Claire’s blood ran cold.
“Dad?”
“Where did you hear that name?”
“You knew him.”
“Claire, listen to me.”
“I did.”
“What happened to Maya Knox?”
Her father inhaled sharply.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Is Junie there?”
Claire stood.
“Lock the doors.”
Her pulse spiked.
“Dad, what are you talking about?”
“Lock them now.”
Claire moved automatically.
Front door.
Back door.
Windows.
“Done.”
“Don’t call the police yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know who still has access.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“I need you to take Junie and leave.”
“Leave where?”
“Somewhere I don’t know.”
“Don’t tell me where.”
Claire nearly laughed from panic.
“You’re scaring me.”
“I should have told you years ago.”
“Told me what?”
Her father’s voice shook.
“Daniel Mercer didn’t lose that little girl.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“He took her.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with him.”
“I investigated him.”
Claire’s breathing became shallow.
“You were the insurance investigator?”
Her father paused.
“I was working with federal authorities.”
Claire sank into a chair.
“Federal authorities?”
“Daniel was involved in staged accident claims, identity theft, falsified deaths. We believed he was using children’s identities too.”
Claire felt sick.
“Children?”
“There were missing children connected to insurance accounts.”
“Why wasn’t he arrested?”
“Because someone warned him.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
Claire looked upstairs.
“What does any of this have to do with Junie?”
Another pause.
Then her father whispered something that changed the shape of Claire’s entire life.
“Because your mother and I did not meet Junie for the first time at the hospital.”
“When you gave birth.”
“What are you saying?”
“Claire, the baby you delivered…”
His voice cracked.
“Your baby was stillborn.”
Claire stood so fast the chair fell backward.
“I’m sorry.”
“You were unconscious from hemorrhaging.”
“Your mother begged me.”
Claire pressed a hand to her mouth.
“We were terrified you wouldn’t survive losing her.”
“What did you do?”
Franklin began crying.
“There was another infant.”
Claire’s knees buckled.
“A baby girl abandoned through one of Daniel’s networks. No clean identity. No parents listed. Your mother believed we could save both of you.”
Claire slid to the floor.
“Junie?”
“Yes.”
Claire couldn’t hear anything except her own heartbeat.
“That’s impossible.”
“I arranged papers.”
“You stole her?”
“I saved her.”
“You stole my daughter.”
“I didn’t know where she came from.”
“You lied to me for five years.”
“I loved you.”
Claire screamed into the phone.
“WHO IS SHE?”
Upstairs, Junie began to cry.
Claire covered her mouth.
Franklin whispered, “I don’t know.”
Claire hung up.
Then someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Junie called from upstairs.
Claire grabbed the fireplace poker.
The knocking came again.
A man’s voice.
She recognized it.
Everett.
She almost collapsed from relief.
Then her father’s warning hit her.
Don’t trust anyone.
Claire approached the door.
“What do you want?”
Everett’s voice came through the wood.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here.”
“Then leave.”
“I will.”
He paused.
“But someone followed you from the travel plaza.”
Claire’s grip tightened.
“I saw the car outside your neighborhood.”
“What car?”
“Gray Ford sedan.”
Her mouth went dry.
Her father drove a gray Ford sedan.
She looked through the peephole.
Everett stood alone.
Behind him, the street was empty.
“Why were you following me?”
“I wasn’t. I found your address.”
“That’s not better.”
Claire opened the door two inches with the chain still attached.
“I needed to know if Junie was safe.”
“She’s not your daughter.”