Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
“That’s her.”
Vanessa said too quickly, “There’s nobody upstairs.”
Ethan took out his phone.
“Then you won’t mind if I check.”
“Ethan, wait.”
Sophie stayed behind him as he climbed the stairs.
Then he noticed the door at the end of the west hall.
“Why is this locked?”
Vanessa came up the stairs.
“I keep storage in there.”
“You hate clutter.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything with you has a place.”
“Key.”
“I don’t have one.”
Sophie whispered, “She does.”
Vanessa’s eyes snapped toward her.
“Look at my daughter like that again.”
He stepped toward the nursery door and kicked it once.
“Ethan!”
The room smelled like dust, lavender, and something medical.
A mattress lay on the floor.
A half-empty water bottle.
Taken through her bedroom window.
Sophie stayed at the doorway.
“Dad?”
He picked up one pill bottle.
The label had been torn off.
Another held anti-anxiety medication prescribed to Claire Cole.
A woman legally declared dead eighteen months earlier.
Ethan turned to Vanessa.
“Explain.”
Vanessa looked scared now.
“She needed somewhere safe.”
“Safe from who?”
Sophie whispered, “Mommy sleeps here sometimes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Months?”
Vanessa reached for him.
“Ethan, Claire is sick.”
He moved away from her hand.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
Sophie started crying harder.
“Yes, you did.”
“Stop it!”
Ethan stepped between them.
“What did she do?”
Sophie pointed at the pills.
“She makes Mommy take those.”
Vanessa’s face went blank.
Ethan felt his stomach drop.
“Why?”
“Because Mommy gets loud.”
“Sophie—”
“And she forgets things after.”
Vanessa backed toward the hall.
Ethan grabbed his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
“You think the police don’t know?”
His thumb stopped above the screen.
“What?”
“You think Claire stayed dead for eighteen months because I’m good at hiding people?”
“You have no idea what you married into.”
“We’re not married.”
“No.”
“Not anymore.”
A noise came from the closet.
Ethan yanked the door open.
A woman crouched inside.
For one terrible second, Ethan did not recognize her.
“Ethan?”
His knees nearly gave out.
“Claire.”
May you like
She raised one shaking hand.
“Don’t call the police.”
