Chapter 2 - THE HOLE BENEATH THE BACKYARD
Natalie did not wait for daylight to return to the Parker house.
By ten that morning, the storm had weakened to a heavy gray drizzle.
Police tape surrounded the property.
The neighbors were still outside.
Not all of them filming now.
Some looked embarrassed.
Others had doubled down on their accusations.
Natalie ignored them.
Marcus met her at the back gate.
“Forensics found nothing under the swing set during the first search.”
“Did they dig?”
“No.”
“Then they didn’t search.”
The backyard had become a swamp.
Ashley’s red swing set leaned slightly because the rain had loosened the soil beneath its left side.
Natalie crouched.
Fresh mud covered everything.
But beneath one swing, she noticed a square patch where the grass had been cut differently.
Marcus saw it too.
“Shovel.”
Ten minutes later, the blade struck metal.
They uncovered a small waterproof container.
Inside were six items.
A flash drive.
A key.
Three photographs.
A folded map.
And a child’s hospital bracelet.
Natalie picked up the bracelet.
ASHLEY PARKER.
Date of birth correct.
Hospital correct.
But printed beneath the name was another line.
INFANT B.
Marcus read it twice.
“Ashley was a twin?”
Natalie stared at the plastic band.
“I don’t know.”
The first photograph showed Rebecca Parker in a hospital bed holding two bundled newborns.
Natalie felt her breathing change.
The second photograph showed Andrew standing beside her.
The third had been taken years later.
A little girl stood at a playground.
Maybe four years old.
Same brown hair as Ashley.
Same eyes.
Different child.
Written across the back:
EMILY - AGE 4
Marcus looked at Natalie.
“Parker has another daughter?”
“There’s no record of one.”
The flash drive was encrypted.
The key was stamped with the number 214.
The map showed Briarwood County.
Three locations were circled.
Mercer Bridge.
The Parker house.
And an abandoned summer camp north of the reservoir.
Camp Hawthorne.
Natalie knew the name.
The camp had closed fifteen years ago.
She looked at the hospital bracelet again.
Infant B.
“Where’s Infant A?”
Marcus asked quietly.
Natalie looked toward the house.
“That might be exactly what Andrew was trying to find out.”
A voice came from behind them.
“Officer Brooks?”
Natalie turned.
The woman in the red raincoat from the previous night stood beyond the police tape.
Her name, Natalie had learned, was Donna Reese.
The same neighbor who had loudly accused Andrew of abandoning Ashley.
“What?”
Donna looked uncomfortable.
“I need to tell you something.”
Marcus gestured for her to come closer.
Donna lowered her voice.
“Andrew wasn’t leaving that girl.”
Natalie said nothing.
Donna looked ashamed.
“I thought he was. Last night, I was angry. Everybody was.”
“What changed?”
Donna glanced toward the neighboring houses.
“I remembered what happened three nights ago.”
“What happened?”
“A black SUV parked across from Andrew’s place.”
“License plate?”
“Covered.”
“Driver?”
“Never got out.”
“How long?”
“Two hours.”
Natalie’s attention sharpened.
“Did Andrew notice it?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
Donna rubbed her hands together.
“He came outside and stared at it. The SUV left. Then he went door to door asking if anyone had security cameras pointing toward the street.”
“Did you?”
Donna shook her head.
“My husband thought Andrew was paranoid.”
Marcus asked, “Anything else?”
Donna hesitated.
“Yesterday morning I saw him put a suitcase in his truck.”
Natalie felt Marcus stiffen.
Donna continued quickly.
“But then he took it back out.”
“What kind?”
“Small. Gray.”
“What time?”
“Around nine.”
“What time did the storm intensify?”
Marcus asked.
“Noon.”
Andrew had not disappeared until after four.
Natalie looked toward the house.
“Where is that suitcase?”
The second search located it in the attic.
It was empty.
Except for a false bottom.
Inside, investigators found twenty thousand dollars in cash.
Two passports.
One belonged to Andrew.
The other belonged to Ashley.
And there was a third passport photo.
A little girl.
Not Ashley.
The name printed beside the photograph was Emily Parker.
Marcus stared at it.
“If Andrew was planning to run, why leave the passports?”
Natalie touched the photograph.
“Maybe he wasn’t planning to run.”
“What then?”
“He was planning to send someone else away.”
Her phone rang.
Hospital.
Natalie answered immediately.
The nurse spoke fast.
Ashley had woken screaming.
Not because of a nightmare.
Because she had seen someone standing outside her hospital window.
The pediatric ward was on the fourth floor.
Natalie looked at Marcus.
“What did she see?”
May you like
The nurse’s reply made Natalie’s blood run cold.
“A little girl.”
