We returned to the hospital just after midnight.
Reyes refused to discuss the recording in the car. I didn't press him. His silence had changed. Before, he had seemed like a man carrying an old burden. Now he looked like someone who had finally discovered that the burden had a name.
Tyler was awake when we entered his room.
He looked from me to Reyes.
“What happened?”
I handed him the photograph.
He studied it.
His eyes stopped on his father.
Then Frank.
Then Claire.
Finally Lily.
He turned it over.
His face tightened.
“Where did you find this?”
“Behind the wall in the blue room.”
He read the words.
WE FOUND HER.
“But why would my father have taken this?”
“Because he was investigating Lily,” I said.
Tyler shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He didn't just investigate her.”
He looked at Reyes.
“My father knew Claire.”
Reyes nodded.
“How?”
“They worked together on the case.”
“No.” Tyler's voice sharpened. “I remember him talking about a woman named Claire. He said she was trying to protect someone.”
“Lily,” I said.
Tyler nodded.
“But he also said something else.”
“What?”
“He said Claire was afraid of a person inside the department.”
Reyes looked down.
“Did he ever give you a name?”
“No.”
I remembered the photograph.
“Maybe he left one.”
Reyes pulled out the envelope from the old house.
He placed it on the table.
Tyler read the sentence.
TYLER'S FATHER DIDN'T FAIL.
HE WAS BETRAYED.
He looked at Reyes.
“By whom?”
“We don't know yet.”
Mercer arrived twenty minutes later.
He looked exhausted.
“I've been digging through archived records.”
“What did you find?” I asked.
He placed a folder on the table.
“Frank's notes.”
Reyes opened it.
The first page was a photocopy of the original welfare report.
The second was a handwritten supplement.
The third was missing.
“Page three was removed,” Mercer said.
“By whom?” Tyler asked.
Mercer looked at Reyes.
“We don't know.”
Reyes turned the page.
There was a notation at the bottom.
TRANSFERRED TO INTERNAL REVIEW.
“Internal review,” he said.
Mercer nodded.
“And that is where the trail ends.”
I looked at the folder.
“What about Claire?”
Mercer pulled out another document.
“Claire Dalton disappeared six years ago.”
“We know.”
“No.” He shook his head. “You know what the department recorded.”
He placed a second document beside it.
“The actual record is different.”
I leaned closer.
Claire had not vanished.
She had been placed under protective custody.
My heart began pounding.
“Why?”
“Because she reported receiving threats.”
“From whom?”
Mercer turned the page.
The name had been blacked out.
“Someone with access to department records.”
Reyes stared at it.
“Who authorized the protection order?”
Mercer hesitated.
“Your superior at the time.”
Reyes looked stunned.
“My superior?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
Mercer pushed the page toward him.
Reyes read it.
Then sat down.
I watched his face.
“Who is it?” I asked.
He didn't answer.
Mercer did.
“Deputy Chief Harris.”
I knew the name.
Everyone in the department knew it.
Harris had retired three years earlier.
Tyler looked at me.
“Could he still have access?”
Mercer shook his head.
“Officially, no.”
“Unofficially?”
“We don't know.”
Reyes stood.
“We need Claire.”
Mercer nodded.
“I've been trying to locate her.”
“Did she leave a number?”
“No.”
“Then how did she call you?”
Reyes reached for his phone.
“She called from a blocked line.”
Mercer stared at him.
“Can you retrieve the number?”
“Maybe.”
“Do it.”
Reyes stepped away.
Tyler looked at me.
“You believe him?”
I knew exactly who he meant.
“I'm trying to.”
Tyler nodded.
“So am I.”
A few minutes later, Reyes returned.
“I have the number.”
Mercer immediately dialed it.
The call rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
No one spoke.
Mercer put the phone on speaker.
“Claire?”
Silence.
“Claire Dalton?”
A woman's voice whispered.
“Is Amanda there?”
I stepped closer.
“Yes.”
“Don't trust the captain.”
Reyes closed his eyes.
Mercer looked at him.
“Claire, who are you hiding from?”
“Everyone.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere they can't find me.”
“Where is Lily?”
A pause.
“With someone I trust.”
“Who?”
Claire's voice broke.
“Someone who knew her before Amanda did.”
I felt a chill.
“Who?”
“Her father.”
The call ended.
Tyler stared at me.
“Lily has a father?”
Mercer immediately began dialing again.
No answer.
Reyes looked at me.
“We need to know who Lily's father is.”
I thought about the old house.
The blue room.
The photographs.
The woman who had disappeared.
The child who had recognized me.
Then I remembered something.
“Lily said something.”
“What?”
“At the warehouse.”
Tyler watched me.
“She said, ‘He'll come back.’”
Reyes frowned.
“Who?”
“She never said.”
I closed my eyes.
“She also said the man wasn't trying to hurt her.”
“The man who started the fire,” Mercer said.
I nodded.
“He was trying to burn the evidence.”
Mercer looked toward the folder.
“What if the warehouse wasn't meant to kill Lily?”
Tyler sat upright.
“What are you saying?”
“What if the fire was meant to destroy something?”
Reyes understood first.
“The evidence.”
“The missing file,” Mercer said.
“And the people connected to it.”
I looked at the photograph.
Three adults.
One child.
A house.
A hidden room.
A department record that had been altered.
A firefighter who died.
A woman who vanished.
A captain whose credentials had been used.
And Tyler, who had unknowingly walked directly into the middle of it.
My phone vibrated.
I looked down.
There was no number.
Only a photograph.
It showed the hospital.
Specifically, Tyler's room.
The photograph had been taken from inside.
My breath stopped.
In the corner of the picture was a reflection.
A person standing behind the photographer.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Red scarf.
Claire.
Under the photograph was one message.
LOOK AT THE MIRROR.
I zoomed in.
Behind Claire stood another person.
A man.
I recognized him.
My hand began shaking.
“Mercer.”
He looked.
His face went pale.
“That's Harris.”
Reyes stepped closer.
“No.”
Mercer nodded.
“That is Deputy Chief Harris.”
The photograph changed.
Another image arrived.
This one showed the hospital elevator.
Harris stood inside.
The timestamp was only three minutes old.
Tyler stared at it.
“He's here.”
Reyes grabbed his phone.
“Security.”
Before he could finish the call, the lights in the hallway flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
Emergency lighting came on.
A soft alarm sounded.
Tyler's monitor continued beeping.
I heard footsteps outside.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching.
Reyes stood between us and the door.
Mercer drew his weapon.
The handle moved.
Someone was opening the door.
Then a woman's voice came from the hallway.
“Tyler?”
He looked at me.
I knew that voice.
Claire.
The door opened.
A woman wearing a red scarf stood there.
Older than the photograph.
Tired.
Wet from the rain.
But unmistakably alive.
Claire Dalton looked directly at me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Then she looked at Reyes.
“You were never supposed to bring her here.”
Reyes stared at her.
“Who?”
Claire's eyes moved toward Tyler.
“The person who has been searching for Lily.”
A shadow passed behind her.
Claire's expression changed.
“He found us.”
She stepped into the room.
And behind her, the hallway lights went dark again.
Click here to continue reading: PART 17: The Woman in the Red Scarf
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 16 of 40
