Chapter 4 - The Dead Aunt
Caroline Carter died when Daniel was eighteen.
That was the family story.
Brain aneurysm.
Sudden.
Private funeral in Vermont.
Daniel had been away at college orientation.
He never saw the body.
At the time, he barely questioned it.
People die.
Families grieve.
Life moves.
Now he called his mother.
“Tell me about Caroline.”
Evelyn went quiet.
“Why?”
“Ethan says she came to my house.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“Then why ask?”
“Because he recognized her from an old photograph.”
Silence.
Then:
“Bring the children here.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No one gets near them until I understand what’s happening.”
Evelyn sounded hurt.
He didn’t care.
“Was there a funeral?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see Caroline’s body?”
Another pause.
“No.”
There.
“Why?”
“Closed casket.”
“Who identified her?”
“Your father.”
Daniel’s father, Henry Carter, died seven years earlier.
Convenient.
Then Rachel searched public records.
Caroline Carter’s death certificate existed.
Cause:
Ruptured cerebral aneurysm.
Signed by Dr. Franklin Reeves.
Hospital:
St. Matthew’s Medical Center.
Daniel called.
No admission record.
Not digitized?
Maybe.
Twenty years was old, but St. Matthew’s archived records.
No Caroline Carter under her exact date of birth.
Could have been error.
Could have used another facility.
Could have been fraud.
Then Sophie started humming.
Daniel turned.
The toddler rocked slightly, holding the box.
Same four-note tune.
Over and over.
Daniel went still.
“What?”
Rachel asked.
“Michael used to whistle that.”
His brother.
Always.
While studying.
Driving.
Fixing things.
Four notes.
Then Ethan said:
“The window lady hummed it too.”
Daniel felt the hairs on his arms rise.
He crouched in front of Sophie.
“Who taught you that?”
She smiled.
Then pressed one finger to her lips.
Shhh.
Not random.
Imitation.
Someone had done that to her.
Daniel checked every home-security recording.
The system had suffered a “software restart” during the exact ninety minutes Ethan claimed Caroline appeared.
Who had administrator access?
Daniel.
Vanessa.
And the security company.
Vanessa denied touching it.
The security company found something.
The restart had been initiated locally from Daniel’s home office.
At 2:13 p.m.
During that time Vanessa’s grocery receipt showed she was across town.
Ethan was in the living room.
Sophie?
Unknown.
Could a fifteen-month-old restart a security system?
No.
Someone else had been inside.
Daniel searched his office.
Nothing.
Then he checked the lower desk drawer.
Locked.
He opened it.
Empty.
Except one thing.
A small envelope.
No stamp.
No address.
Inside was a photograph.
Michael.
Alive.
Taken ten years after his supposed death.
Standing beside Caroline.
May you like
Also supposedly dead.
And between them stood Vanessa.
