The memory returned in fragments.
A hallway light.
Rain against the windows.
Tyler asleep beside me.
The blue room upstairs.
And a sound I had spent years convincing myself I imagined.
Crying.
I sat beside Tyler while Detective Mercer recorded my statement.
"Start from the beginning," he said.
I took a breath.
"It was six years ago."
"Before you moved?"
"Yes."
"How long had you lived there?"
"About three years."
"Was the house ever vacant?"
"Not while we owned it."
"Any renovations?"
"No."
"Visitors?"
"Family sometimes."
"Anyone unusual?"
I thought.
"No."
Mercer waited.
"Think carefully."
"I remember a delivery driver."
"What kind?"
"Groceries."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"Anything unusual about him?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"That's not what I mean."
"What do you mean?"
"The night I heard the crying."
Mercer nodded.
"Tell me."
"It was after midnight."
"How loud?"
"Quiet."
"Could you identify the room?"
"The blue room."
"Did you enter?"
"Yes."
"What did you see?"
"Nothing."
"Was the window open?"
"No."
"Door?"
"Open."
"Anything disturbed?"
I frowned.
"The wooden box."
"What box?"
"The one we kept photographs in."
"Was it open?"
"No."
"Was anything missing?"
"I didn't know."
Mercer looked at me.
"Did you hear the crying again?"
"No."
"What happened the next morning?"
"I found the letter."
Tyler shifted beside me.
"The letter?"
I nodded.
"It was in the blue room."
"Where exactly?"
"Behind the box."
"Addressed to you?"
"Yes."
"Did it contain a name?"
"I don't remember."
"Why?"
"Because I was frightened."
"Of the letter?"
"Of what it said."
Mercer leaned forward.
"Try to remember."
I closed my eyes.
The page had been folded twice.
The ink had been blue.
The handwriting was neat.
There had been no greeting.
Only a warning.
I could see one sentence.
*If you hear her again, don't open the door.**
My eyes opened.
Tyler stared at me.
"You remember?"
"Yes."
"What else?"
"Something about a man."
Mercer immediately began writing.
"What did it say?"
I searched my memory.
"That he would come looking."
"Looking for whom?"
"I don't know."
"Was Lily's name mentioned?"
"No."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
Mercer nodded.
"Why did the letter disappear?"
"I didn't throw it away."
"Then where is it?"
"I don't know."
Tyler spoke.
"Could someone have taken it?"
I looked at him.
"Maybe."
Mercer asked, "When did you last see it?"
"The day I found it."
"Did anyone else read it?"
I hesitated.
"Tyler."
He looked surprised.
"You showed it to me?"
"I think so."
"You did."
His expression changed.
"You said it was probably a prank."
I stared at him.
"You remember?"
"Not the whole thing."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You told me to forget it."
I felt a chill.
"Did I?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Mercer looked between us.
"Do either of you remember whether the letter mentioned the fire department?"
Tyler frowned.
"No."
I searched harder.
Then something came back.
A sentence at the bottom.
A word.
"Station."
Mercer looked up.
"What station?"
"I don't know."
"Was there a number?"
"Maybe."
"How many?"
"I can't remember."
Tyler touched my hand.
"Don't force it."
I nodded.
Mercer closed his notebook.
"We'll search the old house for additional records."
"You already searched."
"That was preliminary."
"What about the wall?"
"We're examining it."
"Why was the box there?"
"We don't know."
I looked at Tyler.
He was pale.
"There's something else."
Mercer waited.
Tyler spoke.
"The man who came to the station three months ago."
"Yes?"
"He asked about Amanda."
"What exactly?"
"He asked whether she remembered the blue room."
My breath caught.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought he was trying to intimidate me."
Mercer stared at him.
"Did he say anything else?"
Tyler closed his eyes.
"Something about a child."
My heart pounded.
"What?"
"He said, 'She should have been found years ago.'"
Mercer stopped writing.
I looked at him.
"Found?"
"That's what he said."
"Did you ask what he meant?"
"I did."
"What did he say?"
"He left."
The pieces were becoming unbearable.
A child.
A letter.
The blue room.
A man searching for me.
A warning message.
Lily.
The warehouse.
The photograph.
I felt suddenly exhausted.
"What if Lily was the child?"
Nobody answered.
Tyler looked at me.
Mercer said carefully, "It's possible."
"Six years ago she would have been…"
"Young."
"How young?"
"We'll need her records."
"Could she have been in our house?"
"There's no evidence yet."
"But the crying."
"That's evidence of something."
I looked at Tyler.
"Why would she be there?"
He didn't know.
Neither did I.
Mercer stood.
"I'm going to check on the investigation."
He paused at the door.
"Stay here."
When he left, Tyler looked at me.
"You should rest."
"I can't."
"I know."
"I remember something else."
He waited.
"The letter had a name."
"Whose?"
I swallowed.
"Not Lily."
"Then whose?"
I looked toward the door.
"The name was Daniel."
Tyler's expression changed.
"Mercer?"
"I don't know."
The door opened.
Detective Mercer stepped back inside.
He had clearly heard his name.
"What did you say?"
I stared at him.
"Daniel."
He went still.
"Where did you hear that?"
"In the letter."
He slowly closed the door.
"What did the letter say?"
"I don't remember."
His face had gone pale.
Tyler noticed.
"Detective?"
Mercer looked at him.
"My father's name was Daniel."
Silence.
He continued.
"He died seven years ago."
I felt the room tighten around us.
"What does that have to do with the letter?"
Mercer didn't answer.
He looked at the photograph of the woman in the red scarf.
Then at Tyler.
Then at me.
"Because my father was a firefighter."
I stared at him.
Tyler slowly sat straighter.
"Where?"
"Here."
Reyes appeared in the doorway.
His expression changed when he saw Mercer.
"Daniel?"
Mercer nodded.
"You knew him?"
Reyes closed the door.
"Yes."
Mercer looked at him.
"Then tell them."
Reyes was silent.
"Tell them what my father did at the old house."
I looked from one man to the other.
"What did he do?"
Reyes finally spoke.
"Six years ago, your husband wasn't the first firefighter from this department connected to that address."
Tyler stared.
"Who was?"
Reyes looked at Mercer.
"His father."
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Captain Reyes Finally Explained the Connection to Tyler’s Family, and One Old Department Record Revealed Why Lily Had Been Hidden
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 10 of 40
