Chapter 10 - The Woman in the Photograph
My wife's body had been identified.
The funeral had been private.
The death certificate was real.
Everything was real.
Except apparently the truth.
Daniel found a photograph.
Taken three months after the supposed accident.
My wife was alive.
Standing outside a farmhouse in Vermont.
Holding a baby.
Emma.
I couldn't speak.
We found the farmhouse.
Empty.
Dust covered the floors.
But someone had lived there recently.
There were children's drawings on the wall.
Three children.
A father.
A mother.
And a black bird.
Daniel found a hidden compartment beneath the floor.
Inside was a journal.
My wife's handwriting.
The first page read:
Evan, if you're reading this, I failed to protect our family.
I turned the page.
She had discovered The Circle.
She had discovered that my father wanted control over our children.
She had discovered Vanessa working with Richard.
But the final entry was worse.
I had to disappear because Evan was next.
I stopped reading.
I had spent four years believing my wife died protecting the children.
She had actually disappeared protecting me.
Then I heard footsteps.
I turned.
Noah stood in the doorway.
“Dad?”
I closed the journal.
“What is it?”
“There is someone outside.”
I grabbed my weapon.
We moved toward the window.
A woman stood across the road.
Long coat.
Dark hair.
She looked directly at the house.
Then she lifted her face.
I knew that face.
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Noah whispered:
“Who is she?”
I couldn't answer.
May you like
Because the woman was my wife.
Alive.
