Chapter 3 - the drawing with no face
Ethan found the drawing beneath the dining table two days later.
He had returned home early after a meeting was canceled. Vanessa was at a salon appointment, and Sophie was asleep on the sofa with a blanket around her shoulders.
The picture had been folded twice.
Ethan opened it carefully.
He smiled when he saw Claire among the stars.
Then he noticed Vanessa.
She stood at the edge of the house in a long black dress. A dark figure towered behind her.
The figure had no eyes, mouth or nose.
Only a blue square had been drawn in its hand.
Ethan sat beside Sophie.
“Soph?”
She opened her eyes.
“Did you draw this?”
Her gaze moved to the paper.
She sat up quickly.
“Where did you find it?”
“Under the table.”
Sophie reached for it.
Ethan kept his voice gentle.
“Who is the man?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why doesn’t he have a face?”
“Because I never saw it.”
Ethan looked again.
“What did you see?”
“His shadow.”
“Where?”
Sophie pointed toward the kitchen.
“He talks to Vanessa.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“Someone comes into the house?”
“Sometimes.”
“At night?”
Sophie nodded.
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
The Mercer home had one of the most advanced security systems in the city. Every exterior entrance was protected. No one could enter without appearing in the access logs.
Unless someone with administrative authority erased them.
Only two people had that authority.
Ethan and Vanessa.
“What do they talk about?” he asked.
Sophie pressed her lips together.
Vanessa’s warnings lived inside her like locked doors.
Ethan touched the blue square in the drawing.
“What is this?”
“A file.”
“Did you see it?”
Sophie hesitated.
“Vanessa said I didn’t.”
Ethan lowered the picture.
“What does that mean?”
The front door opened.
Vanessa entered carrying shopping bags.
Her smile disappeared when she saw the drawing in Ethan’s hand.
“What are you two doing?”
Ethan stood.
“Sophie drew someone inside the house.”
Vanessa recovered immediately.
She set down the bags and laughed.
“Oh, that.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“She drew it after a nightmare.”
Sophie looked at Vanessa.
“No.”
Vanessa’s expression remained soft.
“Sophie, remember the bad dream about the man in the kitchen?”
“It wasn’t a dream.”
Vanessa approached Ethan.
“We talked about this with Dr. Rowan.”
Ethan frowned.
“Who is Dr. Rowan?”
“The child therapist I told you about.”
“You said you were still looking for one.”
“I found her last week.”
Vanessa took the drawing from his hand.
“She believes Sophie’s grief is becoming more complicated. Imaginary figures can be part of that.”
Sophie stood on the sofa.
“He isn’t imaginary.”
Vanessa gave Ethan a helpless look.
“See?”
Ethan did not respond.
Vanessa crouched beside Sophie.
“Sweetheart, no one is angry.”
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“You will be when Daddy leaves.”
Ethan’s eyes moved sharply toward Vanessa.
“What does she mean?”
Vanessa’s face became pale.
“I have no idea.”
Sophie began to cry.
“She said you would leave if I made you unhappy.”
Vanessa stood.
“I never said that.”
“You said he lost one wife.”
“Sophie.”
“And you said he could lose me too.”
Ethan stared at Vanessa.
For a fraction of a second, anger appeared in her eyes.
Then tears gathered there.
“She is twisting everything.”
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“Did you mention Claire when you were disciplining her?”
“I told her grief can make people pull away. I was trying to explain emotions.”
“To a four-year-old?”
“I am doing my best while you are never here.”
The words struck exactly where Vanessa intended.
Ethan looked away.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“You leave before she wakes up. You return after she sleeps. I handle the nightmares, the screaming and the accusations.”
“I don’t scream,” Sophie whispered.
Vanessa ignored her.
“I protect your daughter every day, and the moment she says something confusing, you look at me like I’m a criminal.”
Ethan’s certainty weakened.
Vanessa saw it.
She reached for his hand.
“I love her.”
Sophie shook her head.
Vanessa began to cry.
“I gave up my entire life for this family.”
Ethan exhaled slowly.
He looked between them.
“I think we all need to calm down.”
Sophie’s face crumpled.
Vanessa pulled Ethan into an embrace.
Over his shoulder, she looked directly at Sophie.
The tears vanished from her eyes.
That evening, Ethan called the number Vanessa had given him for Dr. Rowan.
A recorded voice informed him that the number was no longer in service.
When he asked Vanessa about it, she said she had accidentally sent him the old office number.
She promised to provide the correct one.
She never did.
The next morning, Ethan returned to the dining room to retrieve Sophie’s drawing.
It was gone.
In its place lay a typed report from Dr. Eleanor Rowan describing Sophie’s “persistent fantasy behavior.”
The report looked professional.
The signature did not.
Ethan had spent his career identifying forged digital credentials.
He recognized imitation when he saw it.
At the bottom of the page, the doctor’s license number belonged to a dentist who had died six years earlier.
Ethan folded the report and placed it inside his jacket.
For the first time since marrying Vanessa, he did not confront her.
Instead, he went to work and asked his security director to investigate the name Adrian Hale.
The response arrived before lunch.
Adrian Hale was Vanessa’s first husband.
May you like
He had not died from an illness.
He had disappeared.
