Chapter 7: The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The girl in the interview room looked exactly like Lily.
Not similar.
Exactly.
Same brown hair.
Same round cheeks.
Same tiny scar above her eyebrow from when she fell off her bicycle last summer.
I stood outside the glass window unable to breathe.
“This isn’t possible,” Rachel whispered.
I didn’t answer.
Because I had no answer.
Detective Hill stood beside us.
“We confirmed her identity.””
My head turned.
“What?””
“Fingerprints.””
Rachel looked confused.
“She’s my daughter?””
Detective Hill looked uncomfortable.
“She matches Lily’s records.””
The room spun.
I looked back through the glass.
The girl sat across from an officer, calm and composed.
Too calm.
Real Lily had been shaking all day.
This girl wasn’t scared.
She was waiting.
“That’s not her,” Lily whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
“What did you say?”” Detective Hill asked.
Lily pointed at the window.
“That’s not me.””
The fake Lily turned.
As if she heard.
Her eyes met mine through the glass.
Then she smiled.
A slow smile.
A smile that made my blood run cold.
Detective Hill immediately entered the room.
A few minutes later, he returned.
“She knows things only Lily should know.””
Rachel’s face collapsed.
“What things?””
“Family details.””
“Like what?””
“Your address. Daniel’s apartment. Her favorite foods.””
Rachel stepped back.
“That’s impossible.””
Detective Hill looked at the floor.
“She also knows memories.””
I looked at Lily.
“How?””
No one answered.
Then Lily spoke.
“She watched us.””
The room went silent.
“What?””
Lily swallowed.
“Mrs. Cole made us watch videos.””
My stomach twisted.
“What videos?””
“Families.””
She looked at Rachel.
“Your family.””
Rachel covered her mouth.
“She studied us?””
Lily nodded.
“She said knowing someone’s life makes it easier to become them.””
The words stayed in the air.
A child shouldn’t understand something like that.
A child shouldn’t have to explain something like that.
Detective Hill immediately called another officer.
“We need to reopen every missing child report connected to Brenda Cole.””
“Why?””
“Because I think we’ve been looking for missing children.””
He looked through the glass.
“When we should have been looking for stolen identities.””
The investigation exploded overnight.
Records were pulled.
Photos were compared.
Old interviews were reviewed.
And every path led back to Brenda.
But Brenda wasn’t talking.
She sat in an interrogation room with a lawyer beside her, wearing the same calm expression she had worn in her driveway.
Like she was still in control.
Detective Hill watched her through the window.
“She’s enjoying this.””
I stood beside him.
“She knows something.””
“She knows everything.””
“Then why won’t she talk?””
He looked at me.
“Because she’s waiting.””
“For what?””
Before he could answer, an officer rushed in.
“Detective.””
“What?””
“We found the man.””
The room changed instantly.
“Where?””
“At a motel three miles away.””
“Alive?””
“Yes.””
“Name?””
The officer handed him a file.
Detective Hill opened it.
His face changed.
I stepped closer.
“What?””
He looked at me.
“The man’s name is Thomas Cole.””
I frowned.
“Cole?””
Detective Hill nodded.
“Brenda’s husband.””
I felt a chill.
“Her husband disappeared seven years ago.””
“Exactly.””
“Then how is he here?””
Detective Hill closed the file.
“That’s what we’re about to find out.””
Thomas Cole sat in the interrogation room looking nothing like the monster I expected.
He looked ordinary.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
Wrinkled jacket.
That somehow made it worse.
Monsters were supposed to look like monsters.
Not fathers.
Not neighbors.
Not people who could stand behind you in a grocery store line.
Detective Hill entered.
I watched from outside.
Thomas stared at the table.
“You found her.””
Detective Hill stopped.
“Found who?””
Thomas looked up.
“Chloe.””
My heart stopped.
Detective Hill leaned forward.
“Where is she?””
Thomas smiled sadly.
“I’ve been trying to tell people for years.””
“Tell them what?””
“That Brenda never lost Chloe.””
The room went silent.
“Then where is she?””
Thomas looked toward the glass.
Straight at me.
May you like
And said:
“She’s been in that house the whole time.””
