Chapter 5 - The Woman With the Key
The next morning, I filed a police report and had Lily examined by her pediatrician.
I didn’t exaggerate anything.
I didn’t need to.
There was video.
There were marks.
There were access logs.
And there was a terrified toddler who panicked at the sight of a leash.
Ryan sent me forty-three messages.
I responded once.
Communicate through my attorney.
That finally stopped him.
Dad kept studying the security logs.
The unknown phone had entered our system eleven times.
Then he found something better.
Door-lock records.
Whoever owned that phone also had a digital key.
My digital key.
Ryan’s digital key.
And one labeled GUEST-3.
Guest-3 had entered our house six times while I was gone.
I had never created Guest-3.
Dad checked the registration date.
Four months earlier.
The same month Diane had started offering to “help” with Lily more often.
Rachel whispered, “Who is it?”
I thought about everyone who had been inside our home.
Cleaners.
Family.
Neighbors.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unfamiliar number.
Emma, please don’t tell Ryan I contacted you.
My skin prickled.
Another message appeared.
My name is Melissa Grant. I used to work for Diane.
I know what happened in your house.
Then came a photograph.
A woman in her forties stood inside my laundry room.
The photo appeared to have been taken from the hallway.
Diane was beside her.
Ryan was there too.
On the floor between them sat the pet bowl.
And beside it was the same dog leash.
The timestamp was three weeks old.
I called the number.
Melissa answered on the first ring.
Her voice trembled.
“I should’ve called you months ago.”
“Who are you?”
“I was your mother-in-law’s home aide.”
“What were you doing in my house?”
Diane had told Melissa that Ryan wanted help “correcting” Lily’s behavior.
But Melissa said that wasn’t the real reason Diane kept coming over.
“She was testing something,” Melissa whispered.
“What?”
There was a long pause.
May you like
“Whether Ryan could make you look like an unfit mother.”
My blood went cold.
