Chapter 13: The Twelve Days That Changed Everything
"Say that again.""
My father's voice was so quiet that it frightened me more than shouting would have.
Daniel stood near the hospital window, staring at the photograph on my phone.
"Your mother disappeared twelve days ago," he repeated.
"Not sixteen years ago.""
I looked at the picture again.
The woman standing on the porch had silver strands in her dark hair. Her face was older, but I recognized the shape of her eyes, the small scar above her eyebrow, and the way she tilted her head slightly when someone took her photograph.
My mother.
Alive.
And missing again.
"Where was she?"" I asked.
Daniel rubbed his face.
"Living under an assumed identity in Oregon. She'd been moving between safe locations for years. She contacted me twelve days ago and said someone had discovered where she was staying.""
"Who?""
"I don't know.""
"You expect me to believe you don't know?""
"I know who she was afraid of. I don't know who physically took her.""
Dad grabbed Daniel's jacket.
"You told us she was safe.""
"I believed she was.""
"You told my daughter you could arrange a meeting.""
"I was trying to find her!""
Dad shoved him away.
Detective Harris stepped between them.
"Enough. We need facts, not another confrontation.""
I barely heard them.
Twelve days.
The exact day Lily was born.
The day Derek had sat beside my hospital bed, kissed my forehead, and promised that our family would always come first.
The day he'd received a phone call and left the hospital for almost three hours.
I'd thought he was visiting his mother.
I suddenly remembered something.
"Dad.""
He turned.
"What?""
"The day Lily was born, Derek left the hospital.""
Everyone looked at me.
"He said he had to collect something from his office. He was gone for three hours.""
Daniel stepped closer.
"What time?""
"About eleven in the morning.""
His face changed.
"That's when your mother disappeared.""
I felt cold.
"How do you know?""
"Because she sent me a message at 10:42 that morning. She said someone had found her.""
He pulled out his phone and showed Detective Harris an old message.
They're here. I think it's Derek. If I don't contact you by tomorrow, find Charles.
Dad closed his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"I didn't receive the message until the following evening. By then, her phone was disconnected.""
I looked at Daniel.
"Did you tell the police?""
"I tried. But the officer assigned to the original case had retired. The records were incomplete, and nobody believed a woman who'd supposedly died sixteen years earlier had suddenly disappeared.""
Renee stepped forward.
"Do you still have the original message?""
Daniel nodded.
"Yes.""
"Don't delete anything. We'll preserve the device and provide it to investigators.""
Dad paced toward the window.
Then he stopped.
"There's something we haven't considered.""
"What?"" I asked.
"Why did Derek attack you that night?""
I stared at him.
"He was angry because Lily woke him.""
"Perhaps. But look at the timing. Your mother disappeared the day Lily was born.
Derek spent three hours away from the hospital. Twelve days later, he assaulted you, and you sent your father photographs.""
Renee understood first.
"Charles, you're suggesting he may have believed she contacted your daughter.""
Dad nodded.
Daniel looked sick.
"Your mother might have tried to reach her.""
I remembered the small envelope my father had brought to the hospital.
The photographs.
The messages.
The mysterious references to my mother's missing documents.
"What if she sent me something?"" I whispered.
Renee immediately examined my phone.
"We need to check every message, email, and delivery notification from that period.""
I opened my messages.
Nothing unusual.
Then I remembered the package.
Three days before Lily's birth, a small padded envelope had arrived at our house.
Derek had collected it from the porch before I could see the sender.
He'd said it was junk mail.
I had forgotten about it.
"There's something else.""
Dad turned.
"A package arrived three days before I gave birth. Derek took it.""
"What was inside?""
"I don't know.""
Daniel looked at the photograph.
"Your mother used to send documents through ordinary mail when she didn't trust electronic communication.""
Renee immediately wrote down the date.
"Can you describe the envelope?""
"Small. Brown. No return address.""
"Did Derek keep it?""
"I don't know.""
Dad looked at Detective Harris.
"We need a search warrant for the house.""
The detective nodded.
"We'll coordinate with the local department.""
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
This time, there was no photograph.
Only a sentence.
*Ask Derek what he did with the woman who gave birth in the room next to yours.*
I stared at it.
"What does that mean?""
Renee took my phone.
"Did you share a hospital room?""
"No. I had a private room.""
"Was there another patient nearby?""
I thought back to the delivery ward.
A woman had been brought in late that night. I remembered hearing her cry through the wall. The nurses had rushed around, and someone had asked for additional security.
I had been too exhausted to pay attention.
But I remembered one thing.
The woman had been calling for someone named Anna.
Daniel suddenly sat down.
"Anna.""
"What?""
"Your mother used Anna as an alias.""
Dad turned sharply.
"Are you saying she was in the hospital?""
Daniel nodded slowly.
"She might have come to see you.""
My heart began pounding.
"She was there when Lily was born?""
"Possibly.""
I looked toward the hospital records on the table.
Twelve days earlier, my mother might have been in the same building.
She might have stood only a few feet from me.
And I hadn't known.
Then Detective Harris received another call.
He listened carefully.
His expression changed.
"Mrs. Bennett, the police have located the package you described.""
"Where?""
"Inside Derek's home office.""
"What was in it?""
The detective looked at Dad.
"An old photograph, a handwritten letter, and a hospital identification bracelet.""
I stopped breathing.
The bracelet had a name printed on it.
Not my mother's.
Not mine.
May you like
*Anna Hayes.*
And beneath the name was the date Lily was born.
