Chapter 16 - the girl left in the streetDaniel reached Emma before the sedan disappeared around the corner.
The little girl did not cry.
She stood beneath the streetlight with her yellow ribbons hanging unevenly beside her face, clutching a plastic bracelet in one hand.
Claire brought Lily back from the window.
“Do not open the door yet,” Nora warned.
“She is four years old,” Daniel said.
“That does not mean she came alone.”
Nathan checked the security cameras while Daniel searched the street. No second vehicle appeared. No person followed the child.
Only then did Claire unlock the door.
Emma stepped inside without being asked.
Lily stared at her.
“You are the girl from Grandma’s phone.”
Emma nodded.
Claire crouched in front of her.
“Where is your mother?”
Emma looked down at the bracelet.
“The man said Mommy would come after the bells.”
“What bells?”
“The ones in the big house.”
Daniel felt Evelyn move behind him.
The Mercer estate had a bell tower above the eastern wing. It had not rung since Richard’s funeral.
Emma opened her hand.
The bracelet was not plastic.
It was a hospital identification band bearing a faded name:
EMMA ROSE MERCER.
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Before Daniel could speak, the lights went out.
From Nathan’s laptop came the sound of a bell ringing three times.
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