The pediatric floor was three levels above us.
Reyes refused to let me go alone, so he sent a security officer with me while he stayed with Tyler. I hated leaving my husband, but I understood the calculation. If someone had deliberately separated Lily from the people who could protect her, running toward the disappearance might have been exactly what they wanted.
The elevator doors opened onto a bright hallway filled with painted animals and cheerful signs.
It felt wrong.
Too bright.
Too innocent.
A nurse stood near the reception desk, crying quietly.
“Where was she?” I asked.
The nurse looked at me. “Room 312.”
We hurried there.
The door was open.
The bed was empty.
Lily's stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
I bent to pick it up.
The rabbit's ear was torn.
There was something tucked inside the seam.
A tiny brass key.
I stared at it.
The security officer reached for his radio.
“Don't,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Just wait.”
I recognized the key.
Not because I had seen that exact key before.
Because I knew what it was for.
The old wooden box.
My fingers tightened around it.
I ran back toward the elevator.
“Mrs. Morgan!”
I ignored the security officer.
The doors opened.
I pressed the fourth-floor button.
When I returned to Tyler's room, he was arguing with Reyes.
“We can't wait.”
“We have to.”
“My wife is upstairs.”
“She has security with her.”
“And Lily is missing.”
Tyler's eyes met mine.
“What did you find?”
I held up the key.
His face changed.
“That was in Lily's rabbit.”
Reyes stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Her room.”
Tyler leaned forward.
“My father had a key like that.”
“I know,” I said.
Reyes looked between us.
“You've never mentioned it.”
“We didn't know it mattered.”
I told them about the box.
Tyler's face tightened.
“Let's go home.”
Reyes shook his head.
“No.”
“Captain.”
“No one goes to that house until we know who has been watching it.”
I pulled out my phone.
The message was still there.
COME BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
I showed Reyes.
He read it twice.
Then his phone rang.
This time it was Detective Mercer.
Reyes answered.
Mercer's voice was tense.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Frank Dalton's accident report.”
Reyes looked at me.
Mercer continued.
“It wasn't an accident.”
The room became silent.
“Are you sure?” Reyes asked.
“No. But there are discrepancies.”
“What kind?”
“The vehicle had been tampered with before the crash. Brake line damage.”
Tyler stared at me.
“Someone killed him.”
Mercer continued.
“And there is something else. Frank had been trying to access an archived evidence locker.”
“Which one?”
“The old welfare case.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where is the evidence now?” Reyes asked.
Mercer was silent for a moment.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“It was signed out six years ago.”
“By whom?”
Mercer breathed out.
“Captain Reyes.”
I looked at Reyes.
He closed his eyes.
Tyler's voice was barely audible.
“You signed it out?”
Reyes opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel asked me to.”
“Then what happened?”
“I never received the contents.”
Tyler frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The file was supposed to be transferred to me. It never arrived.”
Mercer interrupted.
“That's not what the records say.”
Reyes's face hardened.
“What do they say?”
“The record says you received the evidence.”
Silence.
Then Mercer said, “And whoever altered the report used your credentials.”
Reyes looked at me.
For a moment, suspicion flickered through Tyler's expression.
I understood it.
So did Reyes.
“Tyler,” I said.
“No,” Reyes said quietly. “It's fair.”
Tyler looked at him.
“You've been connected to this from the beginning.”
“Yes.”
“And my father trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And someone used your credentials.”
“Yes.”
“Then why shouldn't I think it was you?”
Reyes took the question without anger.
“You should question everyone.”
The words surprised me.
Including me, he seemed to say.
Including him.
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
LOOK BEHIND THE BLUE ROOM WALL.
I showed Tyler.
He stared at it.
“The box.”
I nodded.
Reyes stood.
“We're going.”
The hospital security officer looked at him.
“Sir, your patient cannot leave.”
“He's not leaving.”
Reyes looked at me.
“You and I are going.”
Tyler objected.
“No.”
I stepped toward him.
“Tyler.”
“Don't go.”
“I have to.”
He shook his head.
“You don't know what you're walking into.”
“I know.”
He reached for my hand.
“Then promise me you'll come back.”
I squeezed his fingers.
“I promise.”
Reyes drove.
Neither of us spoke much.
Rain had begun falling by the time we reached the old neighborhood. The blue house looked smaller than I remembered. The porch light was broken. The upstairs window was dark.
Someone had been inside.
The front door was unlocked.
Reyes drew his weapon.
I stopped on the porch.
“Don't.”
He looked back.
“Why?”
“Because if they want us inside, we need to know why.”
He nodded.
We entered.
The house smelled of dust, damp wood, and something faintly metallic.
The blue room was exactly as I remembered.
The wallpaper had faded.
The bookcase stood against the wall.
I moved toward it.
Reyes checked the windows.
“Here.”
I pointed.
There was a narrow scratch along the floor.
The bookcase had been moved recently.
We pushed it aside.
Behind it was the old panel.
My hands shook as I opened it.
The wooden box was gone.
In its place was a rectangular hole.
Inside the hole was a single photograph.
I picked it up.
It showed three people.
Daniel.
Frank.
And Claire.
Standing outside this house.
Lily was there too.
Only she was much younger.
Maybe two years old.
My breath caught.
On the back was a date.
Six years ago.
And beneath it, Daniel's handwriting.
WE FOUND HER.
I turned the photograph over again.
There was another line.
BUT SHE WASN'T ALONE.
Reyes took the photograph.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He pointed toward the corner.
Someone had written a name.
AMANDA.
My own name.
Underneath it was another sentence.
SHE CHOSE YOU.
I stared at the words.
Then I heard a noise upstairs.
A soft footstep.
Reyes raised his weapon.
“Stay here.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“If someone is upstairs, they know we're here.”
He nodded.
We climbed together.
At the top of the stairs, the blue room door stood open.
A child's stuffed rabbit was sitting on the floor.
Not Lily's.
An older one.
Dusty.
Worn.
Beside it was a cassette recorder.
Reyes picked it up.
A voice came from the speaker.
Daniel's.
“If you're hearing this, Amanda, then they finally found the house.”
I stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“I need you to understand something. Lily was never the secret.”
A pause.
“She was the proof.”
The tape clicked.
Daniel's voice returned.
“The person who took her was someone you trusted.”
Reyes looked at me.
The recording continued.
“And if Captain Reyes is with you when you hear this…”
Static swallowed the next words.
Then Daniel said something that made Reyes go completely still.
“Do not believe him.”
The tape ended.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then the bedroom door behind us slammed shut.
Reyes turned.
The hallway was empty.
A window shattered downstairs.
We ran.
By the time we reached the front door, the rain had become a curtain.
A dark vehicle sped away from the curb.
Reyes started after it, then stopped.
On the porch lay a small envelope.
My name was written across it.
Inside was one sentence.
TYLER'S FATHER DIDN'T FAIL.
HE WAS BETRAYED.
Click here to continue reading: PART 16: The Name in the File
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 15 of 40
