Chapter 10 - Laura’s Voice
David did not accept voice recognition as proof.
Maya was emotional.
Audio distorted.
People hear what they expect.
Forensic comparison used old recordings of Laura.
Result:
Strong similarity.
Not conclusive.
Could be recording.
Could be imitation.
Could be Laura.
Emma insisted woman spoke to her live.
She asked questions and waited for answers.
Someone could still use prerecorded fragments through AI? We shouldn't lean tech gimmick. A person with similar voice more plausible.
Then David remembered Laura had a younger sister.
No.
Too easy.
Laura was an only child.
No secret twin.
No hidden sibling.
Good.
So either Laura was alive or someone deliberately sounded like her.
Then another photograph arrived.
Taken that minute.
David sitting at kitchen table.
Maya opposite him.
Emma beside doorway.
The photographer was still inside.
Police sealed exits.
They searched wall corridor.
At attic end they found a narrow crawlspace leading down behind linen closet.
Fresh footprints.
A dropped glove.
Inside glove:
hospital identification bracelet.
Name:
ANNA REED.
David knew Anna.
Laura’s closest friend from college.
She had attended wedding.
After Laura disappeared, Anna moved to Seattle and gradually lost contact.
She was not dead.
Police found her current residence empty.
Flight records showed she arrived in town two days earlier.
David called.
Anna answered.
“Are you in my house?”
Silence.
“Anna.”
“I was.”
“Where are you now?”
“Safe.”
“Were you upstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Did you photograph Emma?”
“Yes.”
There.
The watcher was Anna Reed.
But why did voice sound like Laura?
“It wasn't me speaking through nursery.”
“Then who?”
Anna refused.
“Why send me the photo?”
“Because Maya was doing exactly what I was warned she might do.”
“Warned by whom?”
“Laura.”
David stopped.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Silence swallowed room.
David gripped phone.
“Say that again.”
“Laura contacted me yesterday.”
Alive.
Possibly.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She sent instructions through an encrypted email account we created six years ago. It had never been used.”
“What instructions?”
“Enter the house. Watch Maya. If she pressures Emma about Meridian, send you proof. Do not confront her.”
“Why hide from me?”
“Because Laura said someone near you still has access to Aster.”
David looked around room.
Maya.
Emma.
Police.
Who?
Anna added:
“She also said the black box isn't in your house anymore.”
“Where is it?”
“Laura moved it.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Where?”
Anna hesitated.
“Somewhere only you can retrieve it.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Then she said:
“David, Laura didn't disappear because she thought you stole Meridian money.”
May you like
David’s heart pounded.
“She disappeared because she discovered someone had been using your identity for years.”
