Chapter 20 - Whispers on the Wind
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Two years after the night in the bathroom, the Caldwell estate in Lake Forest was filled with peace.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in late October. Orange and red autumn leaves covered the lawn, rustling gently in the cool breeze.
Inside, a warm fire crackled in the living room hearth. Noah, now three years old, was happily building a mountain of wooden blocks on the rug, while Maddie sat at the dining table doing her kindergarten reading homework with Sarah.
Ethan stood in his third-floor study, looking out the large arched window at his children playing safely below.
His life was complete. The ghosts of the past had been faced, the wounds had healed, and his family was whole.
A soft chiming sound echoed from his desk.
Ethan walked over and picked up his private cell phone.
It was a text message sent from an unencrypted, disposable burner phone number based in New York.
Ethan tapped the screen to open the message.
It contained no text. Only a single high-resolution photograph.
Ethan’s breath hitched in his throat.
The photograph showed Maddie sitting at her desk in her kindergarten classroom at her school in Lake Forest, taken through a glass window from the playground outside.
Underneath the photograph, a second text message immediately popped up:
She looks just like Emma. It would be a shame if history repeated itself, Ethan.
—V.D.
Ethan stared at the screen, his heart hammering violently against his ribs as a cold, terrifying wind seemed to blow through the warm room.
Downstairs, the front doorbell chimed softly through the quiet house.
May you like
Ethan looked at the phone, then looked toward his study door.
He turned, opened his desk drawer, pulled out a small black security key, and walked slowly down the stairs toward the front door.
