Chapter 10 - THE SECOND PERSON INSIDE THE HOUSE
Daniel immediately ran upstairs.
Lily was still in the library.
Two guards stood outside.
Margaret sat beside her.
Daniel pulled his daughter into his arms.
“Daddy?”
“You’re okay.”
Lily looked confused.
“I’m okay.”
Daniel turned to the guards.
“Has anyone entered this room?”
“No, sir.”
“Anyone?”
“Only Dr. Harris.”
Daniel froze.
“What doctor?”
The guard looked confused.
“Vanessa’s child specialist.”
“He arrived twenty minutes ago.”
“He said Ms. Cole had called earlier about Lily being distressed.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“Where is he?”
“He left.”
Adrian came running down the corridor.
Daniel showed him the photograph.
Adrian looked toward the window.
The angle was wrong.
“This wasn’t taken today.”
Daniel frowned.
Adrian enlarged the image.
“Look at the flowers.”
Daniel looked.
The fountain garden in the photograph had red roses.
The roses currently surrounding the fountain were white.
Margaret spoke.
“That picture is from last summer.”
Daniel exhaled.
A threat.
Not an abduction.
Yet.
Lily stared at the screen.
“That’s Dr. Harris’s picture.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“He took it.”
“When?”
“Vanessa told him to.”
Daniel crouched.
“What else did Dr. Harris do?”
Lily looked uncertain.
“He asked me questions.”
“What questions?”
“If Mommy talked to me.”
Daniel felt cold.
“What did you say?”
“I said sometimes.”
Nobody moved.
Daniel kept his voice gentle.
“You mean in dreams?”
Lily shook her head.
“In the videos.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What videos?”
“The ones Mommy made.”
Vanessa suddenly yelled from downstairs.
“No!”
Daniel looked toward the door.
Lily flinched.
Daniel took her hands again.
“Where are the videos?”
Lily pointed toward her bedroom.
“Mommy’s music box.”
They hurried down the hall.
Inside Lily’s room, Daniel opened an old wooden music box Elena had given her as a baby.
It played a soft version of Moon River.
Daniel knew every inch of it.
Or thought he did.
Lily pressed a small wooden flower on the side.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the velvet lining.
Inside was a memory card.
Daniel stared at it.
Lily smiled sadly.
“Mommy said only show you if the bad people come back.”
Daniel could barely speak.
“When did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t.”
“Miss Margaret did.”
Daniel turned.
Margaret looked stunned.
“I never knew about that compartment.”
Lily frowned.
“Not you.”
Everyone stared at her.
Lily continued.
“Other Miss Margaret.”
Daniel’s heart began pounding.
“There is another Margaret?”
Lily shook her head.
“The lady who looks like Mommy.”
The room went silent.
Daniel whispered.
“What lady?”
“The one Vanessa said I imagined.”
Lily pointed toward the old family photograph on the dresser.
Elena stood beside another woman.
Her younger sister.
Natalie.
Daniel had not seen Natalie in nearly five years.
She had disappeared from the family after Elena’s funeral.
Daniel looked at Lily.
“When did Aunt Natalie come here?”
May you like
Lily whispered.
“Last week.”
