Chapter 4 - Locker 314Emma did not tell Adrian about Miriam's note.
Not yet.
At six the next morning she entered South Station.
Locker 314 stood near the end of an aging corridor.
The brass key turned.
Inside was a weathered red backpack.
Emma carried it into a restroom stall before opening it.
There were three objects inside.
A photograph.
A cassette tape.
And a hospital bracelet.
Emma picked up the photograph first.
Two women stood outside a rural medical clinic.
One was Miriam, younger by decades.
Beside her stood a woman with dark hair and gray-green eyes.
The woman was visibly pregnant.
On her hand was Emma's emerald ring.
A date had been written on the back.
March 18, 2002.
Emma remembered Adrian's wife had supposedly died in February.
Five weeks earlier.
Her hands began shaking.
She looked at the hospital bracelet.
BABY GIRL.
MOTHER: J. MERCER.
DATE: APRIL 02, 2002.
Emma's own birthday was April 2.
She sat down.
For several minutes she could hear nothing except blood rushing in her ears.
The cassette had one handwritten word.
ADRIAN.
Emma found an old portable player at a pawn shop two streets away.
She inserted the tape.
Static crackled.
Then a woman's voice emerged.
“My name is Julianne Mercer.”
Emma nearly dropped the player.
“If this reaches Adrian,” Julianne continued, “then either I finally found the courage to return... or someone found me first.”
A pause.
Breathing.
“I need you to know the accident wasn't an accident.”
Emma pressed both hands against her mouth.
“And Adrian,” the voice whispered, “if they told you our baby died with me... they lied.”
The recording stopped.
Emma stared at the machine.
Her phone buzzed.
A text from Adrian.
Please. I need to understand what happened to my wife.
Emma looked at the bracelet.
Then at the photograph.
Then at the date of her own birth.
For the first time in her life, she understood why Miriam had always been afraid.
May you like
Emma did not merely know something about Julianne Mercer.
She might be Julianne Mercer's daughter.
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