CHAPTER 1: The Yellow That Disappeared

The number Ruth had given me rang four times.

Then a voice answered.

Careful.

Slightly guarded.

The voice of someone who had learned not to trust a ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"Is this Nora?" I said.

A pause.

Not long.

But I felt everything in it.

"Yes," she said.

"And you're Claire."

Hearing my own name in her voice broke something open in my chest that I hadn't known was sealed.

"I saw the photograph," I said.

"The little girl in the yellow dress."

"That's my daughter.

Maya." Another pause.

"She's four."

Four.

The same age as Lily.

"I need to meet you," I said.

"I know.

I've been waiting for you to find me." Her voice was steady, but I could hear something underneath it — something careful and long-held.

"Claire, I need to tell you something before we meet.

Something about that party.

About what I saw."

"Tell me."

"I was there because I had been watching your parents for two years.

Since Ruth told me about you.

I needed to understand who they were before I could decide what to do." She stopped.

"I saw Vanessa take Lily outside.

I was too far away to stop it in time.

But I heard what she said to your father before she did it."

My grip on the phone tightened.

"What did she say?"

"She said, *the child is going to ruin everything.

Same as the last one did.* And your father nodded." Nora's voice was very quiet now.

"Claire, I recorded it.

I've had a recorder on me every time I've been near your parents for the past eight months.

I have it all."

I stood up from the chair.

My legs were unsteady.

"You have audio of them planning what they did to Lily?"

"Planning, agreeing, and laughing about it afterward in the driveway while the ambulance was still there." Her voice didn't shake.

It was the voice of someone who had already done their grieving in private.

"I also have a conversation from six weeks ago where your father tells Vanessa that if you ever found out about me, they would handle you the same way they handled the situation when I was two."

The room tilted slightly.

"Handle me," I repeated.

"Yes."

Marcus appeared in the doorway.

He had come in from the car.

He read my face and went still.

"Nora," I said.

"I need you to bring those recordings to Detective Hale.

Today.

Can you do that?"

"I'm already in the city," she said.

"I've been here since Lily was taken to the hospital.

I wasn't going to leave until I knew she was safe."

I pressed my hand flat against the wall to steady myself.

"She's awake," I said.

"She keeps asking for a yellow cake."

The silence on the other end lasted only a moment.

But when Nora spoke again, her voice had changed.

Something in it had come loose.

"I'll bring everything to the detective," she said.

"And Claire—"

"Yes."

"I know we've never met.

I know this is — I know it's a lot.

But I've thought about you for a very long time." She stopped.

"I used to wonder if you ever looked for me."

"I cried for weeks," I said.

"I looked for you in every room of that house."

She didn't answer right away.

When she did, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'll see you soon," she said.

I lowered the phone.

Marcus crossed the room and put both arms around me without asking why, and I stood there and let myself shake for a full minute before I could speak again.

"She has recordings," I said into his shoulder.

"Of everything."

He pulled back and looked at me.

"Then it's over," he said.

"Not yet," I said.

"My parents don't know she exists.

They don't know what she has.

And they're already building a defense." I straightened up.

"We need Hale to move before they figure out what's coming."

My phone rang again.

Not Nora.