Chapter 4: The Call From a Dead Woman
Ryan's phone kept ringing.
The name on the screen was impossible.
CLAIRE.
I stood beside Lily's hospital bed, one hand wrapped around my daughter's fingers, while my husband stared at his phone as though it were a loaded gun.
“Answer it,” I said.
Ryan shook his head.
“Emily, please.””
“Answer the phone.””
“I can't explain this here.””
“Then stop giving me reasons to believe you're lying!””
Lily began crying again, and I immediately turned toward her. Her tiny fingers tightened around mine.
“Mommy, don't let Daddy take me home.””
I felt something inside me crack.
I looked at Ryan.
“Why would she say that?””
He opened his mouth, but the phone stopped ringing.
A second later, a message appeared.
*I know Lily has the bottle. Tell Emily the truth before Diane makes another mistake.*
Ryan read it twice.
Then he walked toward the hallway.
I followed him.
“Who is she?””
He kept moving.
“Ryan!””
He stopped outside the nurses' station and turned toward me.
“It's Claire.””
The answer was so absurd that I almost laughed.
“You're telling me your dead wife is calling you from a phone number you still have saved?””
“She's not dead.””
He said it quietly.
No hesitation. No attempt to soften the truth.
Just five words that shattered everything I thought I knew about my marriage.
I stared at him.
“You knew?””
“I found out six weeks ago.””
My knees nearly buckled.
“Six weeks?””
“Emily, keep your voice down.””
“Six weeks ago, you discovered that your supposedly dead wife was alive, and you didn't tell me?””
He dragged a hand down his face.
“I was trying to understand what happened.””
“While letting your mother spend time alone with our daughter?””
His eyes flicked toward Lily's room.
“That's not what I intended.””
“Intentions don't protect children, Ryan.””
He looked away.
For the first time, I noticed how exhausted he seemed. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and his hands trembled as he unlocked his phone.
He showed me a message thread.
The earliest message was dated six weeks earlier.
*Claire: I'm alive. I need to speak to you about what your mother did.*
Ryan's reply came two days later.
*Ryan: I need proof.*
Claire had sent a photograph of herself holding a newspaper with the date visible.
Then another message.
*Claire: You have a daughter with Emily now. You need to know what happened to ours.*
I read that sentence again.
Our daughter.
I looked up.
“What does she mean?””
Ryan's lips parted, but he couldn't answer.
I took the phone and scrolled.
There were dozens of messages. Some were unanswered. Others contained fragments of conversations that made less and less sense.
*Claire: Diane told me you believed I was dead.*
*Ryan: I was told you died in the hospital.*
*Claire: You were told what she wanted you to believe.*
Then, three weeks before that day:
*Claire: She's giving the child something. I can prove it.*
My fingers went cold.
“Lily?””
Ryan nodded slowly.
“I thought Claire was accusing my mother because she hated her.””
“You thought?””
“I didn't know what to believe.””
I handed the phone back.
“And instead of investigating, you did nothing?””
“I confronted Mom. She told me Claire was unstable and had been contacting her for money.””
“Did you believe her?””
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
A doctor stepped out of Lily's room and approached us.
“Your daughter is stable at the moment, but we need to continue monitoring her. We also need an accurate account of everything she may have been given.””
I turned toward Ryan.
“Tell the doctor everything you know.””
Ryan nodded, but before he could speak, his phone vibrated again.
A new message from Claire appeared.
*Diane has the second bottle. If she knows you found the first, she may destroy the evidence.*
I snatched the phone from Ryan.
“Where is your mother?””
“At home,” he said.
“Then we call the police.””
His face tightened.
“Emily, wait.””
“No. I'm done waiting.””
“If you involve the police before I explain everything, Mom could disappear with the documents.””
I stared at him.
“You're still protecting her.””
“I'm trying to protect Lily!””
“Then you should have started six weeks ago.””
He lowered his head.
For a moment, I thought he might finally tell me everything.
Instead, he whispered, “There's something else you need to know about Claire.””
I waited.
“Before she disappeared, she had a baby.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“You told me you had no children before Lily.””
“I thought the baby died.””
“You thought?””
Ryan's voice broke.
“Mom told me Claire lost the baby during delivery. She said Claire couldn't accept it and became obsessed with the idea that the child had survived.””
I gripped the wall beside me.
“And now?””
“Now Claire says the baby is alive.””
I looked back through the glass at Lily.
My little girl lay beneath a white blanket, her favorite stuffed rabbit tucked beside her. She looked so small in that enormous hospital bed.
Then I remembered the photograph Claire had sent.
The woman outside our house.
The baby wrapped in yellow.
I turned back to Ryan.
“Where is that child?””
He stared at his phone.
“I don't know.””
His phone rang again.
This time, he answered.
“Claire?””
A woman's voice came through the speaker, faint but unmistakable.
“Ryan, put Emily on the phone.””
He looked at me.
I took the phone.
“This is Emily.””
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then a woman began to cry.
“I'm sorry,” Claire whispered.
“I know you have every reason to hate me, but you need to get Lily away from Diane.””
“Who are you?””
A shaky breath came through the line.
“I'm the woman your husband was told to bury five years ago.””
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“Why is Diane giving my daughter your medication?””
“Because she wants everyone to believe Lily is sick.””
“Why?””
Claire went silent.
Then she said something that made my blood turn to ice.
“Because Lily isn't the first little girl she's tried to make disappear.””
The call ended.
And before I could call back, another message arrived.
This one contained an address.
May you like
Underneath it were six words.
*Come alone. I have your daughter's birth records.*
