Chapter 2 - Thirteen Months DeadI shoved the death certificate into my jacket and pulled Lily behind the kitchen island.
“Noah. Lock the back door.”
Noah moved instantly.
“Someone's already in the garage.”
The automatic garage door began to rise.
Vanessa moved before I did.
She grabbed the cane.
“Vanessa!”
She swung.
I raised my arm.
Pain exploded through my forearm as the cane struck bone.
I grabbed it and twisted.
“Are you insane?”
“You should have stayed at work!”
That sentence frightened me more than the weapon.
Not because she was angry.
Because it sounded like regret.
As if my being home had ruined a plan.
I ripped the cane from her hands and threw it across the kitchen.
“Kids. Upstairs. Lock my bedroom door. Call 911.”
Noah grabbed Lily's hand.
Vanessa shouted after him.
“Noah, don't you dare!”
He stopped halfway up the stairs.
Then he turned.
“You told me my mom left me.”
Vanessa went silent.
Noah's eyes were wet.
“But she didn't.”
The garage door finished opening.
Nobody entered.
Instead, an engine roared outside.
I ran to the window.
A dark-blue sedan tore away from the curb.
Vanessa bolted for the front door.
I caught the back of her sweater.
The fabric ripped.
She stumbled outside and ran barefoot into the alley.
I almost followed.
Then Lily screamed upstairs.
I chose my daughter.
By the time the police arrived, Vanessa was gone.
Detective Maya Ruiz sat across from me at the dining table.
She was younger than I expected, with tired eyes that seemed to notice everything.
“You say your sister has been missing for thirteen months?”
“We thought she left voluntarily.”
“And you've been receiving messages from her?”
“Yes.”
“Phone calls?”
“No.”
“Video calls?”
“No.”
Ruiz tapped the death certificate.
“This document isn't filed with the county. Until I verify it, it's evidence of nothing except that somebody created it.”
Noah appeared on the staircase.
“It's real.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
He swallowed.
“Because Mom told me she was going to die.”
The room became silent.
Noah walked downstairs.
He opened his hand.
May you like
A small brass key rested in his palm.
“She told me where to look when I turned thirteen.”
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