Chapter 2 - Two Girls, One Name
Emma turned anyway.
Lily stood behind her.
Crying.
Emma immediately grabbed her and pulled her outside.
Claire and Ethan moved backward to give them room.
“Who are you?” Emma demanded.
The child buried face against Emma.
“Mommy.”
“Where were you?”
“Kitchen.”
Emma looked at Claire’s dead phone screen.
“There were two.”
“Yes.”
“Who was the other girl?”
“That’s why we're here.”
Emma raised bat again.
Claire didn't flinch.
Ethan finally spoke.
“Call the police.”
Emma did.
Officers searched entire house.
Nobody.
Back door was unlocked.
A small muddy footprint appeared on patio.
Child-sized.
Inside kitchen police found hidden camera behind decorative vent above refrigerator.
Emma had never installed it.
Camera transmitted through encrypted cellular module, independent of home Wi-Fi.
Someone had been watching.
Detective Sarah Grant asked Claire how she knew feed existed.
Claire handed over phone voluntarily.
“Someone sent me access link forty minutes ago.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Message:
GO TO 18 WILLOW LANE.
SHOW EMMA BEFORE SHE HURTS THE WRONG CHILD.
Emma stared.
“Hurts?”
Claire looked at bat.
Emma lowered it.
Then detective asked Ethan why he accompanied Claire.
Ethan hesitated.
Because Claire had received another item with link.
Photograph.
Two newborn girls lying in separate bassinets.
Hospital date:
four years earlier.
One label:
LILY MORROW.
Other:
LILY BENNETT.
Emma’s maiden name was Morrow.
Her married name had been Bennett.
Her daughter’s full name:
Lily Bennett.
Emma felt cold.
“Those could be fake.”
“Yes,” Claire said.
“Then why come?”
“Because I recognized hospital.”
St. Matthew’s Memorial.
Where Emma delivered Lily.
Claire had worked there.
Not as nurse.
Medical-records compliance officer.
Four years earlier Claire investigated a newborn-identification error on same maternity floor.
Emma grabbed Lily tighter.
“Was my daughter switched?”
“I don't know.”
“Is this child mine?”
“I don't know.”
Lily began crying harder.
Emma immediately stopped questioning in front of her.
Detective Grant separated adults.
No speculation around child.
DNA could answer parentage later.
Then police found something beneath hidden camera.
A tiny adhesive label:
MIRROR TEST 4B.
Claire’s expression changed.
“What is it?” Ethan asked.
Claire whispered:
“I've seen that label.”
“Where?”
“Four years ago.”
May you like
She looked at Lily.
“The night Emma gave birth.”
