Chapter 4
I took Lily to the hospital.
She refused to let go of my hand.
Every nurse who tried to examine her had to explain each movement first.
No sudden touch.
No raised voice.
No closed doors.
I learned quickly.
Her cheek was bruised.
Her wrists were thin.
She had signs of neglect, old fear, and too many years of obeying adults who did not deserve obedience.
The doctor asked if she had allergies.
Lily looked at me.
“Nora said I’m allergic to talking.”
The nurse turned away.
Detective Harris waited in the hallway.
“We confirmed the grave records,” she said. “The child buried as Lily Cross was not your daughter.”
The floor seemed to move.
“And Amelia?”
Harris’s face tightened.
“We’re exhuming records. The original autopsy was signed by Dr. Marcus Vale.”
I knew that name.
He had been Nora’s uncle.
The doctor who told me Amelia suffered a sudden postpartum seizure.
The doctor who told me my baby did not survive.
I walked back into Lily’s room.
She was eating applesauce in tiny careful bites.
“Daddy?”
The word still hurt.
Beautifully.
“Yes?”
“Did Mommy die?”
I sat beside her.
“I was told she did.”
Lily touched the locket.
“She sang after.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Nora said Mommy went away. But I heard her singing in the walls.”
The walls.
Again.
Secrets inside houses.
I called Detective Harris back.
“My daughter says Amelia may have been alive after the night she supposedly died.”
Harris went still.
“Then we search every property Nora controlled.”
Lily looked at me.
“Will you find Mommy?”
I could not promise.
May you like
But I could not lie.
“I will look until there is nowhere left to look.”
