Chapter 6: Two Women, One Face
Ava refused to leave my side.
She stood beside the sofa in the living room, clutching my wet sleeve while the woman we'd rescued lay beneath a blanket. Vanessa had called an ambulance, but Haines insisted we couldn't trust the local police.
I wanted to hit him for saying it.
Four years ago, I'd trusted those same police with my wife's disappearance. I'd given them photographs, phone records, bank statements, and every detail I could remember.
I'd trusted Daniel to help me find her.
I'd trusted Vanessa to help me heal.
Now I had a wounded stranger in my living room, a memory card in my pocket, and a daughter who seemed to know more about her mother's whereabouts than any adult.
“What's your name?”” I asked the woman.
She blinked slowly.
“Rachel.””
“Rachel what?””
“Mercer.””
Haines looked up sharply.
“Mercer?””
Rachel tried to sit, wincing as she pressed a hand against her ribs.
“Not related to Daniel,” she said.
“My mother remarried when I was six.””
Vanessa brought her a glass of water.
Rachel knocked it from her hand.
“Don't.””
The glass shattered on the floor.
Vanessa stepped back.
Rachel stared at her with naked hatred.
“You left me there.””
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“I thought Daniel had moved you.””
“You knew I was alive.””
“I didn't know where you were!””
“You had the key!””
“I didn't know what it opened until Danielle told me!””
Rachel tried to stand, but her legs gave way. I caught her before she fell.
“Enough,” I said.
“Everyone stops talking until I understand what's happening.””
Rachel looked at me.
“You're Marcus.””
“Yes.””
“Danielle's husband.””
“Yes.””
She began to cry.
“She talked about you every day.””
My throat tightened.
“Where is she?””
Rachel looked toward Ava.
“Is that her daughter?””
I nodded.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“Oh, Danielle.””
Ava stepped forward.
“Where's Mommy?””
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know where she is right now, sweetheart.””
Ava shook her head.
“That's not what she said.””
I crouched beside my daughter.
“What did Mommy say?””
Ava looked at Rachel.
“She said Aunt Rachel would come back first. Then she said Daddy would know what to do.””
Rachel went perfectly still.
“Aunt Rachel?””
Ava nodded.
“Mommy showed me your picture.””
Rachel covered her face.
For several seconds, the room was silent except for the ticking of the grandfather clock.
Then Rachel lowered her hands.
“Danielle found me three years ago,” she said.
“She'd been searching for me since we were teenagers. Our mother told her I'd died in a car accident when we were children. It was a lie.””
Haines leaned forward.
“Who told you that?””
“My mother. Before she died, she confessed that she'd sent me to live with relatives because she couldn't afford to raise two children. Then the relatives moved, and nobody could find me.””
Rachel glanced at me.
“Danielle discovered the truth while investigating the identity network. One of the people using it had documents connected to my childhood. That's how she found me.””
“And Daniel found you,” I said.
Rachel nodded.
“He wanted the records Danielle had collected. When I refused to hand them over, he took me.””
I looked toward the terrace.
“How long were you beneath the pool?””
“Eleven months.””
The number was almost impossible to process.
“You were locked in a room beneath my house for eleven months?””
Rachel's eyes filled with a terrible exhaustion.
“Not the whole time. Sometimes they moved me. Sometimes they took me to another property. But whenever Daniel needed to hide me, he brought me back here.””
“Why my house?””
“Because nobody would suspect you. You were the grieving husband. The man searching for his missing wife.””
I stood.
My knees felt weak.
“My house was being used to imprison people while I searched for Danielle.””
Rachel nodded.
“And Daniel knew you'd never look beneath your own swimming pool.””
Vanessa sat down heavily.
“I didn't know he was bringing people here.””
Rachel turned toward her.
“You knew enough.””
Vanessa looked at the floor.
Rachel continued, her voice growing sharper.
“You helped him erase records. You gave him access to Danielle's old phone. You told him when Marcus would be away from the house.””
I stared at Vanessa.
“Is that true?””
She shook her head desperately.
“I gave him information because he threatened Ava. He said he knew where she went to preschool. He showed me photographs of her walking through the playground.””
“You could have told me.””
“And risked him hurting her?””
“You could have gone to the police!””
“Daniel had people inside the police department!””
Haines looked away.
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“She's right about that part.””
I turned to the detective.
“Who else was involved?””
Haines rubbed his bruised jaw.
“Captain Edward Shaw. Two investigators in the regional task force. A records clerk who altered case files. There were others I couldn't identify.””
“You were a detective. Why didn't you expose them?””
“Because I tried.””
He rolled up his sleeve.
Purple bruises circled his wrist.
“After Danielle disappeared, I found evidence that Daniel had moved her car. I confronted him. Two days later, I was accused of taking bribes and selling confidential information.
My badge was suspended. Before I could appeal, I was kidnapped.””
“By Daniel?””
“By men working for him.””
Haines looked toward the window.
“I was brought here six months ago. They wanted to know what I'd copied before they took my files.””
I remembered the official report.
The detective assigned to my wife's case had supposedly transferred to another county.
No one had ever explained why.
“Why did you tell me Danielle was probably dead?”” I asked.
Haines lowered his head.
“Because they were watching you. I thought if you stopped searching, they'd leave you alone.””
“And did they?””
“No.””
The answer came quietly.
“They used your grief to keep you predictable.””
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
*YOU HAVE THE MEMORY CARD. BRING IT TO THE OLD RAIL DEPOT AT MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE, OR YOUR DAUGHTER DIES.*
A photograph appeared beneath the message.
Ava was sitting at her preschool desk, smiling at the camera.
The timestamp showed it had been taken that morning.
My blood turned to ice.
I looked at Vanessa.
She saw the screen and began trembling.
“They're watching her,” she whispered.
Rachel pushed herself upright.
“Don't go.””
I looked at her.
“They threatened my daughter.””
“That's what they want.””
“They have photographs of her.””
“And if you give them the card, they'll kill everyone who knows what's on it.””
I pulled the memory card from my pocket.
“What exactly is on this?””
Rachel hesitated.
“Proof.””
“Proof of what?””
“Payments. Names. Recorded conversations. Everything Daniel has been hiding.””
“Then we give it to the FBI.””
Haines shook his head.
“Not until we know who can be trusted.””
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I placed the card on the table and stared at it.
A tiny piece of plastic.
Four years of lies.
A lifetime of consequences.
Rachel reached toward it, then stopped.
“There's something else you need to know about Danielle.””
I looked up.
“What?””
Rachel glanced at Ava.
“Your wife didn't disappear because she discovered the network.””
“Then why?””
“Because she discovered what Daniel planned to do next.””
“What did he plan?””
Rachel swallowed.
“He wasn't just going to kill the witnesses. He was going to replace them.””
I frowned.
“What does that mean?””
Rachel looked directly at me.
“The network had been creating new identities for people who needed to vanish. But Daniel had started using those identities for people who wanted to disappear someone else.””
My stomach tightened.
“Someone else?””
“People like Danielle. People who knew too much. People whose families could be manipulated.””
I thought of the woman beneath the pool, the key in Vanessa's handbag, and the countless nights I'd spent staring at Danielle's photograph.
Then I looked at Rachel.
“Where is my wife?””
She took a shaky breath.
“She's alive, Marcus. But there's a reason she hasn't come home.””
“What reason?””
Rachel reached into the pocket of her blanket and pulled out a folded photograph.
It showed Danielle standing outside a courthouse, holding the hand of a little girl.
The girl looked about six years old.
She had Danielle's dark hair.
And my eyes.
I stared at the photograph, unable to breathe.
Ava moved closer.
“Daddy?””
I couldn't answer.
Rachel whispered, “Danielle didn't leave you alone, Marcus.””
She turned the photograph over.
On the back, in my wife's unmistakable handwriting, were six words.
*If Marcus finds Ava, hide the other one.*
I looked at my daughter.
Then at the photograph.
And finally at Rachel.
“Who is the other child?””
Rachel began to cry.
Before she could answer, the front doorbell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then a woman's voice came through the security speaker.
“Marcus? It's Danielle.””
Ava ran toward the door.
I caught her just before she reached it.
May you like
Because on the security monitor, standing outside my house, was my missing wife.
And beside her stood a little girl wearing Ava's face.
