Chapter 4 - A Name Written Before Birth)
Daniel refused to believe it.
Laura wanted to refuse too.
Raymond told them to open the USB drive.
There was one video.
The timestamp showed it had been recorded twelve years earlier.
Thomas Hayes appeared on the screen.
Daniel staggered backward.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“If Daniel is watching this, then Margaret has either failed to stop him or finally decided she can’t.”
Daniel sat down.
Thomas continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel's eyes filled.
“I know what you were told about the accident. I know you buried a body. I know you hated me for leaving you.”
Margaret moved toward the laptop.
Claire stopped her.
Thomas explained that the accident had not been an accident.
Someone had attempted to kill him after he discovered money disappearing from several Hayes companies.
He had survived.
Another man had not.
Thomas had used the confusion to disappear because he believed Daniel and Claire would be safer if everyone thought he was dead.
Daniel whispered, “Coward.”
Thomas seemed almost to answer him.
“You may call me a coward. You may be right.”
Then came the impossible part.
“If Daniel has a daughter named Emily when this recording reaches him, listen carefully.”
Laura stopped breathing.
Thomas continued.
“Emily is not important because I predicted her birth. I didn’t.”
Raymond looked toward Margaret.
Thomas leaned closer to the camera.
“The name Emily was chosen years ago.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“If you have a daughter named Emily, someone influenced that choice.”
Laura looked at her husband.
Daniel looked equally confused.
Thomas continued.
“Ask Margaret why.”
The video ended.
Laura turned toward her mother-in-law.
“Why did we name our daughter Emily?”
Margaret laughed nervously.
“You chose it.”
Laura remembered.
Had she?
She remembered Daniel suggesting Emily.
Daniel suddenly looked sick.
“My mother suggested it.”
Laura stared at him.
“What?”
“When we were discussing names.”
Margaret shook her head.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Daniel remembered more.
“You said Dad once wanted a granddaughter named Emily.”
“I may have mentioned—”
“He never said that.”
Claire’s voice was cold.
“Dad hated the name Emily.”
Margaret glared at her.
“How would you know?”
“Because Emily was the name of Dad’s sister.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Our father didn’t have a sister.”
Claire turned toward him.
“Yes, he did.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Claire continued.
“She disappeared when she was fourteen.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“Why have I never heard this?”
Margaret whispered, “Because some people deserve to stay buried.”
Upstairs, something crashed.
Laura ran.
Emily's bedroom window was open.
Her daughter was gone.
On the carpet lay a folded note.
Laura opened it.
May you like
Three words.
BRING THE FOLDER.
