Chapter 4 - The Empty Nursery
They reached Emma and Daniel’s house in fourteen minutes.
The front door was open.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
That frightened Emma more.
A burglar would search.
Break drawers.
Move things.
This visitor knew where to go.
The nursery door stood open upstairs.
Emma entered behind Detective Cole.
The room had been painted pale yellow.
A wooden crib stood beside the window.
Books lined one shelf.
A name plaque hung above the crib.
SOPHIA.
Except now the plaque was gone.
In its place sat the silver frame Emma had thrown away weeks earlier.
ETHAN HAYES.
Emma’s skin crawled.
“That was not here.”
Cole photographed it.
On the changing table lay an envelope.
EMMA.
The handwriting belonged to Daniel.
She knew every curve.
Every slanted letter.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside was a single sheet.
Em,
If you are reading this, then something happened before I could explain.
Do not trust the story you were told about my grandfather.
Do not trust the trust documents.
Do not trust anyone who tells you the baby determines who inherits.
That is what they want you to believe.
The inheritance is not money.
And the condition is not a son.
I found out what my mother did.
I found out why Grandfather disappeared.
Most importantly, I found out what happened before I was born.
There is a key.
Not metal.
A sequence.
You already have it.
Think about the first place I ever told you the truth.
I love you.
I love Sophia.
If I do not come home, find Robert.
Daniel
Emma read the last line twice.
Find Robert.
Robert stood behind her.
His face changed when she looked at him.
“What?”
Emma handed him the letter.
He read it.
Cole watched.
“First place he told you the truth,” Robert said. “What does that mean?”
Emma closed her eyes.
She and Daniel had known each other since college.
He told her many truths.
His fear of flying.
His hatred of oysters.
His father’s drinking.
His childhood.
Then she remembered.
Their third date.
They had driven to an abandoned drive-in theater outside Millbrook.
The screen had collapsed years before.
Daniel admitted that he had been terrified his entire life of becoming like his father.
Emma opened her eyes.
“The Starview Drive-In.”
Robert frowned.
“That place has been closed twenty years.”
“Daniel took me there.”
Cole called two deputies.
Within minutes they were on the road again.
Margaret called Emma four times during the drive.
Emma ignored every call.
Then a text arrived.
PLEASE COME HOME. WE NEED TO TALK.
Another.
ROBERT IS NOT WHO YOU THINK.
Emma showed Robert.
His mouth tightened.
“She’s trying to separate us.”
“Is she lying?”
Robert looked at her.
Emma waited.
“Robert.”
He stared through the windshield.
“No.”
The answer chilled her.
“No what?”
“No, she isn’t completely lying.”
Emma’s voice sharpened.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Robert pulled off the road.
Cole’s cruiser stopped behind them.
Robert shut off the engine.
“When Daniel was six, I left Millbrook.”
“I know. You moved to Colorado.”
“That’s what Margaret told everyone.”
Emma said nothing.
“I was in prison.”
Emma stared.
“For what?”
Robert’s face filled with shame.
“Assault.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Thomas.
Emma whispered, “Why?”
Robert looked down at his hands.
“Because I found Daniel locked in the basement.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“He was six years old. Crying. Bleeding from his nose. Dad was standing over him with a tape recorder.”
“A tape recorder?”
“He kept asking Daniel questions.”
“What questions?”
Robert looked at her.
“Who are you?”
Emma frowned.
Robert continued.
“What is your real name? Who is your father? What do you remember before this house?”
Emma went still.
“That makes no sense.”
“I thought Dad was having some kind of psychotic episode. I attacked him. Nearly killed him.”
“And Margaret?”
“She told police I was drunk.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel remember?”
“No.”
Robert’s voice cracked.
“That’s what scared me.”
Emma stared through the windshield.
Daniel’s letter echoed in her mind.
I found out what happened before I was born.
Suddenly, something on the back seat caught her attention.
A manila folder.
Not theirs.
Emma reached for it.
“Robert?”
He turned.
“What?”
“This wasn’t here before.”
She opened it.
Inside was a DNA report.
Daniel Hayes.
Paternity exclusion.
Charles Hayes was not his biological father.
Robert stared at the page.
Emma turned to the next sheet.
May you like
Maternal exclusion.
Margaret Hayes was not Daniel’s biological mother either.
