Chapter 6: The Woman Behind the Letters
David pulled the car to the side of the road.
The tires scraped against the curb.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The unknown caller was still there.
Breathing.
Waiting.
David put the phone on speaker.
“Say your name.””
A soft laugh.
“You really don't recognize me?””
“No.””
“You will.””
Ethan leaned closer to the phone.
“Where's Lauren?””
The caller went silent.
Then:
“Your brother shouldn't be speaking.””
Ethan's expression hardened.
David looked at him.
“You know this voice?””
“No.””
The caller laughed again.
“You never could tell when people were lying, Ethan.””
Ethan went pale.
David noticed.
“Who is this?””
Nothing.
Then the line went dead.
David stared at the screen.
Maya's call came through immediately.
He answered.
“Where are you?””
“I'm heading back to the church.””
“Is Sophie with you?””
“Yes.””
“Good. Don't let her out of your sight.””
David looked at Ethan.
“What happened?””
A pause.
“Her grandfather is here.””
David's grip tightened around the phone.
“What?””
“He came back to the church.””
“Why?””
“I don't know.””
“Did he say anything?””
“No. He asked for you.””
David looked at Ethan.
His brother shook his head.
“Don't go back.””
David looked through the windshield at the road ahead.
The warehouse was less than ten minutes away.
The church was fifteen minutes in the other direction.
His father was waiting there.
Lauren had disappeared.
Someone had stolen the flash drive.
And someone had just told him that his father helped hide Anna.
He closed his eyes.
Anna's face appeared in his mind.
The last morning they had together.
She had stood barefoot in the kitchen, wearing one of his old shirts, laughing because Sophie had poured cereal onto the floor.
David had kissed her forehead.
She had grabbed his wrist.
“Promise me something.””
“What?””
“No matter what happens, believe me when I tell you you're not the one who failed me.””
He had laughed.
“That's a very strange thing to say before breakfast.””
She had smiled.
“I know.””
He had never understood it.
Until now.
David opened his eyes.
“Drive,” he told Ethan.
“Where?””
“The warehouse.””
Ethan nodded.
“You're making the right choice.””
David looked at him.
“Don't tell me that.””
“Why?””
“Because I'm beginning to think everyone who says they’re protecting me is actually protecting something from me.””
Ethan said nothing.
They drove in silence.
The old Mercer warehouse had been abandoned for years.
A rusted sign hung above the entrance.
MERCER LOGISTICS.
Half the letters had fallen away.
The loading yard was empty.
No cars.
No workers.
No movement.
David parked near the side gate.
Ethan got out first.
He checked the surroundings.
“Stay behind me.””
David almost laughed.
“You used to say that when we were kids.””
Ethan looked at him.
“I meant it then too.””
They crossed the yard.
A blue metal door stood at the back of the building.
David stopped.
Sophie’s words came back.
Look underneath the blue door.
He crouched.
There was a gap beneath it.
Nothing.
“Maybe she meant something else,” he said.
Ethan crouched beside him.
“Anna didn't.””
He reached beneath the door.
His fingers searched along the concrete.
Then stopped.
He pulled out a small brass key.
David stared.
“Where did that come from?””
“Hidden compartment.””
“She's been here.””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Before she died.””
Ethan inserted the key into a small lock beneath the doorframe.
There was a click.
The blue door opened.
Inside was darkness.
Ethan switched on his flashlight.
The room was almost empty.
A metal desk.
Two filing cabinets.
An old wooden chair.
And a wall covered with photographs.
David stepped inside.
Every photograph was of him.
David at work.
David leaving the gym.
David picking Sophie up from school.
David walking into his house.
David standing beside Anna.
His stomach twisted.
“Jesus.””
Ethan stared at the wall.
“This wasn't here when I was last inside.””
David moved closer.
Some photographs had dates.
Some had locations.
One was taken three days before Anna died.
David was standing outside Mercer Holdings.
Lauren stood beside him.
Someone had circled her face in red ink.
David looked at Ethan.
“Who took these?””
“I don't know.””
David saw another photograph.
Anna.
Standing outside a hospital.
She was holding a file.
Written beneath it:
*PATERNITY*
David's breath stopped.
He reached for it.
Ethan caught his wrist.
“Wait.””
“Why?””
“Look.””
There was another photograph behind it.
A man in the hospital corridor.
David stared.
He recognized him immediately.
His father.
But that wasn't what frightened him.
His father was standing beside a woman.
A woman wearing a dark coat.
David leaned closer.
He knew her.
Everyone knew her.
She had been his mother's sister.
His aunt, Rebecca.
Except Rebecca had died eleven years ago.
David whispered, “That's impossible.””
Ethan said nothing.
Another photograph was pinned beside it.
Rebecca getting into a car.
A photograph of Rebecca entering Mercer Holdings.
Then one of Lauren.
Then Anna.
Then Ethan.
A line had been drawn between them with black marker.
David stepped back.
“What is this?””
Ethan walked toward the filing cabinet.
“Maybe the answers.””
He opened the top drawer.
Folders filled it.
Each one had a name.
*DAVID.*
*ANNA.*
*ETHAN.*
*LAUREN.*
*REBECCA.*
*SOPHIE.*
David's pulse raced.
“Why is my daughter in here?””
Ethan opened Sophie's folder.
Inside was a hospital birth record.
David took it.
The name of the mother was Anna Mercer.
The father field was blank.
David stared.
“It's blank.””
“I know.””
“You said Anna never confirmed who the father was.””
“She didn't.””
“Then why did she write that you're her father?””
Ethan's eyes remained on the folder.
“Because she may not have been talking about biology.””
David looked at him.
“What does that mean?””
Ethan slowly pulled out another document.
It was an old company report.
“Read this.””
David did.
The document described a private research program financed through Mercer Holdings.
He read the first paragraph.
Then the second.
Then stopped.
“What is this?””
Ethan answered quietly.
“Genetic testing.””
David looked up.
“Why was Mercer Holdings funding genetic testing?””
“Because your father was trying to prove something.””
“What?””
“That Anna's pregnancy was connected to one of his business partners.””
David frowned.
“What partner?””
Ethan didn't answer.
David looked back at the paperwork.
A name was highlighted.
*Dr. Nathan Cole.*
David recognized it.
Nathan Cole had been the doctor who treated Anna after a complicated pregnancy.
He had also signed Sophie's birth certificate.
David felt dizzy.
“There’s no way.””
Ethan nodded.
“There is.””
David kept reading.
The documents suggested genetic testing had been conducted before Sophie's birth.
Someone had tested Anna's unborn child.
Someone had compared the DNA against multiple men.
David looked at Ethan.
“Why?””
Ethan's face was grim.
“Because your father suspected Anna was carrying a child connected to someone else.””
David's voice broke.
“And he didn't tell me.””
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because the result would have destroyed the family.””
David threw the papers onto the desk.
“What result?””
Ethan hesitated.
Then:
“They found a match.””
David's blood ran cold.
“Whose?””
Ethan looked directly at him.
“Not mine.””
David's phone vibrated.
A text.
*YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG FILE.*
Another message arrived.
*THE PATERNITY TEST WASN'T FOR SOPHIE.*
David stared at the screen.
Ethan saw it.
“What does it say?””
David handed him the phone.
Ethan's expression changed.
“Then what was it for?””
A third message.
*ASK YOUR FATHER ABOUT THE SECOND CHILD.*
David looked up.
“Second child?””
Before Ethan could answer, a noise came from the hallway.
A door creaked.
Both men froze.
Ethan switched off the flashlight.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone entered the building.
David whispered, “Who is it?””
Ethan raised one finger.
Silence.
The footsteps moved closer.
Then stopped outside the blue door.
A woman's voice came through.
“David?””
He recognized it.
Lauren.
David reached for the handle.
Ethan grabbed his arm.
“Don't.””
“That’s Lauren.””
“I know.””
“She's hurt.””
“That's why she wants you to open it.””
The voice came again.
“David, please.””
He stared at the door.
“Lauren, where are you?””
“Open the door.””
“Why?””
“Because someone is looking for me.””
“Who?””
Silence.
Then:
“Your father.””
David looked at Ethan.
His brother whispered, “She's lying.””
“How do you know?””
“Because your father isn't looking for her.””
“Then who is?””
The woman outside started crying.
“I know what happened to Anna.””
David moved toward the door.
Ethan blocked him.
“Ask her something only Lauren would know.””
David nodded.
“Lauren.””
“Yes?””
“What did Anna give Sophie on her fourth birthday?””
Silence.
David waited.
The woman answered.
“A silver bracelet.””
David's heart dropped.
Wrong.
Anna had given Sophie a wooden music box.
It played “You Are My Sunshine.””
David had cried when Sophie opened it.
He looked at Ethan.
Ethan had already drawn the gun he kept hidden beneath his jacket.
The woman outside stopped crying.
Her voice changed.
“You remembered.””
A man's footsteps approached behind her.
Then another.
Ethan whispered, “Back door.””
David moved.
The blue door suddenly shook beneath a violent impact.
Once.
Twice.
A third strike split the frame.
David and Ethan ran toward the rear exit.
They reached the door just as it burst inward.
Ethan shoved David through first.
Then came a gunshot.
The bullet struck the metal desk.
They ran into the alley.
David looked back.
For one second, he saw the woman standing in the blue doorway.
Not Lauren.
Rebecca.
His supposedly dead aunt.
She smiled at him.
Then she disappeared into the darkness.
David stopped running.
Ethan grabbed him.
“Keep moving!””
David stumbled forward.
“Rebecca is alive.””
“I know.””
“You knew?””
Ethan didn't answer.
David stopped again.
“You knew my aunt was alive?””
Ethan looked at him.
“Yes.””
“How long?””
“Six years.””
David's face went white.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because she wasn't the person you needed to fear.””
David stared.
“Then who was?””
Ethan looked back toward the warehouse.
His voice was barely audible.
“Her daughter.””
David frowned.
“Rebecca never had a daughter.””
Ethan met his eyes.
“She did.””
A beat.
“And you were married to her.””
David stopped breathing.
“Lauren?””
Ethan nodded.
“She isn't Lauren Mercer.””
David shook his head.
“No.””
“She was born under another name.””
“What name?””
Ethan looked at him.
“Rebecca Cole.””
David's mind raced.
The hospital.
The genetic tests.
Nathan Cole.
Rebecca.
Lauren.
Anna.
The letters.
None of it was random.
Then David's phone buzzed again.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
It showed Lauren sitting in a hospital bed.
Beside her was Anna.
Anna was alive.
The date on the photograph was two days before her death.
And written beneath it were six words:
*She knew Lauren was not who she claimed.*
David stared at the screen.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
*Ask Lauren why Anna called her “Rebecca.””*