Chapter 7: The Warning
Three days after Evelyn showed up at the hotel, I received a letter.
It wasn’t sent through the mail. Someone had slipped it under the door of our hotel room during the night. My father found it when he went out to get coffee in the morning.
He handed it to me without a word.
The envelope had no name, no return address. Inside was a single sheet of paper with neat, elegant handwriting:
Claire,
You are making a very big mistake. Grant is under a lot of pressure because of you. If you continue down this path, things will only get worse — for you and for the baby.
Think carefully about what you’re doing. Some mistakes cannot be undone.
— A concerned family member
I read it twice before handing it back to my father. My hands were shaking.
My father’s expression turned hard as he read it.
“This is from Evelyn,” he said. It wasn’t a question.
I nodded. “It sounds like her.”
He folded the letter carefully and put it into an evidence bag he had started keeping in his briefcase.
“This is good,” he said.
I looked at him, surprised.
“Good?”
He nodded. “She’s getting desperate. People who are desperate make mistakes. And mistakes give us more evidence.”
He looked at me seriously.
“From now on, you don’t go anywhere alone. Not even to the store. If I’m not with you, one of the military police officers I’ve arranged will be. Do you understand?”
I nodded. The fear that had been slowly fading was starting to come back.
That evening, while my father was on a call with the lawyer, I sat on the hotel bed and stared at my phone. I had received three missed calls from unknown numbers that day. I didn’t answer any of them.
May you like
I placed my hand on my belly and whispered, “I’m going to keep you safe. I promise.”
The baby kicked in response, as if they could hear me.
