Chapter 9 - Daniel’s Father Had Been In The House
“Who?”
Noah asked.
Daniel looked at him.
Then toward me.
I was starting to resent being the place everyone looked when they didn't want to look at each other.
I moved away.
“Don't use me.”
He caught it.
Then looked at Noah.
“My dad.”
Noah frowned.
“Grandpa Robert?”
“Yes.”
Robert Hayes had died three years ago.
Noah remembered him.
Not well.
Enough.
Mara sat back.
“Robert was there.”
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“My father came over when I called the police.”
“And when I came to the house.”
“Yes.”
Mara's face tightened.
“He heard everything.”
“Yes.”
“So if someone told Noah you locked me out—”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“Dad could have told them.”
Robert was dead.
Information wasn't.
June.
Susan.
Katherine.
Old family friends.
The mystery widened but did not become paranormal.
Good.
I preferred difficult people to ghosts.
Katherine asked:
“Who was Dad talking to about Mara?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Mara laughed softly.
“That's new.”
“What?”
“You not knowing.”
He gave her a look.
She stopped smiling.
Noah asked:
“Did Grandpa think Aunt Mara took me?”
Daniel took time.
“Yes.”
Mara said:
“He wanted Daniel to press charges.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He thought you were dangerous.”
Mara's face hardened.
“Because you told him I took your son.”
“I thought you did.”
“You knew Katherine asked me by then.”
Daniel looked away.
There.
“When did you know?” I asked.
“Before Mara came to the house.”
Mara stared.
“You knew.”
“Katherine told me part of it.”
“What part?”
“That she asked you to pick Noah up.”
“And you still wouldn't open the door.”
Daniel’s voice rose.
“You still refused to tell me where my son had been for ten hours.”
Mara stood.
“Because Katherine asked me not to.”
“That doesn't make it right.”
“I know.”
That stopped him.
Mara continued:
“I was wrong.”
Daniel looked almost disappointed by the lack of fight.
“I should have told you where Noah was.”
“Yes.”
“You were still wrong to tell everyone I took him.”
“Yes.”
Neither canceled the other.
Noah looked exhausted.
Susan noticed.
“We're done.”
Daniel started:
“No—”
Susan turned.
“For him.”
She pointed toward Noah.
“You adults can keep excavating your twenties until closing time. He has heard enough.”
This time nobody argued.
Katherine took Noah outside for a walk.
Daniel followed at a distance.
Mara stayed.
So did I.
I had another four hours on shift.
Helen approached with the internal camera screenshots.
“Claire, you need to see this.”
I sighed.
“Please tell me it's a normal customer.”
“No.”
She placed three printed frames on the service counter.
Not legal evidence magic.
Just grainy hallway stills.
First Saturday.
Mara in my stolen vest.
Second figure farther back.
Only profile.
Older woman.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
I looked at Mara.
“Recognize her?”
Mara leaned closer.
Her expression changed.
“No.”
I believed her.
Helen pointed at the third frame.
The woman had something pinned beneath the borrowed vest.
Not my gold name badge.
A small silver rectangle.
Old Bell & Finch staff badge.
Luis came over.
He stared.
“We stopped using those twelve years ago.”
“Can you read it?”
“No.”
The image was too bad.
Mara leaned closer.
Then froze.
“What?”
I asked.
She pointed at the woman's left hand.
One finger bent slightly inward.
Old injury.
Mara whispered:
“I know that hand.”
Daniel came back through the doors just in time to hear.
“Whose?”
Mara looked at him.
“You're not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
She touched the grainy image.
“Emily Reed.”
Daniel's face went blank.
Susan looked over.
Katherine whispered:
“Oh my God.”
I had never heard the name.
“Who is Emily?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Daniel said:
“She was our babysitter.”
Mara corrected him.
“She raised us half the week.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
May you like
Emily Reed had disappeared from the Hayes family before Mara ever did.
And unlike Mara, nobody had apparently spent seven years trying to find her.
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