Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WITH MY WIFE’S FACE
For three years, I had carried an image of Emily’s crushed car in my head.
I had identified her through a hospital window. Her face had been covered below the eyes because of the injuries.
Now a woman with Emily’s face stood behind my daughter.
“Sophie,” I whispered, “who is she?”
The connection cut out.
I replayed the final second until Ortiz took the phone.
“The image could be manipulated.”
“It looked like her.”
“Grief makes certainty dangerous,” she said gently. “Let us verify it.”
Amanda was staring at the dark screen.
“You recognize her,” I said.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
She swallowed.
“Darren showed me a picture once. He said she was the reason he knew everything about you.”
Ortiz pushed harder.
“Amanda, who is she?”
“Her name is Claire Mercer.”
Emily’s maiden name was Mercer.
Claire was Emily’s younger sister.
Everyone had been told she died at eighteen in a boating accident. Emily rarely spoke about it. Their father had refused to hold a funeral because Claire’s body was never recovered.
“She’s supposed to be dead,” I said.
Amanda gave a hollow laugh.
“That family seems to have a lot of dead women who aren’t where they’re supposed to be.”
We drove toward the treatment plant while officers obtained blueprints. The complex covered nearly forty acres, much of it underground.
My mother sat beside me, crying silently.
“Did Emily know Claire was alive?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“You’ve said that for three years.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You told me Emily’s death was an accident.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was Sophie when they took her.”
That ended the conversation.
At the plant, tactical officers found a warm room, restraints, and Sophie’s other shoe.
But Darren had moved her again.
On the wall was a photograph of Emily, Claire, and Darren standing together twelve years earlier.
On the back, someone had written:
The first family was practice. The Cole family will make us rich.
Ortiz’s phone rang.
The safe-deposit box had been opened.
Not by police.
Bank footage showed Claire entering with a key twenty minutes earlier.
She left carrying Emily’s evidence.
Then Ortiz received another update.
Claire hadn’t left alone.
May you like
Sophie was walking beside her, holding her hand.
And according to the camera, my daughter wasn’t afraid of her.
