Chapter 9 - The Night Laura Entered Their Apartment
Andrew remembered because Martha had panicked.
It was February.
Four months after Rebecca’s supposed death.
Daniel had just started dating Emma.
The apartment was still mostly empty.
One morning Martha discovered the building’s basement entrance unlocked.
The security camera had been disabled.
Nothing appeared stolen.
But Martha ordered the locks changed immediately.
Andrew never knew why.
Now Emma did.
Laura had entered Apartment 9C.
She had hidden the phone, key, and photograph inside the nursery wall before Ethan ever slept there.
Which meant Laura knew Emma had entered Daniel’s life.
Emma hated the implication.
She looked at Daniel.
“How did we meet?”
Daniel frowned.
“You know how.”
“At the coffee shop.”
“Yes.”
“Was it really an accident?”
Daniel’s silence answered.
Emma felt as though someone had struck her.
“Daniel.”
“My mother suggested the coffee shop.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Of course.
“Why?”
“She knew where you worked.”
“You approached me because Martha told you to?”
“No.”
“Answer me.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“She showed me your picture.”
Emma stared at him.
“She said you were involved in the claims investigation. She wanted to know what you remembered.”
Claire swore quietly.
Emma’s voice became very calm.
“So our first date was surveillance.”
“No.”
“Our first conversation?”
Daniel could not answer.
Emma continued.
“Our second date?”
“I liked you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I fell in love with you.”
“After you decided I wasn’t dangerous?”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“Emma.”
She stepped away.
“Do not touch me.”
His face crumpled.
She did not soften.
Eight years.
Their first apartment.
Their wedding.
Ethan learning to walk.
Sophie’s birth.
Christmas mornings.
Arguments.
Anniversaries.
Every memory now had another shadow behind it.
Martha.
Watching.
Managing.
Directing.
Emma looked at Andrew.
“Did Martha tell Daniel to marry me?”
Andrew hesitated.
Daniel shouted, “No.”
Andrew stared at him.
Then said, “She encouraged it.”
Emma laughed once.
A sound with no humor in it.
Daniel said, “I chose you.”
“After your mother selected me.”
“That’s not fair.”
Emma turned on him.
“Fair?”
She pointed at the ledger.
“Your mother may have murdered your father. Your sister may not be dead. The mother of your son vanished. You destroyed her warning. You lied to me about Ethan’s identity and manipulated how we met.”
Her voice broke for the first time.
“And you want to discuss fair?”
Daniel stopped speaking.
Police arrived.
Marcus gave them only enough information to document the confrontation and preserve the warehouse.
Claire contacted federal investigators after seeing the ledger.
By evening, the black case was in evidence custody.
Emma returned home with Sophie and Ethan.
Daniel tried to follow.
Claire stopped him.
“Tonight you stay elsewhere.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“Is that what you want?”
Emma looked at Ethan.
Then Sophie.
Then Daniel.
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly.
Before leaving, he knelt in front of Ethan.
“I love you.”
Ethan looked away.
Daniel stood.
At the door he glanced back at Emma.
“I never lied about loving you.”
Emma answered quietly.
“That’s the problem.”
Daniel frowned.
She continued.
“You loved me and still did all of this.”
Daniel left.
At 11:48 p.m., Emma received a text from an unknown number.
Do not trust Andrew.
A second message followed.
He knows what happened to Rebecca.
Then a photograph arrived.
It showed Rebecca Miller.
Older.
Alive.
May you like
Standing outside a grocery store.
The timestamp was from three weeks earlier.
