We stayed on the ground floor.
Nobody moved toward the stairs.
The woman's voice came again through the intercom.
“Tyler.”
He closed his eyes.
I could feel his hand shaking.
“It's her voice,” he whispered.
“I know.”
“My mother.”
Claire stepped closer.
“It isn't her.”
Tyler looked at her.
“How can you know?”
“Because your mother died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
“And because I was there.”
Tyler stared.
“You were?”
Claire nodded.
“Your father asked me to attend the funeral.”
Tyler's face tightened.
“Why don't I remember you?”
“Because Daniel didn't want you asking questions.”
The intercom crackled again.
“You never listened to your father.”
Tyler looked toward the ceiling.
The voice sounded wounded.
Almost loving.
“I did everything he asked.”
The response came immediately.
“Then come upstairs.”
Reyes stepped forward.
“No.”
The voice changed.
“You never did trust me, Javier.”
Reyes froze.
Tyler looked at him.
“Did you know my mother?”
Reyes swallowed.
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Well enough.”
“What does that mean?”
Reyes looked at me.
“She knew about Daniel's investigation.”
Tyler stared.
“And you never told me?”
“Daniel asked me not to.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
His voice cracked.
“Everyone knew things about my family except me.”
I stepped closer.
“Tyler.”
He looked at me.
“I know.”
He squeezed my hand.
“I know you didn't know.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A door opening.
Then footsteps.
Someone was descending.
Michael moved beside Reyes.
Grant checked the rear exit.
Claire held Lily close.
The footsteps stopped halfway down.
A woman appeared.
For a second, Tyler couldn't breathe.
She had his mother's face.
Same hair.
Same eyes.
Same small smile.
But something was wrong.
She looked too young.
Tyler's mother had been in her late fifties when she died.
This woman looked forty.
Tyler whispered, “Mom?”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
He took one step forward.
I caught his arm.
He stopped.
The woman frowned.
“You don't recognize me?”
Tyler stared.
“My mother had a scar.”
The woman touched her cheek.
“What?”
“From the accident.”
Her hand froze.
Tyler shook his head.
“My mother had a scar here.”
He touched his cheek.
“You don't.”
The woman's expression changed.
Michael whispered, “She's an imitation.”
The woman smiled.
“You're all very clever.”
Then she pulled a gun.
Reyes fired first.
The woman ducked.
The shot shattered the wall behind her.
Grant pulled Lily behind the counter.
Mercer grabbed me.
We heard another gunshot.
Then silence.
The woman had disappeared upstairs.
Reyes moved toward the stairs.
“No,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because she wants us there.”
He stopped.
Michael nodded.
“She isn't alone.”
The screen above the kitchen turned on.
A countdown appeared.
Twenty minutes.
Then a message:
THE TRANSFER BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT.
Mercer looked at the clock.
“Twenty minutes.”
Grant stared at the screen.
“Where's the evidence?”
I held the memory card.
“Here.”
The woman appeared on another screen.
She looked directly at me.
“That's not the evidence.”
I froze.
She smiled.
“The card is only the key.”
“What is the evidence?”
“Your memory.”
The screen went black.
Tyler looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
I remembered the video.
The blue room.
Daniel telling me I would forget.
The child.
The man.
The voice.
Maybe the final evidence had never been written down.
Maybe it was inside my own memory.
I closed my eyes.
And suddenly I remembered something else.
A red scarf.
Not Claire's.
Another woman.
Standing outside the blue house six years ago.
I had seen her.
I had forgotten her.
She was speaking to Daniel.
And beside her stood Uncle David.
But the third person had been someone else.
Captain Lewis.
I opened my eyes.
“Lewis.”
Reyes looked at me.
“What?”
“Captain Lewis was there.”
“Where?”
“At the house.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Claire looked stunned.
“You remember?”
“Yes.”
Michael stepped closer.
“What did he say?”
I concentrated.
“He told Daniel the child couldn't stay.”
“What else?”
“He said someone was coming.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
I remembered another detail.
A ring.
Captain Lewis wore a ring with a black stone.
I described it.
Michael's face changed.
“That wasn't Lewis's ring.”
“Whose was it?”
He looked at Reyes.
“Daniel's.”
Reyes shook his head.
“My brother didn't wear rings.”
Michael stared at him.
“Then whose?”
I suddenly remembered.
The woman who looked like Tyler's mother.
She had worn the same ring.
I looked toward the staircase.
“She has it.”
Reyes understood.
“The person upstairs isn't impersonating Tyler's mother.”
“No.”
I felt cold.
“She is impersonating someone else.”
“Who?”
I whispered the name.
“Claire.”
Everyone looked at the real Claire.
She had gone completely still.
Michael stared at her.
“Claire?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The screen turned on again.
The woman appeared.
She removed the wig.
Then the prosthetic skin around her cheek.
Her face changed.
Not into Claire.
Not into Tyler's mother.
Into someone I had never expected to see.
My breath stopped.
She looked exactly like the woman from the photograph.
The woman standing beside Daniel and Frank.
The woman everyone believed had disappeared six years ago.
Claire stared at her own face.
Then whispered:
“That's my sister.”
I looked at her.
“Your sister?”
Claire nodded.
“Evelyn.”
The woman on the screen smiled.
“Hello, Claire.”
Tyler stared.
“How many people are involved?”
Evelyn answered.
“Enough.”
The countdown reached twelve minutes.
Evelyn continued.
“Bring Amanda upstairs.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Then I will come downstairs.”
The screen went black.
The station lights went out.
Something moved behind us.
Grant shouted.
Lily screamed.
A hand grabbed my shoulder.
I turned.
A man stood inches from me.
He whispered:
“Don't trust anyone.”
Then he disappeared into the darkness.
I recognized the voice.
Daniel.
Click here to continue reading: PART 28: Daniel’s Last Warning
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 27 of 40
