Chapter 7 - The Missing Recording
Michael searched every room.
The intruder had entered and escaped within minutes.
Nothing valuable appeared to be missing except the old phone.
The building’s security system showed no alarms, no unauthorized entry and no unusual elevator activity.
Someone had known the new access code.
Sarah sat on the sofa holding a cloth against a cut on her palm.
“He pushed me.”
“Who?” Michael demanded.
“I don’t know. He wore a mask.”
Emily stood near the kitchen, listening.
“Did he say anything?”
Sarah looked at her.
“He said Daniel sends his regards.”
Michael went pale.
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie?”
“Daniel is dead.”
The words came too quickly.
Emily stepped forward.
“You said he disappeared.”
Michael ignored her.
Sarah lowered the cloth.
“You told me the problem had been handled.”
“It was.”
“Then who came through that door?”
Michael checked the hallway camera from his phone.
The screen displayed an empty corridor.
No Ashley.
No police.
No masked intruder.
Only twelve minutes of corrupted footage.
Michael called building security and demanded a lockdown.
Emily slowly moved toward the bedroom.
Sarah noticed.
“Where are you going?”
“To change.”
“You’re staying where I can see you.”
Michael ended the call.
“Let her go.”
Sarah stared at him.
“She could have another phone.”
“I’ll check the room.”
Emily entered the bedroom with Michael behind her.
He closed the door.
“Who was that?” she whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“You knew enough to think Daniel was dead.”
Michael lowered his voice.
“My father told me.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“That Daniel would no longer be a problem.”
“That isn’t the same as dead.”
“In my family, it is.”
Emily looked toward the window.
Far below, police cars moved along the wet street.
“Then help me leave.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“If I let you go, Sarah will call my father.”
“Let her.”
“You don’t understand Richard.”
“I understand him well enough.”
“No, you don’t.”
Michael walked to the wardrobe and removed his winter coat. Behind it, the lockbox stood open.
He reached inside and pulled out a black envelope.
Emily stared at it.
“That wasn’t there before.”
“I put it there this morning.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A young woman stood beside Richard Carter outside a research building. She had dark hair, a narrow face and one hand resting protectively over a slightly rounded stomach.
Emily took the photograph.
The woman looked familiar.
Not because Emily had met her.
Because she looked almost exactly like Emily.
“Who is she?”
“Her name was Anna Vale.”
“Was?”
“She disappeared twenty-nine years ago.”
Emily turned the photograph over.
On the back, someone had written:
SUBJECT A-17. MATERNAL MATCH CONFIRMED.
Emily looked up.
“What is this?”
Michael’s voice became barely audible.
“My father didn’t choose you because you were ordinary.”
A chill moved across Emily’s skin.
“He chose you because you look like her.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You married me.”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“When did you find out?”
“After our engagement. My father showed me the photograph and offered me a deal.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around the picture.
“What deal?”
“If I went through with the marriage, he would restore my position in the company.”
“So you married me for him.”
“I loved you.”
“You studied me.”
“I loved you.”
“You drugged me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of losing money?”
“Of losing everything.”
Emily looked again at Anna Vale.
The resemblance was not exact.
Anna’s eyes were lighter.
Her face was thinner.
But they could have been sisters.
Or mother and daughter.
“What happened to her baby?” Emily asked.
Michael did not answer.
The apartment intercom buzzed.
Both of them froze.
A man’s voice came through the speaker.
“Mr. Carter, this is Detective Cole. We received a report of a disturbance.”
Michael stared at Emily.
“Did Ashley call them?”
“I don’t know.”
The intercom buzzed again.
“Mr. Carter?”
Michael took the photograph from Emily and placed it inside his jacket.
“Stay here.”
He left the bedroom.
Emily moved to the door and listened.
Sarah was already speaking to the detective through the intercom.
“Everything is fine. My sister-in-law had a panic attack.”
Detective Cole replied, “We still need to enter.”
Michael unlocked the door.
Two officers stepped inside.
Neither was the officer Emily had expected.
Ashley had promised to bring a woman named Officer Lena Ruiz, someone he trusted from college.
These men wore uniforms.
But Emily noticed something wrong.
The taller officer’s badge said Cole.
The shorter man’s badge said Ruiz.
Lena Ruiz was not a man.
Michael looked at Emily across the room.
He had noticed too.
May you like
Detective Cole smiled.
“We’re here for Mrs. Carter.”
