Chapter 3: The Man Behind the Door
Father Daniel raised one trembling finger to his lips.
No one moved.
The office suddenly felt much smaller than it had seconds before. Rain tapped against the window, soft and steady, while the man outside waited with the patience of someone who knew the door would eventually open.
Lily’s fingers were still wrapped around Mara’s.
Then the voice came again.
“Father Daniel,” the stranger said.
“I don’t want trouble.””
Mara looked at the priest.
“You said you didn’t know who he was.””
“I didn’t,” Father Daniel whispered.
“You said you saw him twenty years ago.””
“I did.””
“And now he knows Lily is here.””
Father Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“He must have followed you.””
Mara glanced at Lily.
The girl looked terrified.
“He followed her all the way here?””
“I don’t know.””
The man knocked once.
“Father,” he called pleasantly, “you have thirty seconds.””
Mara stepped closer to the door.
“What happens in thirty seconds?””
Father Daniel caught her arm.
“You do not open that door.””
“Then what do we do?””
“There’s another exit.””
He crossed to a tall wooden cabinet and shoved it aside.
A narrow door appeared behind it.
Lily stared.
“That goes outside?””
“To the alley,” Father Daniel said.
Mara pulled her closer.
“Then we’re leaving.””
“No.””
Mara stopped.
Father Daniel reached beneath his desk and pulled out a brass key.
“You leave with Lily.””
“You’re coming with us.””
“I’ll stay here.””
“No.””
“Mara, listen to me.””
The stranger knocked again.
“One minute.””
Mara looked at Father Daniel.
“You’re afraid of him.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Father Daniel stared at the brass key in his hand.
“Because twenty years ago, I made a mistake.””
“What mistake?””
“I believed your sister.””
Mara’s expression changed.
“What does that mean?””
Father Daniel looked at her.
“I believed Rebecca was going to come back.””
Silence.
“She told me she would return after midnight,” he continued.
“She said she had something important to bring me.””
“What?””
“A ledger.””
Mara felt the word settle in the room.
“A ledger?””
“Your father’s.””
She thought of the old house.
The locked study.
The smell of cigarette smoke.
Her father shouting whenever Rebecca tried to open drawers.
She had always thought it was ordinary family tension.
Now every memory seemed to have another shadow behind it.
“What was in the ledger?”” Mara asked.
Father Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Names.””
“Whose names?””
“People who had been paid.””
“For what?””
He looked toward Lily.
“For children.””
Mara’s stomach dropped.
“No.””
Father Daniel stepped closer.
“Rebecca discovered that your father had been involved in arranging illegal adoptions.””
Mara stared at him.
“You’re saying my father sold children?””
“I’m saying your sister believed he did.””
“You said you saw records.””
“I saw enough.””
“Why didn’t you go to the police?””
“I tried.””
“And?””
Father Daniel laughed bitterly.
“They told me I had no proof.””
Mara looked toward the door.
The stranger outside knocked a fourth time.
“Father.””
His tone had changed.
There was no friendliness in it now.
“Open the door.””
Lily suddenly whispered, “He has the key.””
Mara turned.
“What?””
“The man outside.””
Lily’s eyes were fixed on the door.
“He had a key to my mother’s apartment.””
Father Daniel stared at her.
“How do you know?””
“Because he used it.””
“When?””
“After Mom died.””
Mara crouched beside her.
“Lily, tell me exactly what happened.””
The girl swallowed.
“Mom told me to hide.””
“Where?””
“In the closet.””
“Why?””
“She heard someone at the door.””
Mara kept her voice soft.
“Was it this man?””
“I don’t know.””
“What did you hear?””
“Mom was yelling.””
“What did she say?””
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
“She said, ‘You promised he was dead.’”
Mara’s pulse thudded.
“Who was she talking to?””
“I don’t know.””
“What happened next?””
“She fell.””
Father Daniel’s face went pale.
“Did you see blood?””
Lily nodded.
“But Mom got back up.””
Mara exchanged a look with the priest.
“She told me to run,” Lily whispered.
“Where did you go?””
“She said to go to St. Jude’s.””
Mara’s heart tightened.
“Why St. Jude’s?””
“Because she said Father Daniel would know what to do.””
Father Daniel looked down.
“I never knew she was there.””
“You didn’t see her?”” Mara asked.
“No.””
“Then how did she know you?””
He took a slow breath.
“Because Rebecca contacted me two months ago.””
Mara’s head snapped up.
“What?””
“Before she disappeared for good.””
“She was alive two months ago?””
“Yes.””
“You lied to me.””
“I was trying to keep you safe.””
“You don’t get to use that excuse anymore.””
Father Daniel looked as though the words had struck him harder than a slap.
“I know.””
Mara stood.
“Tell me where she is.””
“I don’t know.””
“Is she dead?””
“I don’t know.””
“Did you see her?””
“I saw her once.””
“When?””
“Four days before she died.””
Lily suddenly looked up.
“You said she died.””
Father Daniel froze.
Mara slowly turned toward him.
“Yes,” she said.
“You just said she died.””
Father Daniel closed his eyes.
“I made an assumption.””
“Based on what?””
“The police report.””
“What police report?””
“The one saying Rebecca Ellison’s body was recovered from the river.””
Mara couldn’t breathe.
“There was never a body.””
“There was a body.””
“No.””
“I saw it.””
Mara shook her head.
“No. You told us they never found her.””
“I was wrong.””
“You told my mother.””
“I know.””
“You let me spend twenty years believing she disappeared.””
“I know.””
Mara’s hands began to shake.
“Then whose body did you see?””
Father Daniel didn’t answer.
Lily suddenly whispered, “It wasn’t my mother.””
Father Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know?””
“Because Mom came back.””
“When?””
“Three nights before she sent me away.””
Mara’s heart stopped.
“What did she tell you?””
Lily touched the broken half-moon around her neck.
“She said she had to finish something.””
“What?””
“She said she had found the man who started everything.””
Mara stared at the pendant.
“The man with the moon?””
Lily nodded.
“She said his real name was written on the back.””
Mara reached for the pendant.
“Let me see.””
Lily removed it carefully.
The silver half-moon was old and scratched. Mara turned it over.
There was nothing.
“Maybe it’s too worn,” she said.
Father Daniel stepped closer.
“No.””
He took the pendant.
His thumb brushed across the back.
Then he frowned.
“There’s an engraving.””
Mara leaned in.
At first she saw only faint lines.
Then she saw the letters.
R.E.
Below them was a date.
12-03.
Mara’s breath caught.
“December third.””
Lily nodded.
“My birthday.””
Mara stared at the inscription.
Father Daniel whispered, “That was the date Rebecca was supposed to meet someone.””
“Twenty years ago?””
“Yes.””
Mara looked up.
“What happened on December third?””
Father Daniel’s face tightened.
“She never made it.””
The office door suddenly rattled.
The stranger had stopped knocking.
Now he was trying the handle.
Once.
Twice.
Then silence.
Mara moved toward the hidden exit.
“Get Lily out.””
Father Daniel nodded.
He opened the narrow door.
Cold rain blew into the room.
Mara pushed Lily toward the alley.
“Go.””
But Lily didn’t move.
She was staring behind them.
At the wooden cabinet.
At the small gap beneath the office door.
A shadow had appeared there.
Someone was standing outside.
Mara reached for Lily.
“Come on.””
The shadow shifted.
Then a folded piece of paper slid beneath the door.
It stopped at Mara’s shoes.
She bent down and picked it up.
There was one sentence written across it.
Mara’s hand went cold.
Because beneath the sentence was a name.
Her name.
The message read:
*YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO BRING ME THE OTHER HALF OF THE MOON, OR THE GIRL LEARNS WHO HER FATHER REALLY WAS.*
Mara looked at Lily.
Then at Father Daniel.
And finally at the hidden half of the silver moon lying in her own palm.
The church bell outside began to ring.
Ten times.
May you like
And on the tenth chime, someone whispered from the other side of the door—
“Rebecca is still alive.””
