Chapter 3 - The Password
Noah wasn’t the first name Lily had chosen for her baby.
It was Caleb.
She had changed it at twenty-four weeks.
At least, that was what everyone thought.
But years earlier, when we were kids, Lily and I had invented passwords for everything.
Tree houses.
Diary locks.
Email accounts.
Our mother called us ridiculous.
Lily always used the same trick.
The name we told everyone was never the real password.
It was the clue.
I turned toward Daniel.
“Do you have the laptop?”
The woman beside Detective Alvarez stepped forward.
“I do.”
She introduced herself as Priya Shah, a digital forensic specialist hired by Lily.
Jason laughed.
It was a strange sound.
Sharp.
Desperate.
“This is insane. You’re turning a funeral into a circus because my wife was paranoid.”
I looked at him.
“My sister was dead at the bottom of your stairs.”
“She fell.”
“And she hired a lawyer, a forensic analyst, and installed a camera because everything was great?”
His face hardened.
“You always hated me.”
“No. I started hating you after Lily started apologizing for things you did.”
Rachel moved farther away from him.
Jason noticed.
“What are you doing?”
“I need air.”
“You’re staying.”
Rachel stared at him.
For the first time, she looked scared.
“No. I’m not.”
She walked toward the back.
Detective Alvarez stopped her.
“Ms. Monroe, I’ll need you available for questions.”
Rachel swallowed.
“Am I being detained?”
“Not at this time.”
Daniel led my parents and me into a small church office.
The detectives followed.
Jason demanded to come.
Daniel refused.
“The material belongs to Lily’s estate.”
“She was my wife!”
“And she specifically denied you access.”
That sentence hit Jason harder than anything else.
The door shut in his face.
Priya opened the laptop.
A login screen appeared.
Daniel said, “Lily left written instructions saying Emily would know the passphrase.”
I stared at the blank field.
Remember Noah’s first name.
Caleb.
But it wouldn’t be that simple.
I thought about Lily.
Her favorite trick.
“Do you remember what she called the baby before Noah?” Mom asked.
“Caleb.”
I typed it.
Wrong password.
Dad exhaled.
“Try Noah.”
Wrong.
My mind raced.
Then I remembered a voicemail Lily had left me shortly after her twenty-week ultrasound.
She had been laughing.
“Em, apparently your nephew is already stubborn. He had his back to the camera the entire time. I told him he gets that from Caleb.”
At the time, I thought she meant our grandfather.
Caleb Carter.
But Grandpa had been dead for eleven years.
His birthday.
November 14.
I typed:
CALEB1114.
The screen unlocked.
Mom started crying.
“Oh, Lily.”
Priya took over.
There were folders.
BANK.
INSURANCE.
JASON.
RACHEL.
And one labeled:
IF I DIE.
Nobody spoke.
Priya opened it.
Six video files appeared.
The dates covered the final three weeks of Lily’s life.
The last file was timestamped 9:42 p.m.
The night she died.
Detective Alvarez leaned closer.
“Play it.”
Priya clicked.
The screen showed Lily’s upstairs hallway.
Empty.
Silent.
Then Lily appeared.
Barefoot.
Pregnant belly beneath an oversized gray sweater.
She was backing away from someone.
Jason entered the frame.
My mother made a sound like she had been punched.
On the video, Lily said, “Don’t touch me.”
Jason moved toward her.
There was no audio distortion.
No question.
His voice came through clearly.
“You think you can take everything from me?”
Lily backed toward the top of the stairs.
“I already sent it.”
Jason stopped.
“Sent what?”
“Everything.”
His face changed.
“To who?”
“My lawyer.”
Jason lunged.
The video shook as Lily disappeared beyond the railing.
My mother screamed.
I grabbed the desk.
But then something happened that none of us expected.
Jason didn’t follow her immediately.
He stood at the top of the stairs.
Listening.
For almost ten seconds.
May you like
Then he looked directly toward the hidden camera.
And smiled.
