happened at the house?
A second followed.
RACHEL: Daniel, call me now.
He returned to Sophie first.
Megan had found crayons.
Sophie was drawing something on hospital paper.
Daniel sat beside her.
“What’s that?”
“The wardrobe.”
His stomach tightened.
She had drawn a brown rectangle with black behind it.
A small stick figure stood inside the black area.
Another red figure stood outside.
“Who’s that?”
He pointed at the red figure.
Sophie’s crayon stopped.
“Vanessa.”
“And this?”
He touched the figure in the hidden room.
“The man.”
She began coloring again.
Daniel watched her for a few seconds.
Then he noticed another figure.
It was drawn at the far edge of the page in blue.
“Who’s that?”
Sophie did not answer.
Daniel waited.
Megan glanced at him but stayed quiet.
“Sophie.”
She lowered the crayon.
“The other person.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What other person?”
“The one who came before Daddy came.”
Megan’s posture changed.
Daniel kept his voice as even as he could.
“Who came into your room?”
“I don’t know.”
“A man?”
Sophie shook her head.
“A lady?”
Another shake.
Daniel swallowed.
“What did they look like?”
“They had the black thing.”
“What black thing?”
Sophie lifted both hands over her face.
Like a mask.
Daniel leaned forward.
“When?”
“When Vanessa was yelling.”
His heartbeat quickened.
“Where did they come from?”
She pointed to the wardrobe on the drawing.
“The wall.”
Megan reached slowly for her phone.
Daniel barely noticed.
“What did they do?”
Sophie stared at the paper.
“They watched.”
“Watched what?”
“Vanessa.”
“Did Vanessa see them?”
Sophie shook her head.
“They were behind her.”
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“What happened next?”
“They went back.”
“Before I came in?”
“Yes.”
“Did they touch you?”
“No.”
“Did they say anything?”
Sophie’s fingers tightened around the blue crayon.
“One thing.”
Daniel waited.
“What?”
She looked at him.
“They said, ‘Find the card before she does.’”
Megan was already calling Ortiz.
Daniel sat very still.
The hidden watcher had known about the memory card before Sophie cut open the pillow.
His phone vibrated again.
Unknown number.
For one second Daniel considered ignoring it.
Then he opened the message.
There was no text.
Only a photograph.
The picture showed Claire standing outside a low brick building beside a man Daniel had never seen.
The timestamp printed in the corner was from three nights before her death.
Daniel enlarged the image.
Claire was looking toward the camera.
Not accidentally.
Directly.
Her expression was tense.
Beside her, the unknown man held a small brass key between two fingers.
A white tag hung from it.
Even through the blur, Daniel could read the handwritten characters.
C-14.
A second message appeared beneath the photograph.
Ask Rachel why Claire trusted her with the storage unit.
Daniel stared at Rachel’s name above the unread message thread.
For several seconds he could hear nothing except Sophie dragging the blue crayon across paper.
Megan was speaking quietly to Ortiz on the phone now, turned partly away so Sophie would not hear every word.
Daniel opened Rachel’s contact.
His thumb hovered over the call button.
Then he stopped.
If whoever sent the photograph knew about Rachel, they might also expect him to call her.
He hated that his mind had already begun working this way.
Suspicion had entered the room and started rearranging the furniture.
Rachel called again before he decided.
Daniel answered.
“Where are you?”
Her voice came fast and breathless.
“At the hospital.”
“Oh, God.”
“Sophie’s okay.”
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
She was coloring the masked figure darker now.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay there.”
Rachel went silent.
“What?”
“Don’t leave.”
“Daniel, you’re scaring me.”
“Good.”
The word came out harsher than he intended.
Rachel inhaled sharply.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I need you to answer something.”
“Okay.”
“What is C-14?”
Nothing.
Not confusion.
Silence.
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Rachel.”
“Where did you hear that?”
His grip tightened around the phone.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
“So answer me.”
Rachel lowered her voice.
“Is Sophie with you?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t do this in front of her.”
Daniel stood and stepped outside the curtain again.
Megan watched him but did not interfere.
“I’m outside the bay.”
“Who told you about C-14?”
“Someone sent me a picture of Claire.”
Another silence.
This one sounded different.
Fear.
“When?”
“Just now.”
“From what number?”
“Unknown.”
“What picture?”
“Claire outside a brick building three days before she died.”
Rachel exhaled slowly.
“Daniel.”
“Who’s the man with her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try again.”
“I don’t.”
“What’s the key?”
Rachel did not answer.
Daniel pressed his shoulder against the wall.
“Vanessa had it.”
“What?”
“The police found the key on Vanessa.”
Rachel said nothing for so long he checked the screen to make sure the call had not dropped.
“Rachel.”
“She wasn’t supposed to have that.”
Daniel’s skin went cold.
“So you do know.”
“Yes.”
“Know what?”
Rachel’s voice shook.
“It opens a storage unit.”
He looked through the narrow window in the emergency department door.
People moved through the waiting room with coffee cups, jackets, forms, plastic bracelets, and ordinary problems.
His own life had begun feeling less real with every answer.
“Whose unit?”
“Claire’s.”
“Why?”
“She needed somewhere outside the house.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
May you like
“Because none of us knew everything.”
Daniel almost shouted.
