PART 3 — THE SECRET CLAIRE WAS HIDING
I couldn’t stop staring at the security photograph.
Daniel Voss stood across the street from Wren’s school as if he had been waiting for someone.
Waiting for her.
“What does he want with Wren?” I asked.
Officer Daniels closed the folder.
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
I looked at the timestamp again.
3:17 p.m.
School had ended shortly after.
Wren had been sitting inside for hours while that man had apparently been watching from across the street.
The thought made my stomach twist.
“Did he go inside?”
“No.”
“Did he approach Wren?”
“Not that we can tell. The cameras show him remaining near the vehicle for approximately 20 minutes. Then he left.”
“Can you trace the SUV?”
“We’re working on it.”
Wren tugged gently on my sleeve.
“Who is Daniel?”
Every adult in the room went quiet.
I crouched beside her.
“He knew your mom a long time ago.”
“Is he her friend?”
I couldn’t answer that.
Because suddenly I realized how little I actually knew about what had happened between Claire and Daniel all those years ago.
My parents had always told me Claire ran away with him.
That was the story.
Claire was rebellious.
Daniel was trouble.
They disappeared together.
End of story.
But Claire’s letter changed everything.
If Wren ever reaches you, it means Daniel found us.
Claire hadn’t disappeared with Daniel.
She had been hiding from him.
And apparently she had been hiding for 13 years.
Officer Daniels picked up the letter again.
“There’s more.”
I looked at him.
“How much more?”
“Three pages.”
My heart sank.
“Read it.”
He hesitated because Wren was still sitting beside me.
I squeezed her hand.
“She deserves to know something.”
He nodded.
Then he began.
“Mara, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
Those words alone almost broke me.
Officer Daniels continued.
“I know you probably hate me. Maybe you should. I left you when you were too young to understand, and every year I told myself I would call when things were safe.”
Wren leaned against my arm.
I listened without moving.
“But safe never came.”
My throat tightened.
“I changed my name. I changed cities. I stopped contacting everyone I loved because Daniel knew everyone I loved.”
I felt cold.
Officer Daniels continued reading.
“When I left home, I was pregnant.”
My eyes snapped open.
Wren looked up at me.
The room blurred for a second.
“Pregnant?” I whispered.
Officer Daniels nodded.
The letter continued.
“I didn’t know at first. By the time I found out, I was already gone.”
I looked at Wren.
Seven years old.
Claire had disappeared 13 years ago.
The dates didn’t match.
So Wren wasn’t that baby.
Officer Daniels must have noticed the same thing.
“There’s another part.”
He kept reading.
“The baby was Daniel’s.”
I felt as if someone had knocked the air from my lungs.
Wren frowned.
“What baby?”
I squeezed her hand.
“I don’t know yet.”
Officer Daniels continued.
“Daniel didn’t want a child. He told me I had ruined everything. When I said I was keeping the baby, he became someone I didn’t recognize.”
The next paragraph had been partially blacked out in the copy the officer held.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We’re not going to discuss every detail in front of Wren.”
That answer frightened me more than if he had simply read it.
“Was Claire hurt?”
Officer Daniels met my eyes.
“Yes.”
Wren immediately stiffened.
“My mommy?”
I turned toward her.
“This happened a very long time ago.”
“But she’s okay now?”
No one answered quickly enough.
Wren noticed.
“She’s okay now, right?”
I pulled her closer.
“We’re going to find her.”
It was the only promise I could make.
Officer Daniels skipped ahead in the letter.
“Claire says she escaped Daniel and stayed with a woman named Naomi Park.”
“The emergency contact.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Naomi?”
“We still haven’t reached her.”
That bothered me.
Two women connected to Wren.
Both suddenly unreachable.
The officer kept reading.
“Naomi helped me disappear. She gave me somewhere to stay and helped me start over.”
Then he stopped.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The next part is about the baby.”
I braced myself.
“Read it.”
“The baby was born prematurely.”
A pause.
“She survived only 11 days.”
I covered my mouth.
Claire had lost a child.
Alone.
While I had been home believing she had abandoned us without caring.
I suddenly understood why she had never returned.
Not completely.
But enough to feel anger turning into grief.
Officer Daniels continued.
“After she died, I thought Daniel would leave me alone.”
I stared at the letter.
“He didn’t?”
“No.”
The next line answered for him.
“He blamed me for her death.”
Wren lowered her head.
Her paper star was still on the desk.
She began bending one corner back and forth.
I gently stopped her before it tore.
“What happened after that?” I asked.
“Claire moved several times. According to the letter, Daniel continued trying to locate her for years.”
“And Wren?”
Officer Daniels looked at the final page.
“Claire says she eventually met someone else.”
Wren suddenly looked up.
“My daddy?”
I froze.
Officer Daniels nodded carefully.
“His name was Lucas Ellis.”
Wren smiled faintly.
“That’s my daddy.”
“Where is Lucas?” I asked.
Wren’s smile disappeared.
“He died.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“When I was 4.”
Officer Daniels confirmed it.
“Car accident.”
I studied his expression.
There was something he wasn’t saying.
“You don’t think it was an accident.”
“We don’t know.”
“But you’re wondering.”
“Yes.”
Wren’s fingers wrapped around mine again.
I could feel them trembling.
Then Officer Daniels reached the final paragraph.
“Claire wrote one more thing about Wren.”
“What?”
He read silently first.
His expression changed.
“Officer?”
He looked directly at me.
“She says Daniel must never be allowed to take Wren.”
A chill ran through me.
“Why would he try?”
The officer placed the letter down.
“Because Claire believed Daniel thought Wren belonged to him.”
“That makes no sense. You just said Lucas was her father.”
“I’m telling you what Claire wrote.”
I grabbed the letter and read the final lines myself.
If Daniel finds me, he will eventually find Wren.
He has spent years believing I took something from him.
He will never accept the truth.
Protect her, Mara.
Please.
Do what I should have done years ago and tell her who she really is.
I read that final sentence twice.
Then three times.
“Tell her who she really is?”
Officer Daniels nodded.
“That’s what we were hoping you might understand.”
“I don’t.”
Wren stared at me.
“Who am I?”
My heart cracked.
“You’re Wren.”
“But Mommy wrote something else?”
I couldn’t answer.
Then a phone began ringing.
Officer Daniels reached for his.
He looked at the screen and immediately stepped into the hallway.
We could hear only pieces of the conversation.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Are you sure?”
Then silence.
He returned less than a minute later.
Something had changed in his face.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We found Naomi Park.”
Relief rushed through me.
“Is she coming here?”
“No.”
My relief vanished.
“Where is she?”
“St. Vincent Medical Center.”
Wren stood.
“Is she hurt?”
Officer Daniels nodded.
“She was found unconscious inside her apartment this afternoon.”
I felt sick.
“Was Daniel there?”
“We don’t know.”
“Can she talk?”
“She regained consciousness about 20 minutes ago.”
I grabbed my coat.
“I’m going to the hospital.”
Officer Daniels shook his head.
“Ms. Bell—”
“She knows what happened to Claire.”
“She may.”
“She definitely knows something.”
Wren was already putting on her yellow raincoat.
“I’m coming.”
I looked at the officer.
He sighed.
“Fine. But you stay with us.”
Twenty-five minutes later, we arrived at St. Vincent.
Two police officers were standing outside Naomi’s room.
When she saw Wren through the doorway, Naomi began crying.
“Wren.”
Wren ran toward her.
“Miss Naomi!”
Naomi hugged her tightly, then looked over the child’s shoulder.
Her eyes found me.
She went completely still.
“Mara?”
I stepped closer.
“You know me?”
She gave a weak laugh.
“I’ve known about you for 13 years.”
I glanced at Officer Daniels.
“Where is Claire?”
Naomi’s expression collapsed.
“She came to me yesterday.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel contacted her.”
“How?”
“He sent her a photograph.”
Naomi swallowed.
“A picture of Wren leaving school.”
My blood turned cold.
“What did Claire do?”
“She panicked.”
“Where did she go?”
Naomi looked toward the police officers.
“I told them everything I know.”
“Tell me.”
“She said she was going to meet Daniel.”
“What?”
“She thought if she gave him what he wanted, he would leave Wren alone.”
“What did he want?”
Naomi stared at me for several seconds.
Then she looked at Wren.
“Not here.”
My chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Naomi reached toward the bedside table and picked up her phone.
“There’s something Claire sent me this morning.”
She unlocked it with shaking fingers.
“A video.”
Officer Daniels stepped closer.
“When?”
“11:36 a.m.”
“Before she disappeared?”
Naomi nodded.
“She told me not to watch it unless she failed to pick Wren up from school.”
The room became silent.
Naomi pressed play.
Claire appeared on the screen.
Older than the sister I remembered.
Tired.
Terrified.
But alive.
“Mara,” she said into the camera.
My knees nearly gave out.
Claire took a shaky breath.
“If you’re seeing this, I’m probably not coming home tonight.”
Wren began crying.
“Mommy.”
Claire continued.
“There’s something I should have told you years ago.”
She looked away from the camera as if gathering courage.
“I lied about Wren’s father.”
Everyone in the room froze.
Claire looked straight into the camera again.
“Lucas raised her. Lucas loved her. Lucas was her father in every way that mattered.”
Then her voice broke.
“But biologically…”
The video suddenly stopped.
Naomi stared at the screen.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“I don’t know.”
She tapped it again.
Nothing.
The file had ended.
But before anyone could speak, Wren whispered something beside me.
“I know the rest.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Mommy told me once.”
Naomi went pale.
“Wren…”
The little girl looked directly at me.
“She told me never to tell anybody.”
My heart pounded.
“Tell anybody what?”
Wren wiped her face with her sleeve.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“She said Lucas wasn’t my first daddy.”…….
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4…
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