Chapter 11 - Daniel's Second Life
Emma slapped the dead man.
Once.
Hard.
"No."
Jack pulled her away.
"Emma."
"No."
Caleb's final words repeated in her mind.
Daniel Carter.
Her husband.
Dead nine months.
The man she had buried.
The man whose ashes she had scattered near the lake.
"You saw his body," Lydia said.
Emma looked at her.
"No."
"What?"
"The funeral home recommended closed casket because of the autopsy."
Lydia's face changed.
"I saw him."
"When?"
"At the hospital."
"After he died?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
Lydia opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
"I saw someone under a sheet."
Emma laughed bitterly.
Jack asked, "Who identified him?"
Lydia whispered, "Dad's old attorney."
"Name?"
"Martin Voss."
Marcus froze.
"What?"
Emma turned.
Marcus looked furious.
"Martin Voss was counsel for Black Pine Development."
The puzzle rearranged itself.
Daniel's death.
Rachel's disappearance.
Thomas's supposed death.
False paperwork.
Emma whispered, "What if none of them died?"
Evan stared.
"My dad's alive?"
Emma looked at him.
"I don't know."
They moved before the shooter could return.
Detective Ortiz called state tactical units.
Jack drove Emma and Evan toward an isolated ranch owned by his cousin.
During the ride, nobody spoke.
Finally Emma asked Evan, "How long were you talking to Subject Four?"
"Two months."
"Name?"
"She called herself Claire."
"How did she contact you?"
"School parking lot."
"What did she tell you?"
"That Dad killed Mom because she discovered what he did at the cabin."
Emma looked at him.
"And you believed her."
"She showed me Dad visiting Mom."
"What?"
Evan took out his phone.
"They didn't take everything."
He opened a photograph.
Daniel stood outside a small building.
Beside him was Rachel.
Alive.
The timestamp was three years ago.
Emma stared.
Rachel looked older.
Thin.
But unmistakable.
Evan whispered, "He knew."
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
Daniel had lied to both of them.
Jack watched the road.
"Maybe we need to stop asking whether Daniel lied."
Emma looked at him.
"What should we ask?"
"Why."
At the ranch, Marcus arrived with more records.
He had requested Daniel's death certificate.
It contained inconsistencies.
The attending physician's signature belonged to a doctor who had retired two years earlier.
The cremation authorization had been filed before the official time of death.
Emma stared at the paperwork.
"He staged it."
Marcus said, "Looks possible."
Evan stood.
"Then find him."
"We're trying."
Emma opened Daniel's old laptop.
It had been recovered from storage after the cabin fire because she had kept a backup at home.
Most folders were ordinary.
Taxes.
Photographs.
Invoices.
Then she found an encrypted partition.
Password required.
Evan tried Daniel's birthday.
Wrong.
Emma tried Rachel.
Wrong.
Lydia tried Thomas.
Wrong.
Jack said, "Subject Fourteen."
Emma typed:
14
The screen unlocked.
Everyone stared.
Inside were hundreds of files.
BLACK PINE.
HELEN.
RACHEL.
THOMAS.
And one named:
IF EMMA FINDS THIS.
Emma clicked.
A video opened.
Daniel appeared on screen.
Alive.
Sitting inside the cabin.
The date was six days before his reported death.
"Emma."
Her hand flew to her mouth.
"If you're watching this, then either I'm dead or I failed to stay dead."
Evan whispered, "Dad."
Daniel continued.
"I need you to understand something before you hate me."
Emma's tears fell.
"I knew who you were when I met you."
She stopped breathing.
"I knew you were Subject Fourteen."
Lydia whispered, "Oh God."
Daniel looked exhausted.
"My father asked me to find you."
Emma felt betrayed in a way she could not describe.
"Our marriage was never supposed to happen."
Daniel paused.
"But it did."
His eyes filled with emotion.
"I fell in love with you."
Emma covered her face.
"I should have told you everything. I didn't because Black Pine was watching. Rachel knew. Rachel helped me."
Evan began crying.
"She's alive, Evan."
The boy froze.
"Your mother is alive."
Daniel continued.
"I moved her after someone tried to kill her. She agreed to disappear because Black Pine threatened you."
Evan collapsed into a chair.
Emma looked at him.
Daniel's voice continued.
"But nine months ago, I learned the program had restarted."
Marcus moved closer.
"Restarted?"
"New children. New identities. New placements."
Emma felt rage replace grief.
"I couldn't fight them as Daniel Carter."
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"So I died."
Silence.
Emma stared at her husband.
Alive when the video was recorded.
Possibly alive now.
"The person running the new program is someone I trusted."
Daniel paused.
"If you're seeing this, do not trust Subject Four."
Emma looked at the photograph of Claire.
Daniel continued.
"Do not trust the police."
Marcus stiffened.
"And most importantly..."
The video glitched.
The screen distorted.
Then Daniel returned.
May you like
"Do not trust Jack Turner."
Everyone looked at Jack.
