Chapter 15 - The Call From Tomorrow
Caroline placed Hope in the nursery crib and locked the door from the inside. Then she opened the security application.
The archive camera showed an empty hidden room. The steel cabinet stood open. Nothing appeared disturbed except the red ledger, which lay on the workbench instead of its shelf.
Caroline called Ortega and Nora. She did not enter alone.
Police arrived in six minutes. They cleared the house, checked every window, and found no intruder. The archive lock reported a valid code used at midnight.
The code belonged to Rose.
“Impossible,” Nora said.
On the workbench, the red ledger was open to a page forensic accountants had declared blank. Under ultraviolet light, new writing appeared.
CAROLINE, DIANE LIED ABOUT MY NAME BUT NOT ABOUT MY LIFE.
The letters matched Elena's handwriting from childhood cards stored in Rose's estate file.
Beneath them was a date three days in the future and an address at the abandoned Bellweather railway station.
Ortega wanted the house evacuated. Caroline agreed. She lifted Hope from the crib, took the repaired gray coat, and walked toward the front door.
The cheap black emergency phone began vibrating inside the sealed evidence box on the kitchen counter.
It had no battery.
Ortega opened the box under camera. The cracked screen glowed with an incoming call marked UNKNOWN.
Caroline answered on speaker.
For several seconds, there was only the rhythm of a train moving over tracks.
Then a woman spoke.
“Rose taught you where to hide the deed,” she said. “She never taught you why I had to disappear.”
Caroline could not breathe.
“Are you Elena?”
The woman did not answer.
“The Director knows about Hope,” she said. “Do not go to Bellweather with the police. Do not trust the person who brings you the green photograph.”
The call ended.
At that exact moment, the doorbell rang.
On the porch stood Nora Vale, though Caroline had just spoken to Nora and knew she was still twenty minutes away.
This Nora wore a dark green coat and held a photograph face down in one hand.
May you like
She looked directly into the security camera and smiled.
“Caroline,” she called through the locked door, “your mother sent me.”
