Chapter 3 - The Photograph in the Drawer
I didn't go to Room 714.
Not immediately.
I had learned one thing after Daniel died.
When people wanted you frightened, they wanted you moving too fast.
I put the phone back into my purse.
Then I returned to the ballroom.
Lily was sitting beside her teacher.
She looked smaller than before.
Her pink dress was stained.
Her curls were stiff with frosting.
I knelt beside her.
"How are you feeling?"
She nodded.
"Are you mad at Aunt Claire?"
Lily looked toward the doorway.
Then she whispered:
"No."
That surprised me.
"Why?"
"Because she was scared."
My eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?"
"She said something."
"What?"
Lily looked at me.
"She said, 'Not again.'"
My blood ran cold.
"Not again?"
Lily nodded.
"Then she looked at me like she was looking at somebody else."
I hugged her.
Over Lily's shoulder, I saw Claire standing near the bar.
She was watching us.
When our eyes met, she turned away.
That night, after I put Lily to bed, I sat alone in my kitchen.
The birthday decorations were still everywhere.
Pink balloons.
Ribbon.
Gift bags.
A half-eaten cake.
Everything looked absurdly cheerful.
I opened my laptop.
I searched for Room 714.
Nothing.
The hotel had no publicly listed room numbers because the building was mostly used for private events.
I searched Daniel's old files.
Insurance.
Bank statements.
Medical records.
Nothing.
Then I remembered the key.
I opened the drawer where I'd kept Daniel's belongings.
His watch.
His wedding ring.
His old wallet.
The final photograph I'd taken of him.
I stared at the picture.
Daniel was smiling.
Lily was four.
She was sitting on his shoulders.
I was standing beside them.
A normal family.
A happy family.
Or so I had believed.
I turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
I hadn't written it.
714 — M.
My hands began to shake.
M.
My first initial.
But the handwriting looked like Daniel's.
I pulled out every photograph from the drawer.
Most were ordinary.
Vacation.
Christmas.
Lily's first day of school.
Then I found another.
Daniel standing outside an unfamiliar building.
On the back:
Don't let Claire see this.
I stared at the words.
Claire.
Why would Daniel have written her name?
I called Jonathan.
He answered on the third ring.
"Where did you get my number?"
"Your husband gave it to me."
I sat down.
"Daniel gave you my number?"
"Before he died."
"Tell me everything."
There was silence.
"Not over the phone."
"Then meet me."
"Where?"
I looked around my kitchen.
"Somewhere Claire doesn't know."
He gave me an address.
An old coffee shop downtown.
"Tomorrow at ten."
"Jonathan."
"Yes?"
"Was Daniel murdered?"
Another silence.
Then:
"I never said that."
"You didn't have to."
He hung up.
I stayed awake until morning.
At 9:30, I took Lily to my mother's house.
At 9:50, I arrived at the coffee shop.
Jonathan was already there.
He placed a folder on the table.
"I should have given this to you three years ago."
I opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Daniel entering a warehouse.
Daniel talking to a man I didn't recognize.
Daniel meeting Claire.
Then I saw something that made my fingers go numb.
A photograph of Daniel and Lily.
Taken from across the street.
Lily was five.
Daniel was carrying her.
Someone had circled Lily's face in red ink.
"Who took these?"
Jonathan leaned forward.
"Daniel did."
"Why?"
"Because he believed someone was following your family."
I looked at him.
"Who?"
He opened the folder.
A final photograph slid onto the table.
Claire.
Standing beside Daniel.
But Claire wasn't looking at the camera.
She was looking at someone outside the frame.
A man.
I turned the photograph over.
There was another note.
If anything happens to me, ask Claire about the night at Bellmore Hotel.
My heart stopped.
"Bellmore Hotel."
Jonathan nodded.
"That's this hotel."
I stared at him.
"The birthday party was held at Bellmore."
"Yes."
"Claire chose it."
"I know."
"Why?"
Jonathan's eyes hardened.
"Because Daniel's death began there."
Before I could respond, my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE OPENED THE DRAWER.
Then another.
NOW THEY KNOW YOU KNOW.
I looked toward the coffee shop window.
A black SUV was parked across the street.
The driver's face was hidden.
The vehicle started moving.
Jonathan stood.
"We have to leave."
"Why?"
He grabbed the folder.
"Because that car has been following me all morning."
We rushed out the back door.
But as I stepped into the alley, my phone vibrated again.
May you like
This time the message contained only four words:
CLAIRE IS ALREADY INSIDE.
