Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN HE BURIED
Nobody moved.
Coffee spread slowly across the white tile.
A waitress near the kitchen reached for a towel, then stopped when she saw Anna’s face.
An elderly customer turned in his booth.
Somebody lowered a fork.
Lily looked between her mother and Daniel.
“Mom?”
Anna’s hand gripped the edge of the counter.
Her knuckles turned white.
Daniel took one step forward.
“Anna.”
She stepped backward.
That hurt more than he expected.
“Don’t.”
Daniel stopped.
“It’s me.”
“I know.”
Her voice trembled.
Daniel stared at her.
“You’re alive.”
Anna gave a short, almost disbelieving laugh.
“So are you.”
He frowned.
“What?”
Lily tugged Anna’s sleeve.
“Mom, I found him.”
Anna looked down sharply.
“You what?”
“He dropped the picture.”
Lily pointed toward Daniel.
“The one from your box.”
Anna’s eyes went to Daniel’s coat.
Then to his face.
Fear moved through her expression again.
“Lily.”
“Yes?”
“Go into Mr. Garcia’s office.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Lily’s smile disappeared.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Anna’s face softened instantly.
“No, baby.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I just need to talk to him.”
She glanced at Daniel before forcing the next word out.
“Alone.”
The diner owner emerged from behind the grill.
Mr. Garcia was in his early sixties, broad through the chest, silver hair slicked back, white apron over a plaid shirt.
He studied Daniel with open suspicion.
Anna nodded once.
Garcia understood.
“Come on, kiddo.”
Lily hesitated.
She looked at Daniel.
“Don’t leave.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“I won’t.”
Only after Lily disappeared into the office did Anna breathe again.
Mr. Garcia turned to the customers.
“Everybody, finish your coffee outside.”
A man protested.
Garcia pointed at the door.
“Free pie tomorrow.”
The man stood immediately.
Within two minutes the diner had emptied except for Daniel, Anna, Garcia, and the other waitress.
Garcia sent the waitress into the kitchen.
He stayed near the office door.
Anna looked at Daniel.
Her face had changed.
The terror was still there.
But anger was rising beneath it.
Daniel recognized that too.
He used to know every stage of Anna’s anger.
The silence before it.
The stiff shoulders.
The way her jaw tightened.
“You came here.”
Daniel stared.
“I didn’t know you were here.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I didn’t know you were alive.”
Anna flinched.
“Stop.”
“Anna—”
“Stop saying that.”
Daniel’s shock turned to frustration.
“I buried you.”
Her face broke for half a second.
Then hardened again.
“And I spent seven years believing you let them take me.”
Daniel stared.
“What are you talking about?”
“You heard me.”
“No.”
“I didn’t.”
Anna folded her arms.
“You always did that when you were lying.”
“What?”
“Your left hand.”
Daniel looked down.
His fingers were rubbing the edge of his watch.
He stopped.
“I’m not lying.”
“You did it when you told me you forgot our anniversary.”
“I did forget our anniversary.”
“You did it when you told your mother you liked that horrible Christmas sweater.”
“I was protecting her feelings.”
For one absurd second, they were married again.
Then Anna’s expression collapsed.
She looked away.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Anna.”
“You went to my funeral?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You saw a body?”
“No.”
She closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“They said the damage was too severe.”
“Who said?”
“Police.”
“The medical examiner.”
“Your dentist confirmed the dental records.”
Anna opened her eyes.
“My dentist?”
“Dr. Shaw.”
Anna stared at him.
“I haven’t seen Evelyn Shaw since college.”
Daniel frowned.
“She provided the comparison.”
“I changed dentists after we married.”
“What?”
“I went to Dr. Feldman.”
Daniel felt something shift.
“You never told me that.”
“Because adults don’t usually give their husbands updates every time they change dentists.”
Daniel looked toward the office.
His mind moved faster.
If Anna’s dental records were wrong, the identification could have been wrong.
But the ring.
The blood.
The vehicle.
“How did you survive the crash?”
Anna stared at him.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I mean there are almost thirty-six hours missing from my memory.”
Daniel took a breath.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
Anna looked down.
“The gas station near Hawthorne Road.”
“You were going to meet someone?”
Her eyes snapped to his.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t.”
“I’m asking.”
Anna studied him.
Then she looked toward Garcia.
He remained near the office.
She lowered her voice.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“A woman named Jennifer Hale.”
Daniel had never heard the name.
“Who was she?”
“She worked at Mercer Freight.”
“What department?”
“Compliance.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
Anna had been helping audit the Mercer Foundation accounts before her death.
Her disappearance occurred less than a week after she told Daniel she thought something was wrong with a group of invoices.
He had barely listened.
He had been trying to close an acquisition.
He had told her they would talk after the weekend.
They never did.
“What did Jennifer want?”
“To show me records.”
“Of what?”
Anna hesitated.
“Money moving through charity accounts.”
“How much?”
“At first, around four million.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“At first?”
“I found more.”
“How much?”
“Almost sixty million over five years.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It wasn’t.”
Daniel rubbed a hand over his mouth.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Anna’s eyes flashed.
“I called you six times that night.”
Daniel shook his head immediately.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I had my phone.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“There were no missed calls.”
Anna stared at him.
“They erased them.”
“Who?”
“That’s the question I’ve been asking for seven years.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What happened after the gas station?”
“I remember Jennifer getting into my car.”
“What did she look like?”
“Late twenties.”
“Blonde.”
“She was bleeding.”
Daniel frowned.
“Bleeding?”
“From her mouth.”
“She kept looking behind us.”
“She said, ‘He found me.’”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened next?”
Anna pressed her fingers against her temple.
“Headlights.”
“A truck horn.”
“Jennifer yelling.”
Then nothing.”
“You woke up where?”
“A clinic.”
“What clinic?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hospital?”
“No.”
“Private building.”
“Maybe an old rehabilitation center.”
“Who was there?”
“A doctor.”
“Name?”
“Nathan Bell.”
“Anyone else?”
Anna looked toward the window.
“The man with the scar.”
Daniel went still.
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“I saw him outside.”
Anna’s face drained of color.
“Where?”
“Across the street.”
Garcia stepped forward.
“What vehicle?”
“Black SUV.”
Anna moved toward the window.
It was gone.
She whispered, “Victor.”
Daniel heard the fear in her voice.
“Victor who?”
“Hale.”
Daniel stared.
“Jennifer Hale?”
Anna nodded.
“Her brother.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I was alive.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“He told me you signed papers.”
“What papers?”
“Consent forms.”
“Relocation documents.”
“He showed me your signature.”
Daniel laughed once, without humor.
“I never signed anything like that.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did you believe him then?”
Anna’s eyes filled.
“Because he showed me video of you.”
Daniel stopped.
“What video?”
“You and Marcus leaving the courthouse.”
“You saying I was dead.”
“I was dead to you.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“I thought you were dead.”
“And I thought you knew I wasn’t.”
They stared at each other.
Two people destroyed by opposite versions of the same lie.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Anna.”
Her eyes lifted.
“I never stopped looking for the first year.”
She swallowed.
“Then they told me there was nothing left to find.”
“I hired private investigators.”
“I called hospitals.”
“I went to every place you ever mentioned.”
“I searched Jane Doe lists until I stopped sleeping.”
Anna’s anger weakened.
Daniel continued.
“I stood beside your grave every Sunday.”
“For two years.”
“I talked to you like an idiot.”
“I told you about work.”
“My mother.”
“The stupid neighbor who kept parking in our spot.”
Anna covered her mouth.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“I told you I was sorry I didn’t answer the phone.”
Her eyes filled.
“I thought you chose them.”
“I didn’t.”
“I thought you signed me away.”
“I didn’t.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know.”
The words came out as a whisper.
Anna turned away.
Daniel wanted to touch her.
He did not.
Not yet.
“What happened after the clinic?”
She stared through the window.
“I was pregnant.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Anna continued without turning.
“They told me four days after I woke up.”
His eyes went toward the office.
Lily.
“My child?”
Anna turned.
“Yes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The pain was immediate.
Not because he doubted her.
Because he believed her.
Seven birthdays.
Seven Christmas mornings.
First steps.
First word.
First tooth.
Everything.
Gone.
He lowered his head.
“Did you know before the accident?”
“No.”
“I found out there.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
Anna’s voice became quiet.
“I tried.”
Daniel looked up.
“What happened?”
“I escaped the clinic after three weeks.”
“How?”
“A nurse helped me.”
“Name?”
“June Holloway.”
“Where is she?”
“Dead.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“How?”
“Cancer.”
He almost laughed from relief.
An ordinary death.
At least one.
Anna continued.
“June drove me to a bus station.”
“I called you from a pay phone.”
Daniel stared.
“When?”
“March seventeenth.”
He remembered that date.
His mother had found him drunk on the floor of Anna’s closet.
“I never got a call.”
“It rang twice.”
“Then someone answered.”
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“Who?”
“A man.”
“What did he say?”
Anna’s voice shook.
“He knew my name.”
“He knew I was pregnant.”
“He said if I ever tried to contact you again, they would send me a photograph of your body.”
Daniel felt rage rise through him.
“So you disappeared.”
“I was twenty-eight.”
“Pregnant.”
“Convinced your family wanted me gone.”
“What would you have done?”
“I would have found you.”
Anna’s eyes flashed.
“You say that now.”
“I say that because it’s true.”
“You didn’t even know I changed dentists.”
The sentence struck harder than she intended.
Daniel went silent.
Anna looked away.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“You’re right.”
“I wasn’t listening.”
“I was always working.”
“I thought there would always be another night.”
“Another weekend.”
“Another chance.”
He looked toward the office.
“There wasn’t.”
For the first time, Anna’s anger disappeared completely.
“Daniel…”
His phone vibrated.
He checked it.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
A photograph loaded.
Daniel’s blood went cold.
It showed him and Lily crossing the street ten minutes earlier.
Taken from across the road.
Beneath it:
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES.
Daniel looked at Anna.
“What?”
He showed her the phone.
Her face changed immediately.
Garcia read the message over her shoulder.
“Lock the door.”
He moved.
Daniel typed:
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
A reply came instantly.
THE SAME THING WE WANTED SEVEN YEARS AGO.
ANNA TO STOP DIGGING.
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you find?”
Anna stared at him.
“I never found the whole thing.”
“Then what do they think you know?”
Her eyes moved toward Lily’s backpack behind the office door.
“I think Jennifer gave me something.”
“What?”
“I don’t remember.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated again.
A new photograph.
Lily entering the diner.
Taken seconds ago.
Then:
WE CAN TAKE THE GIRL WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT.
Daniel’s entire body changed.
Anna saw it.
“What?”
He showed her.
She ran toward the office.
Daniel followed.
Lily was inside coloring on a napkin.
Safe.
Anna grabbed her.
Lily yelped.
“Mom!”
“We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Daniel looked at Garcia.
“Back exit?”
Garcia nodded.
“Kitchen.”
They moved fast.
Then a sharp crack split the room.
The diner’s front window fractured.
Anna dropped over Lily.
Daniel pulled them behind the counter.
Glass scattered across the floor.
Garcia shouted.
Nobody was hit.
Daniel looked at the window.
No second shot.
Then he saw something embedded in the wall.
Not a bullet.
A metal cylinder.
Daniel crawled toward it.
“Don’t touch it.”
Anna looked at him.
“What is it?”
Daniel pulled a napkin around the small object and opened it.
Inside was a rolled piece of paper.
Three words.
ASK YOUR BROTHER.
Daniel stared.
Anna whispered, “Marcus.”
His phone rang.
MARCUS MERCER.
Daniel answered.
“Did you know she was alive?”
Silence.
Then his brother whispered:
“Daniel, you need to get Anna and the girl out of there right now.”
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“You knew.”
“Listen to me.”
“Did you know?”
A crash sounded on Marcus’s end.
Then hurried breathing.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“Whatever you do…”
A door slammed somewhere near Marcus.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Don’t trust Adrian Voss.”
The line went dead.
Anna stared at Daniel.
Adrian Voss.
The Mercer family attorney.
The man who had handled Anna’s estate.
The man who had stood beside Daniel at her funeral.
May you like
The man who had personally handed him her death certificate.
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