Chapter 42 - The Girl with My Mother's Eyes
We reached the mansion just before sunset.
Police cruisers lined the driveway.
Private security surrounded every entrance.
No one had been allowed inside.
Not even the staff.
Claire met the security chief.
"What happened?"
He looked confused.
"Nothing."
"You called us."
"No..."
He frowned.
"You called us."
Claire's face drained of color.
"We never called anyone."
The chief slowly removed his phone.
"The emergency request came from this address."
Sent...
Thirty-eight minutes earlier.
Signed electronically.
Elizabeth Whitmore.
Everyone stared at one another.
Claire whispered,
"She's been legally dead for eleven years."
The chief nodded.
"I know."
"But whoever sent this had full biometric authorization."
Fingerprint.
Retina scan.
Voice recognition.
Everything matched Elizabeth perfectly.
Inside the mansion...
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Fresh flowers stood in crystal vases.
Dinner waited on the dining table.
The fireplace burned softly.
It looked...
Lived in.
As though someone had been home all day.
Then we heard it.
A little girl's laughter.
Coming from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
The sound wasn't loud.
Just...
Happy.
Innocent.
I climbed the staircase slowly.
Room by room...
Empty.
Until I reached my mother's old bedroom.
The door stood slightly open.
Inside...
A child sat on the floor.
Drawing.
She looked up as I entered.
Blue eyes.
Chestnut hair.
The same tiny dimple my mother had whenever she smiled.
She couldn't have been older than six.
She looked at me without fear.
"You came back."
I struggled to answer.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Rose."
She smiled.
"Mommy said you'd ask that."
"Where's your mother?"
She pointed toward the closet.
I opened it immediately.
Empty.
Only one thing remained inside.
A small wooden music box.
The melody began playing by itself.
Slow.
Gentle.
The lullaby my mother had sung every night when I was little.
Rose quietly stood beside me.
"She said to give you this."
She handed me a folded photograph.
It showed my mother...
Holding newborn twins.
One was me.
The other...
May you like
Was the little girl standing beside me.
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