Chapter 3 - the brother at the door
Ethan did not answer.
The ringing stopped.
Then it started again.
Daniel's name filled the screen.
Corinne whispered, "Don't."
Ethan looked at her.
"You've spent seventeen months lying to me. You don't get to tell me what to do anymore."
He answered.
"What?"
Daniel's voice sounded controlled.
"Are you home?"
Ethan looked through the curtain.
Daniel was still sitting inside the SUV.
"Why?"
"I need to talk to you."
"About Claire?"
Silence.
That was enough.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Daniel finally said, "Let me inside."
"No."
"Ethan."
"Was she alive?"
Another silence.
Ethan felt something inside him break.
"Was Claire alive seven months after the crash?"
Daniel exhaled.
"Let me explain face to face."
"You stood beside me at her memorial."
"I know."
"You watched me put flowers beside an empty coffin."
"I know."
"You watched me tell our daughter her mother was gone."
"Ethan, there were reasons."
"Open your mouth and give me one."
Daniel did not.
Instead, he said, "Where are the documents?"
Ethan looked at Corinne.
She looked away.
So Daniel knew about the cabinet.
"They're with me."
"Put them back."
"Come near my house and I'm calling the police."
"That would be a mistake."
Ethan's voice went quiet.
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm warning you."
The line disconnected.
Thirty seconds later, Daniel stepped out of the SUV.
He was forty three, tall like Ethan, with the same dark hair but a harder face.
He approached the front door alone.
Ethan carried Maisie into the kitchen and locked the interior door leading to the hallway.
He placed her carefully in her high chair.
"Stay here, sweetheart."
Maisie hugged her rabbit.
Ethan looked at Corinne.
"If you move toward her, I swear to God."
Corinne sat down.
For once, she did not argue.
Daniel knocked.
Ethan did not open the door.
"Go away."
"Please, Ethan."
"No."
"We have ten minutes before this gets worse."
Ethan laughed bitterly.
"It got worse seventeen months ago."
Daniel lowered his voice through the door.
"Northbridge is not what you think."
"I don't know what it is."
"Exactly."
"Then explain."
A pause.
"Claire survived the crash."
Ethan stopped breathing.
Hearing the words aloud was different.
More brutal.
More real.
Daniel continued.
"She was found eighteen miles downstream."
"By who?"
"A private rescue crew."
"Why wasn't I told?"
"Because she didn't know who she was."
Ethan moved closer to the door.
"What?"
"She had a serious head injury. She was disoriented. Violent sometimes. She kept saying someone was trying to kill her."
Ethan's mind raced.
"Who?"
"We didn't know."
"Why was she hidden?"
"Because when the hospital prepared to transfer her, someone tried to access her records using your credentials."
Ethan frowned.
"My credentials?"
"Your name. Your insurance information. Someone knew enough about your life to find her."
Ethan looked toward Corinne.
She stared at the floor.
Daniel continued.
"I moved Claire under a protected identity."
"You had no right."
"I thought I was saving her."
"You let me believe she was dead."
"I thought whoever tried to find her might come after Maisie."
Ethan glanced toward his daughter.
She was watching him silently.
"Where is Claire now?"
Daniel said nothing.
Ethan's hand tightened around the phone.
"Where is my wife?"
"That's the problem."
"What problem?"
"Claire disappeared from Northbridge six months ago."
Ethan's stomach dropped.
"Again?"
"She didn't escape."
"What does that mean?"
"Someone signed her out."
Ethan slowly turned toward Corinne.
Corinne immediately shook her head.
"No."
Daniel spoke through the door.
"Corinne told me she had nothing to do with it."
Ethan stared at her.
"Corinne knew she was there?"
Daniel did not answer.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Of course she did.
Everything was connected.
The charity.
The help after Claire vanished.
The sudden marriage.
The cabinet.
Ethan unlocked the door but kept the security chain engaged.
Daniel's face appeared through the narrow opening.
"Show me the papers."
Ethan held one page against the gap.
Daniel's expression changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"The cabinet."
"That's not supposed to exist."
"Apparently a lot of things aren't."
Daniel reached toward the paper.
Ethan pulled it back.
"Who signed Claire out?"
Daniel hesitated.
"According to Northbridge records, you did."
Ethan stared at him.
"What?"
"They have your signature."
"I never went there."
"I know."
"Then somebody forged it."
Daniel nodded.
"We think so."
"Who?"
Daniel looked past Ethan toward the living room.
Toward Corinne.
But before he could answer, Maisie began screaming from the kitchen.
Ethan spun around.
A rear door stood open.
May you like
The high chair was empty.
And Maisie's stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
