Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Amanda kept staring at the photograph while Lily's last words seemed to echo through the room. Her mother. Claire had gone completely pale.
“Lily,” Claire said softly, “where did you hear that?”
Lily looked at her. “You told me.”
“I never—”
“You did when we were in the house.”
Claire stopped.
Amanda turned toward her. “What house?”
Claire's eyes filled with something that looked like regret. “The blue house.”
Tyler stared at her. “You were there?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
The answer landed like another blow.
Amanda looked at Reyes. He seemed equally stunned, though his expression remained controlled. “You knew Claire had been there?”
Reyes shook his head. “Not that I knew.”
Claire closed her eyes. “Because I wasn't supposed to remember.”
A soft electronic click came from the monitor.
Everyone turned.
The screen had changed.
A video began playing.
Claire appeared on it, younger by several years, standing inside the blue room.
Beside her was Daniel.
Amanda's breath caught.
The video showed Claire holding a small girl who could only have been Lily. Daniel stood near the doorway, watching the window.
Then another woman entered.
Amanda.
At least, she looked exactly like Amanda.
But this time Amanda noticed something she had missed before.
The woman was wearing the black-stone ring.
Daniel immediately turned toward her.
“You're early,” he said.
The woman smiled.
“I wanted to see the child.”
Amanda felt cold spread through her arms.
The woman crouched beside Lily and whispered something.
The audio crackled.
Then the woman's face changed.
Not literally.
The image distorted, and for an instant another face appeared over hers.
Claire gasped.
“Evelyn.”
Amanda looked at her. “Your sister.”
Claire nodded.
“She had been practicing,” Claire said. “Faces. Voices. Mannerisms. She could become almost anyone if she had enough information.”
Tyler looked at Reyes. “And you knew about this?”
“No.”
Evan's voice suddenly came through the station intercom.
“You knew about the operation.”
Everyone froze.
Reyes looked upward.
“You just didn't know who was running it.”
The screen changed again.
A file appeared.
CAPTAIN LEWIS — TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION.
Beneath it were names.
Daniel.
Frank.
Reyes.
Evan.
Claire.
Amanda.
Tyler.
And one final name that had been deliberately blacked out.
Amanda stepped closer.
“Why is my name on there?”
The intercom answered.
“Because you were present when the first transfer failed.”
Tyler turned toward Amanda. “What transfer?”
She shook her head. “I don't know.”
The video changed.
Amanda saw herself entering the blue house six years earlier.
She watched herself walk down the hallway.
She watched herself stop outside the blue room.
Then she saw herself turn toward the camera.
Her younger face looked frightened.
A child's voice came from behind the door.
“Please don't leave me.”
Amanda's heart stopped.
She remembered that voice.
Not Lily's.
A boy's.
The second witness.
The video continued.
Daniel entered the frame and pulled Amanda away from the door.
“Not yet,” he told her.
Amanda watched herself cry.
“I can't leave him.”
Daniel answered, “If you open that door, they'll know you remember.”
The recording ended.
Tyler stared at Amanda.
“You remembered a boy.”
Amanda nodded slowly.
“I remembered someone crying.”
Lily looked toward her.
“That's why he chose you.”
“Who?”
Lily's eyes moved toward the ceiling.
“The man who keeps changing.”
A sound came from the stairwell.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Reyes drew his weapon.
Tyler pushed Amanda behind him.
Claire held Lily close.
The footsteps stopped.
A man's voice called from above.
“Captain Reyes.”
Reyes stiffened.
It was his own voice.
Then another voice spoke.
Tyler's.
Then Daniel's.
Then Amanda's.
Four voices, one after another, all coming from the same dark stairwell.
Amanda felt the terrible realization settle inside her.
The person behind the operation wasn't merely impersonating people.
He had been collecting them.
Their voices.
Their faces.
Their memories.
And someone had been feeding him information for years.
Evan appeared at the far end of the hallway.
He had no gun now.
“Get to the blue house,” he said.
Reyes stared at him. “Why?”
“Because midnight isn't the transfer.”
Evan looked at Amanda.
“Midnight is when they erase the witness.”
PART 30 END
Click here to continue reading: PART 31: THE SECOND CHILD
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 30 of 40
