Chapter 5: Anna's Voice
The voice outside the door was impossible.
It was Anna.
Not someone who sounded like her.
Not someone imitating her badly.
It was her voice.
The same softness.
The same little pause between words.
The same way she pronounced my name.
“Daniel…”
My entire body went numb.
Lily buried her face against my chest.
“Daddy…”
I couldn't answer.
Detective Collins raised her weapon.
“Step away from the door.”
I moved backward.
The voice came again.
“Daniel, don't let them take Lily.”
My knees nearly gave out.
That was Anna's phrase.
Exactly.
She had said it once before.
The night before she died.
I had been sitting beside her hospital bed when she grabbed my wrist.
“Daniel, don't let them take Lily.”
I had asked what she meant.
She never answered.
The next morning she was dead.
Now her voice was outside the door.
Collins looked at me.
“Is that your wife?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Your wife is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then someone is using her voice.”
The door handle moved.
Collins stepped closer.
“Stay behind me.”
I held Lily tighter.
Then Michael spoke.
“Daniel, you know I would never hurt you.”
I almost laughed.
It came out as a broken sound.
“You already tried to take my daughter.”
“I'm trying to protect her.”
“You drugged her.”
“No.”
His voice remained calm.
“You're being manipulated.”
“By whom?”
Silence.
Then Anna's voice came again.
“By everyone.”
I closed my eyes.
It was too perfect.
Whoever was doing this had recordings of Anna.
Hundreds of them.
Maybe thousands.
Detective Collins motioned toward the doctor.
“Can you shut down the hallway speakers?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Those aren't speakers.”
“What?”
“That's coming directly from outside the room.”
Collins looked at the door.
Then she whispered:
“Someone is standing there.”
The voice came again.
“Daniel, please.”
My heart broke.
I wanted to believe it.
Some irrational part of me wanted to rip the door open and find Anna standing there.
Alive.
Waiting.
Smiling.
But Anna had been dead for two years.
I knew that.
Didn't I?
Then I remembered the photograph.
SHE NEVER DIED ALONE.
My fingers tightened around Lily.
“Detective.”
“Yes?”
“What if Anna didn't die?”
Collins stared at me.
“Daniel…”
“What if the hospital lied?”
She didn't answer.
The doctor looked away.
That was enough.
I turned toward him.
“You knew something.”
He swallowed.
“I knew there were questions.”
“What questions?”
“Your wife's death certificate.”
“What about it?”
“The attending physician signed it.”
“So?”
“He wasn't there when she died.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“The doctor who signed the certificate arrived after she had already been pronounced dead.”
I stared at him.
“Then who pronounced her?”
He hesitated.
“A nurse.”
“Who?”
He looked terrified.
“I don't remember her name.”
Collins stepped forward.
“You do.”
The doctor shook his head.
“I don't.”
“You've been hiding this for two years.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
He looked at the door.
The voice outside said:
“Of me.”
The doctor flinched.
I turned toward the door.
“Who are you?”
No answer.
Then the handle turned.
Collins shouted:
“Police! Step away from the door!”
A man's voice replied.
“Detective Collins.”
Michael.
“You know this isn't about you.”
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
“You're making a mistake.”
“I'll decide that.”
Michael laughed quietly.
Then the hallway went silent.
Too silent.
Collins motioned to me.
“Stay here.”
She moved toward the door.
I watched her hand reach for the handle.
Then Lily suddenly screamed.
“Daddy!”
I spun around.
She pointed toward the hospital window.
Someone was standing outside.
On the other side of the glass.
Three floors up.
A man in a black coat.
Black hat.
Looking directly at us.
My blood froze.
It was Thomas Reed.
Impossible.
Thomas Reed was dead.
I stepped toward the window.
“Don't.”
Collins grabbed my arm.
“Stay away.”
The man outside raised one hand.
Then he pressed something against the glass.
A photograph.
Anna.
Alive.
I stopped breathing.
Collins stared at it.
“That's impossible.”
The photograph showed Anna standing in a room.
She looked older.
Tired.
But alive.
And beside her was Lily.
Not the eight-year-old Lily lying in my arms.
A much younger Lily.
Maybe three years old.
Behind them was the red door.
I moved closer.
“Anna…”
The man outside smiled.
Then he pointed downward.
I looked.
He was standing on a narrow maintenance platform.
There was no way he could have reached it from inside the hospital.
Collins drew her weapon.
The man stepped backward.
Then disappeared.
We rushed to the window.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Collins immediately called security.
“Check the exterior maintenance levels.”
She turned to me.
“Don't move.”
But I was already looking at the photograph.
Something was written on the back.
I turned it over.
Five words.
Locker 17 contains her last letter.
I looked at Collins.
“Where is Locker 17?”
She stared at the photograph.
“Hospital basement.”
“Then we go there.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly where they want us.”
“Then what do we do?”
She looked at Lily.
“We make them think we're going.”
An hour later, the hospital basement was surrounded by police.
The lights were on.
Officers were positioned at every entrance.
Collins and I stood near the elevator.
Lily remained upstairs with two officers.
“Ready?” Collins asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
The elevator doors opened.
We stepped inside.
The basement smelled of dust and disinfectant.
The hospital had been renovated many times.
But this level looked untouched.
Old pipes.
Concrete walls.
Flickering fluorescent lights.
At the end of the corridor stood a row of metal lockers.
Numbers ran from 1 to 40.
Collins walked slowly.
“Fifteen.”
“Sixteen.”
“Seventeen.”
There it was.
Locker 17.
I pulled the silver key from my pocket.
My hand shook.
“Maybe you shouldn't open it.”
“I have to.”
“Why?”
“Because Anna left it.”
I inserted the key.
It turned.
Click.
The locker opened.
Inside was a black metal box.
No fingerprints.
No dust.
It looked as if someone had placed it there recently.
I lifted it out.
On the lid were two letters.
A.C.
My wife's initials.
Collins examined it.
“Open it.”
I lifted the lid.
Inside were three things.
A USB drive.
A photograph.
And an envelope.
The envelope had my name on it.
Daniel.
My hands began shaking.
I opened it.
The handwriting was Anna's.
I knew it immediately.
The first line made my heart stop.
If you're reading this, then I'm already dead.
I looked at Collins.
Then continued.
But if Michael is still near Lily, then I failed to protect you.
My throat tightened.
I read faster.
Daniel, everything I told you about my death was a lie.
I stopped.
The room seemed to disappear.
I wasn't sick.
My hands trembled.
I was investigating someone inside our family.
I looked at Collins.
She stared at the letter.
Someone who has been using Lily since before she was born.
I couldn't breathe.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
The man you call your brother is not the person you think he is.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Below it was one final sentence.
Michael isn't my brother's real name.
I stared at the page.
“Detective…”
She took the letter from my hand.
Her eyes moved across the words.
Then the basement lights went out.
A gunshot echoed through the corridor.
Collins shoved me to the floor.
The black metal box flew from my hands.
“DOWN!”
Another shot.
Then another.
When the emergency lights came on, Collins looked toward the corridor.
Nobody was there.
But the black box was gone.
So was the USB drive.
The photograph remained.
I picked it up.
It showed Anna standing beside Michael.
But Michael looked different.
Younger.
And behind them was another man.
The same man with the three-dot tattoo.
I stared at the photograph.
Then noticed the date printed in the corner.
July 3, 2005.
I froze.
That date was impossible.
Michael had told me he met Anna in 2012.
He had claimed he didn't even know her before our wedding.
I turned the photograph over.
There was one handwritten sentence.
Ask your brother who he was before 2005.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from Michael.
You opened Locker 17.
Another appeared.
Now you know enough to be dangerous.
Then a third.
Come home alone if you want Lily to live.
I looked at Collins.
“I'm not going anywhere alone.”
She shook her head.
“You won't have to.”
Then her radio crackled.
An officer's voice came through.
“Detective Collins, we have a situation upstairs.”
“What happened?”
Silence.
Then:
“Lily is missing.”
My blood turned to ice.
I ran toward the elevator.
Collins grabbed my shoulder.
“Daniel, wait!”
I tore free.
“My daughter is upstairs!”
We reached the third floor.
The hallway was chaos.
Two officers were unconscious.
The hospital room door stood open.
The bed was empty.
The pink blanket lay on the floor.
And on Lily's pillow was a folded piece of paper.
I picked it up.
Three words were written in Anna's handwriting.
Trust nobody, Daniel.
Then I heard a tiny voice from the hospital intercom.
“Daddy?”
I looked up.
Lily.
Her voice came through every speaker in the hospital.
“Daddy, I'm okay.”
I grabbed the intercom.
“Lily! Where are you?”
She began crying.
“I don't know.”
Then another voice whispered beside her.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
“Tell Daddy hello.”
Lily sobbed.
“Mommy says hello.”
I froze.
And then Anna's voice spoke through the speakers.
“Daniel…”
May you like
A pause.
“I need you to come find me.”
