Chapter 10 - The Forged VoiceThe police moved the evidence to a secure location.
Emma remained under protection.
But we still didn't know where she was.
Victor had vanished.
Melissa refused to speak.
And Adrian Vale was nowhere to be found.
Then the forensic team discovered something.
The custody statement wasn't written by Emma.
It had been traced.
The handwriting was copied from her schoolwork.
Someone had literally practiced her letters.
The investigator showed me the original samples.
“I can't believe this.”
“They didn't need her signature to look authentic,” he said.
“What about her voice?”
He looked at me.
“We found audio.”
I listened.
Emma's voice said:
“My daddy scares me.”
I felt my chest collapse.
She had never said those words.
“It's fake.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Voice splicing.”
My daughter had been digitally manipulated.
Her words had been rearranged.
Her breathing had been copied.
They had built a lie from a child's voice.
Then Harris entered.
“We found Victor.”
“Where?”
“Dead.”
The room went silent.
“Where?”
“In his apartment.”
“Who killed him?”
“We don't know.”
“Does he have anything on him?”
“A note.”
Harris placed it on the table.
Four words.
ASK THE WOMAN IN BLUE.
I frowned.
“What woman?”
“The hospital records show a nurse in blue scrubs entering Emma's floor the night she disappeared.”
“The woman with the laundry cart?”
“No.”
“She was in green.”
I looked at him.
“So who is the woman in blue?”
“We don't know.”
Hours later, a nurse came forward.
She remembered seeing someone in Emma's room before the disappearance.
A woman.
Blue scrubs.
Dark hair.
Hospital badge turned backward.
“What did she do?”
“She sat beside Emma.”
“Did she touch her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She stroked her hair.”
I felt sick.
“Was Emma awake?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
“She told Emma, ‘Your daddy is looking for you.’”
I stood.
“Did she identify herself?”
“No.”
“Did Emma react?”
“She stopped crying.”
That detail mattered.
Emma knew her.
Or recognized something about her.
A security still was recovered.
The woman in blue.
I stared at it.
I didn't know her.
But Elaine Porter did.
Her eyes widened.
“That woman used to work with me.”
“Who is she?”
“Claire Benton.”
“What did she do?”
“Assistant evaluator.”
“Where is she now?”
Elaine swallowed.
“She disappeared two years ago.”
The room went quiet.
Harris asked:
“Why?”
Elaine looked at him.
“Because she discovered Adrian Vale was manipulating custody cases.”
My head snapped toward her.
“She was involved?”
“She tried to expose him.”
“What happened?”
“She was threatened.”
“By Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“And Melissa?”
Elaine looked away.
“She knew.”
I stepped closer.
“Elaine.”
She finally met my eyes.
“Melissa wasn't Adrian's victim.”
I froze.
“She was working with him.”
The words felt like a physical blow.
“For how long?”
“At least five years.”
I remembered the photograph.
Melissa standing beside my father.
Twenty years ago.
I stared at Elaine.
“Then how did she know my father?”
Elaine's face changed.
She looked terrified.
“Because Melissa isn't twenty-nine.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Elaine whispered:
“That's not her real age.”
My heart stopped.
“What are you talking about?”
“She changed her identity after your father died.”
Harris stepped forward.
“What was her original name?”
Elaine answered:
“Marianne Vale.”
Silence.
Harris looked at me.
“Vale?”
I slowly sat down.
“Adrian?”
Elaine nodded.
“His sister.”
I stared at the wall.
Melissa wasn't just connected to Adrian.
She was family.
And suddenly every lie made sense.
She hadn't married me because she loved me.
She had married me because my father had left something behind.
Something Adrian wanted.
Something Melissa had spent nine years trying to find.
Harris's phone buzzed.
He looked at the message.
Then at me.
“We found Emma.”
I stood.
“Where?”
Harris hesitated.
“She called 911 herself.”
My heart slammed.
“What did she say?”
Harris looked at me.
“She said she's safe.”
I exhaled.
Then he added:
“She also said something else.”
May you like
“What?”
“She said, ‘Tell Daddy I know who my real enemy is.’”
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