Chapter 6: The Call From the Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Richard reached the front door just as headlights swept across the living room windows.
He stopped.
Outside, a black SUV pulled into the driveway and parked behind his car.
A man stepped out wearing a dark suit. He looked toward the house, then touched something beneath his collar.
Richard's face lost all color.
“David,” he whispered.
“Whatever happens, don't let them take Lily.””
I moved toward the window.
“Who are they?””
He grabbed my arm.
“Listen to me. You can hate me later. You can turn me over to the police. But if those men get inside this house, you need to keep Grace and the baby away from them.””
I pulled free.
“You don't get to give me instructions anymore.””
“I know.””
“Then start telling the truth.””
He glanced toward the SUV.
“There's no time.””
The doorbell rang.
Grace carried Lily toward the back hallway.
I stepped into the foyer and looked through the glass.
Two men stood on the porch. The older one held a leather folder. The younger one kept his hands in his coat pockets.
Neither looked like a police officer.
I opened the door but stayed behind it.
“Can I help you?””
The older man smiled.
“Mr. Hayes. My name is Jonathan Pierce. I'm here on behalf of the Eleanor Hayes Family Trust.””
My heart tightened.
“What do you want?””
“We need to collect the child.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Absolutely not.””
Pierce's smile disappeared.
“I'm afraid this is a legal matter.””
“Then bring a lawyer.””
“We have the necessary documentation.””
He opened the folder and held up a court order.
The document bore a judge's signature and a seal from a county court I recognized.
It granted temporary custody of a minor child to the trust's appointed guardian.
The child's name was listed as Lily Cross.
Not Lily Hayes.
Cross.
Natalie's surname.
I looked up.
“Who filed this?””
“The child's legal representative.””
“Who is that?””
“Richard Hayes.””
I turned around.
My brother stood in the hallway, his expression stricken.
“David, I can explain.””
I stared at him.
“You filed for custody of my daughter?””
“It's not what it looks like.””
“Then what does it look like, Richard?””
He looked toward the porch.
“Pierce, you weren't supposed to come here.””
Pierce's expression remained calm.
“The court order was issued this afternoon. We are required to execute it immediately.””
“You're taking a seven-week-old baby from her family?”” I demanded.
“We're transferring her to a protected placement.””
“She's staying here.””
Pierce glanced at the document.
“You have no legal standing as the father until paternity and parentage are established.””
The words struck a nerve.
I wanted to shout that I had loved Eleanor for twelve years, that we had planned a nursery, that I had spent three years mourning a wife who might still be alive. But the man on my porch didn't care about any of that.
He cared about paperwork.
And someone had made sure the paperwork was on his side.
I turned toward Richard.
“Did you know this would happen?””
He nodded miserably.
“You signed the order?””
“I thought it was the only way to protect her.””
“From whom?””
“From the people who are coming.””
I stared at the SUV.
“You mean those people?””
Richard shook his head.
“No. They're just the beginning.””
Pierce cleared his throat.
“Mr. Hayes, we need the child now.””
I stepped forward and closed the door in his face.
A fist struck the wood almost immediately.
“Open the door!””
I turned the deadbolt.
Richard rushed toward me.
“David, listen. That order is real. If you refuse to comply, they'll use it to arrest you. They'll claim you're obstructing a lawful custody transfer.””
“Then we'll fight it.””
“You don't understand how much power this trust has.””
“Then explain it.””
Richard looked at me with desperate eyes.
“The trust owns the building where Eleanor was treated. It controls the medical records. It has access to the company subsidiary that funded the facility. And it has lawyers who can make a judge believe almost anything.””
“Who controls the trust?””
Richard swallowed.
“I don't know the current beneficiary.””
I grabbed his jacket.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I'm telling you what I know!””
Another knock sounded, harder this time.
Then a voice called through the door.
“Mr. Hayes, we have a warrant to search the property.””
I looked toward the kitchen.
Grace was standing at the end of the hallway, holding Lily. Her eyes were wide, and her lips moved silently as she whispered something to the baby.
I recognized the words.
Your mother will come for you.
I turned back to Richard.
“Why did you tell me not to let them take Lily?””
“Because if they take her, you'll never see her again.””
“Why?””
He looked toward Grace.
“Because Lily isn't the only child they were trying to hide.””
I released him.
“What does that mean?””
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“Natalie had a daughter, too. She died during the same clinical program. The trust buried her records. Eleanor discovered that Lily's birth had been entered under Natalie's name because someone wanted to erase the connection between the two women.””
I stared at him.
“Are you telling me Lily isn't my daughter?””
“No.”” He shook his head desperately.
“I'm telling you the records were manipulated so no one could prove whose child she was.””
“Then why did Eleanor write that she was ours?””
“Because she believed she was.””
The pounding at the door stopped.
The sudden silence was worse.
I approached the peephole.
The two men had stepped away from the entrance. The older one was speaking on his phone.
Then my own phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered without speaking.
For several seconds, all I heard was breathing.
Then a woman's voice came through the speaker.
“David?””
My knees weakened.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it in my dreams for three years. I had remembered it whispering my name in the dark. I had replayed old voicemails until I could recite every pause, every laugh, every tired sigh.
“Eleanor?””
A sharp breath sounded on the other end.
“Thank God.””
I gripped the phone so tightly that my fingers hurt.
“Where are you?””
“I can't tell you.””
“Are you alive?””
“Yes.””
The word shattered something inside me.
I sank against the wall.
“Eleanor, I buried you.””
“I know.””
“I stood at your grave every Sunday.””
“I know, David.””
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?””
Her breathing became uneven.
“Because I thought it was the only way to keep you alive.””
I closed my eyes.
“Everyone keeps saying that. Nobody will tell me what happened.””
“I will. But you have to listen carefully. The men outside your house work for the trust. They're not there to protect Lily.””
“Then why do they want her?””
“Because she has something they need.””
“What?””
“Her blood.””
I looked toward Grace.
Lily was asleep in her arms.
“What are you talking about?””
Eleanor's voice dropped.
“Natalie's daughter had a rare genetic condition. The people running the program believed Lily carried the same mutation. They wanted to use her as part of a treatment trial.””
“She's seven weeks old!””
“I know.””
“Who would do that to a baby?””
“The same people who changed my medication. The same people who falsified my death. The same people who made sure Natalie was buried under my name.””
My stomach turned.
“Who are they?””
“I don't know everyone involved. But Richard knows more than he's told you.””
I looked at my brother.
He was standing several feet away, staring at the floor.
“Richard says he was trying to protect us.””
“He was trying to protect himself.””
The words came so quickly that I knew she had rehearsed them.
“Eleanor, tell me where you are. I'll come get you.””
“No. You can't.””
“I don't care.””
“David, please!””
Her voice broke, and I fell silent.
“I've spent three years trying to find a way back to you. I thought if I disappeared, the people responsible would stop looking. I thought Richard could keep Lily safe until I could expose them.””
“And you trusted him?””
“I had no one else.””
I stared at my brother.
For the first time, I understood that Richard might not be the architect of the conspiracy. He might be another person trapped inside it, making terrible choices and calling them protection.
But that didn't excuse what he had done.
“Where is the evidence?”” I asked.
“Margaret Bell kept copies of the original trial records. She sent them to someone before she died.””
“Who?””
“I don't know. But the records prove that Natalie was never supposed to die.””
A loud crash sounded outside.
I turned toward the front door.
The younger man had struck the lock with a metal tool.
“Eleanor, they're breaking in.””
“Listen to me. There's a second envelope hidden in my old bedroom. Behind the loose panel beneath the window seat.””
I looked up the stairs.
“You've been in this house?””
“No. But I left something there before I disappeared.””
“What is it?””
“The name of the person who ordered my death.””
The lock splintered.
Grace hurried toward the back door, clutching Lily.
I shouted for her to wait.
“Eleanor, I need you to tell me one thing. Why did you call me now?””
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Because the person who ordered my death just found out that I'm alive.””
A man's voice sounded in the background.
“Mrs. Hayes, we have to go!””
Eleanor gasped.
“David, don't trust—”
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Then a message appeared on the screen.
A photograph.
Eleanor was sitting in a wheelchair beside a hospital window. She looked older, thinner, but unmistakably alive.
Someone had written across the bottom of the image:
*You have ten minutes to surrender the child. Otherwise, your wife dies for real.*
I looked toward the shattered front door.
Richard was no longer in the hallway.
Neither was Martin Vale.
May you like
And from somewhere upstairs, I heard a floorboard creak.
Someone was already inside the house.
