Chapter 4: The Woman I Buried
For three years, I had visited my wife's grave every Sunday.
I had taken Lily with me on her birthdays, on Christmas mornings, and once on a rainy afternoon when she had cried so hard that I couldn't get her to calm down. We had brought flowers. We had cleaned the headstone. I had stood beside that patch of earth and promised Emily I would raise our daughter to be kind, brave, and loved.
Now Arthur Collins was standing in my garage, telling me the woman beneath that headstone might never have been Emily.
I grabbed his coat.
“Tell me exactly what you know.””
Arthur didn't pull away.
“I know Emily was afraid before she died. I know she was investigating something involving stolen medication and falsified records. And I know she contacted me three days before the funeral.””
“What did she say?””
“She told me she was safe, but she couldn't come home yet. She said Lily was the one thing she couldn't risk losing.””
“Then why didn't you tell me?””
“Because the message disappeared. I tried calling the number, but it had been disconnected. When I asked questions at the hospital, I was told Emily had died from complications following her emergency admission.””
“You expect me to believe you received a message from my supposedly dead wife and did nothing?””
Arthur's face tightened.
“No. I expect you to hate me for it. I have hated myself for three years.””
My phone was still connected to Margaret Hayes.
“Mr. Mercer?”” she asked.
“Are you still there?””
“Yes. Tell me everything about the woman who brought the other child.””
“She arrived at approximately eight forty-five. She claimed to be acting on behalf of your wife.””
“My wife is dead.””
“I understand that now. But she had paperwork with your daughter's name on it. When I refused to accept the child, she said I was making a terrible mistake.””
“Did she leave anything behind?””
There was a pause.
“Yes. A small bag.””
“What's inside?””
“I haven't opened it. I thought it might be important.””
“Please don't touch anything else. I'm coming to you.””
I ended the call.
Arthur placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Daniel, before you go anywhere, you need to understand something. If Emily is alive, she may have had a very good reason for staying away.””
I stepped back.
“She had a daughter.””
“I know.””
“A daughter who cried herself to sleep because she thought her mother didn't love her. A daughter who asked me if she'd caused her mother's death.””
Arthur lowered his eyes.
“I know.””
“No, you don't.””
My voice cracked.
“You don't know what it was like to watch Lily look at every woman in a grocery store because she thought she might be her mother. You don't know what it was like when she stopped asking questions because she thought the answers hurt me.””
I turned away, pressing my fists against my forehead.
“And now someone has taken her.””
Arthur's phone rang.
He checked the screen and answered.
“Margaret?””
I watched his expression change.
“What do you mean, it rang?””
He listened for several seconds.
Then he held out the phone to me.
“It's Lily's number.””
I snatched it from him.
“Lily?””
For two seconds, there was only static.
Then a small voice whispered, “Daddy?””
My knees nearly gave out.
“Baby! Where are you?””
“Daddy, I'm sorry.””
“No. No, sweetheart. You have nothing to be sorry for. Tell me where you are.””
“I didn't want to go.””
“Where are you, Lily?””
“I tried to be good. I ate the food she gave me, and I didn't cry, but she said you weren't coming.””
I pressed the phone against my ear.
“Who said that, baby?””
A muffled sound followed. Something scraped across a hard surface.
Then Lily whispered, “The lady who looks like Mommy.””
My heart stopped.
“Lily, listen to me. I love you. I'm coming to get you. Can you tell me what you see?””
“A blue door.””
“Anything else?””
“A clock. And a picture of a bird.””
A man's voice suddenly spoke in the background.
“Who are you talking to?””
Lily gasped.
The connection went dead.
I called back immediately.
The number was no longer available.
“Find her,” I said to Arthur.
“I don't care what it takes.””
Arthur had already taken out his phone.
“I'll contact the police and give them the information about the attempted placement.””
“I'll go to Margaret's facility.””
“You shouldn't go alone.””
“Then don't waste another second talking.””
We left the house together.
Vanessa was still upstairs when I passed the staircase. She shouted my name, demanding that I return, but I didn't stop.
At the end of the driveway, Arthur caught my arm.
“Daniel, wait.””
I turned, ready to explode.
He handed me the photograph of the woman in the gray coat.
“Look at her left hand.””
I stared at the image.
The woman wore a silver bracelet, but that wasn't what Arthur meant. Beneath the bracelet, just above the wrist, was a small crescent-shaped scar.
Emily had the same scar.
She had gotten it when she was seventeen, falling from a horse at her parents' farm. I had kissed that scar a thousand times.
There was no mistaking it.
“Where was this taken?”” I asked.
“Outside a train station in Pennsylvania. The person who sent it said she had been asking questions about Lily.””
“Who sent it?””
Arthur shook his head.
“The email was anonymous.””
I looked toward the road.
My wife might be alive.
My daughter might be in danger.
And the woman I had married might know far more than she had admitted.
I climbed into my car and started the engine.
As we pulled onto the road, my phone vibrated again.
A message from an unknown number appeared on the screen.
It contained only one sentence.
*If you want Lily back, stop looking for Emily.*
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
Lily sat on a wooden chair in a room I didn't recognize. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her eyes were red from crying.
Behind her, someone had written a name on the wall.
EMILY.
May you like
And beneath it, in smaller letters, were the words that made my blood turn cold.
*SHE KNOWS WHAT YOU DID.*
