Chapter 2 - THE MAN WITH MY FACE
The video lasted thirty-eight seconds.
Harper entered first.
The false Ethan followed.
Violet came down the stairs carrying the birthday envelope.
She smiled when she saw him.
Then her expression changed.
She noticed something.
Maybe posture.
Maybe voice.
Maybe the scar above my left eyebrow that the man did not have.
She stepped backward.
He grabbed her wrist.
She struck him with the envelope.
He hit her once.
Hard.
Harper screamed.
Not in surprise.
In fear that the man had acted too soon.
Then she helped lower Violet to the floor.
That detail destroyed her first story.
She had been present.
She had left our daughter unconscious.
Detective Grant watched the footage twice.
“Who is he?”
Harper refused to answer without an attorney.
Her brass key opened the metal box beneath my study.
Inside were sealed deployment records, cash, three passports, and a classified drive I had hidden after my last mission.
The drive was gone.
The false Ethan had taken it.
Then the nurse gave us the memory card Violet had concealed.
It contained a recording made from her bedroom.
Harper speaking to General Brooks.
“He’ll recognize the colonel’s face.”
Brooks answered, “Then make sure Ethan stays overseas.”
My commander had been part of the plan.
The Army had sent me home early because someone else inside the chain wanted the impersonation exposed.
Then Violet woke.
Her first words were:
“Mom thought he was you.”
Harper had not invited a known attacker inside.
She had believed the replacement was her husband.
Until Violet recognized him first.
That made Harper deceived.
It did not explain why she helped him search the house or left our daughter.
Then Violet whispered:
“He asked where Claire was.”
I had no daughter named Claire.
May you like
Harper began crying.
“You do,” she said.
