Chapter 4 - THE FIRST WIFE
Her name was Marissa Cole.
She married Daniel when she was twenty-one.
He was twenty-five.
The marriage lasted three years.
There was no divorce record.
There was no death certificate.
There was only a handwritten note inside the locked room.
Marissa failed.
No son.
Returned to sender.
Officer Holloway read the note twice.
“What does that mean?”
I had no answer.
Daniel never mentioned another wife.
Lorraine never mentioned another daughter-in-law.
Yet Marissa’s photograph had been pinned to the wall beside mine.
She was standing in the same backyard.
The porch pillar was visible behind her.
Her wrists were hidden.
Her expression was not.
I recognized it immediately.
The careful emptiness of someone trying not to show pain.
Detectives found three more photographs.
Naomi Ellis.
Catherine Webb.
Rosa Delgado.
Each woman appeared pregnant.
Each name appeared in the ledger.
Beside every name was a letter.
F.
F.
F.
The final entry beside Marissa’s name read removed.
My name appeared lower on the page.
Elena Carter Mercer.
Pregnancy one.
Female.
Pregnancy two.
Female.
Pregnancy three.
Male.
Beside the final line, Lorraine had written a sentence.
Correct the mother before the child arrives.
I could not stop shaking.
Officer Holloway called for a nurse.
I refused medication until I understood what they had found.
“Were those women married to Daniel?”
“Not all of them.”
“Then who were they?”
“We are still searching.”
The hospital door opened.
A social worker entered with two little girls.
Sophie ran first.
“Mommy.”
I barely had time to open my arms before she climbed carefully onto the bed.
Mia pressed against my side.
Both girls were wearing pajamas beneath winter coats.
I held them so tightly that Sophie began crying.
“Is the baby okay?”
I could not answer.
The social worker knelt beside us.
“Rebecca called the hospital after seeing Daniel’s arrest online.”
“She said she was afraid to keep the girls.”
“Why?”
“She received threatening messages from Lorraine.”
I looked at Officer Holloway.
“What did they say?”
The officer showed me the screen.
Do not return the girls to their mother.
They are the last leverage we have.
Another message followed.
If Elena talks, take them across the border.
Sophie looked at my face.
“Daddy said we were going on a long trip.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
My arms tightened around them.
The social worker touched my shoulder.
“They are safe now.”
I wanted to believe her.
Then Officer Holloway’s phone rang again.
She listened without speaking.
When the call ended, she looked at me.
“They found Marissa Cole.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
May you like
“In a psychiatric facility outside San Antonio.”
“She has been there for eleven years.”
