Chapter 5: The Blue Notebook
The ringing seemed impossibly loud.
The old telephone sat on Mom's kitchen counter, exactly where she'd left it six years earlier.
I hadn't disconnected the line because the number was still registered in her name.
For years, I had kept it active.
Part of me couldn't bear to let go of the last number Lily might remember.
I walked downstairs.
Elena followed.
The phone rang again.
“Don't answer it,” she whispered.
I looked at the caller ID.
PRIVATE NUMBER.
I picked up.
“Hello?””
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“Daniel?””
My stomach tightened.
“Who is this?””
“You shouldn't have opened that box.””
I looked toward Elena.
She had gone completely still.
“Who are you?””
A short breath came through the receiver.
“Listen carefully. You need to take your sister and leave that house.””
I gripped the phone.
“Where is Sarah?””
Silence.
Then the man said something that made my blood turn cold.
“Sarah is the reason your mother died.””
The line went dead.
I stood there, holding the receiver against my ear.
Elena approached slowly.
“What did he say?””
I put the phone down.
“He knows we're here.””
“Who was it?””
“I don't know.””
She looked at the letter.
“Maybe Margaret?””
“No. It was a man.””
Elena swallowed.
“Daniel, I think I remember him.””
I turned.
“Who?””
She closed her eyes.
“A man who used to visit Margaret's house. He had a gold watch and a scar on his hand.””
I frowned.
“Did you know his name?””
She shook her head.
“Margaret called him Uncle Robert.””
I felt the room tilt.
Uncle Robert.
My father's brother.
The man who had helped us search for Lily.
The man Mom had trusted.
I stepped away from the phone.
“There's something else.””
Elena looked at me.
“Mom said to find a blue notebook.””
We searched the bedroom again.
The drawers.
The closet.
The shelves.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
Mom used to hide important documents inside the loose floorboard beneath her bed.
When I was a child, I'd found her emergency cash there.
She'd caught me and made me promise never to tell anyone.
I knelt down and examined the wooden boards.
One of them was slightly different.
I slid my fingers underneath the edge and lifted.
There was a small space beneath it.
Inside sat a blue notebook wrapped in a plastic grocery bag.
I pulled it out.
The cover was faded.
A strip of tape held the spine together.
Elena sat beside me on the floor.
“Is that it?””
I nodded.
The first pages contained ordinary notes.
Shopping lists.
School expenses.
Birthday reminders.
Then the handwriting changed.
The entries became shorter.
More urgent.
October 14: Robert came by again. He asked whether Daniel had mentioned Sarah.
October 19: Margaret says she can help me find the girls. I don't believe her anymore.
November 2: The detective called. He said the witness statement was changed. Margaret never signed the withdrawal.
My fingers tightened around the notebook.
The next page was worse.
November 17: Robert told me Sarah was alive. He said I could see her if I stopped asking questions.
I looked at Elena.
“Sarah was alive.””
She nodded, tears filling her eyes.
I turned another page.
December 3: I saw Margaret outside the old mill. She was speaking to a man in a dark car. I recognized the car. It belonged to Robert.
There were several pages of dates and names.
Then I found a folded photograph tucked into the back cover.
I opened it.
It showed a little girl standing beside a woman outside a brick building.
The woman was Margaret.
The girl was Sarah.
Older than in the missing-person report.
Perhaps twelve.
On the back, Mom had written:
Taken three years after Sarah disappeared.
I stared at the date.
Three years.
Sarah hadn't been missing for three years.
She had been hidden for three years.
Elena reached for the photograph.
“That's her.””
“You recognize her?””
Elena nodded slowly.
“I saw her once.””
My heart hammered.
“When?””
“When I was about twelve. Margaret took me to a building with a red door. She told me I was meeting someone from a charity.””
She looked at the photograph.
“That girl was standing near the entrance.””
“Did you speak to her?””
Elena shook her head.
“No. But she looked at me like she knew me.””
I turned the notebook over.
A small address was written on the inside back cover.
An old property outside town.
Beneath it were three words.
Ask about Sarah.
I photographed the page and sent it to Officer Reynolds.
He called within minutes.
“Daniel, don't go anywhere near that address.””
“Why?””
“We've checked it. The property belongs to a company connected to Robert Carter.””
I closed my eyes.
“Uncle Robert.””
“Yes. And there's something else. He filed a report claiming your mother was mentally unstable shortly before her death.””
I felt my jaw tighten.
“What?””
“He told the authorities she was suffering from paranoia and making accusations against people without evidence.””
I looked at Mom's handwriting.
Her notes were clear.
Detailed.
Dated.
She hadn't been confused.
She'd been documenting something.
“Was she ever evaluated?””
“I'm checking.””
Elena leaned closer to the phone.
“Officer Reynolds, can I ask you something?””
“Of course.””
“Did anyone ever investigate Margaret's involvement in my disappearance?””
A pause.
“According to the original records, the detective questioned her once.””
“And?””
“She denied knowing anything.””
“But she was there.””
“We're aware of that.””
Elena's voice cracked.
“Then why did nobody help me?””
Reynolds didn't answer immediately.
When he did, his voice was softer.
“I'm sorry. We're going to do everything we can now.””
I hung up.
Then I heard a car door slam outside.
I moved toward the front window.
A black sedan sat at the curb.
A man in a dark coat stood beside it.
He looked directly at the house.
Then he raised his hand.
A familiar gold watch flashed beneath his sleeve.
Uncle Robert.
Elena grabbed my arm.
“That's him.””
I reached for my phone.
But before I could call Reynolds, Robert walked up the porch steps.
He didn't knock.
He used his own key.
The front door opened.
“Daniel,” he called.
His voice was warm.
Familiar.
The voice of the man who had once taught me how to ride a bicycle.
He stepped into the hallway.
Then he saw Elena.
His smile disappeared.
“Good Lord,” he whispered.
Elena stood behind me.
Robert looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said something I would never forget.
“You weren't supposed to find this house.””
I moved between him and my sister.
“Get out.””
Robert raised both hands.
“Listen, son. You don't understand what's happening.””
“Then explain it.””
He glanced at the blue notebook in my hand.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?””
“From my mother's room.””
Robert slowly lowered his hands.
For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes.
Then he looked at Elena.
May you like
And whispered:
“Sarah told you everything, didn't she?””
