Chapter 9 - THE MAN OUTSIDE THE DOOR
Evan shut off the lights.
Claire’s breathing quickened.
Grace moved beside the wall.
The man outside knocked again.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Nobody answered.
“We need to move your wife.”
Evan quietly pressed the emergency call button.
Nothing happened.
The panel was dead.
Grace whispered:
“They cut the room.”
Claire looked at the fetal monitor.
Still working.
Battery backup.
The doorknob turned.
Locked.
The man outside tried again.
Then stopped.
Silence.
Evan could hear his own heartbeat.
Grace grabbed a metal IV stand.
Claire stared at her.
“Please don’t.”
“I’m not letting anyone take another pregnant woman from this family.”
Those words stopped everyone.
Evan looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Grace’s face changed.
She hadn’t meant to say it.
“Grace.”
“Later.”
“No.”
Evan stepped closer.
“What pregnant woman?”
Before she could answer, footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Security officers shouted.
The man outside ran.
A crash followed.
Then yelling.
Detective Torres’s voice:
“Hands where I can see them!”
Evan unlocked the door only after hospital security identified themselves.
The man lay facedown at the far end of the hallway.
His baseball cap had fallen off.
He was perhaps forty.
Evan didn’t recognize him.
Grace did.
Her entire body stiffened.
“That’s Caleb Voss.”
Torres looked at her.
“You know him?”
“He worked at St. Agnes.”
“As what?”
“Security.”
Claire felt sick.
Everything led back to that hospital.
Torres handcuffed Voss.
“Where’s Judith?”
He smiled.
No answer.
Evan stepped into the hallway.
“Where is my mother?”
Voss lifted his head.
“You still call her that?”
Torres immediately turned.
“What does that mean?”
Voss laughed softly.
Evan stared.
“Answer me.”
Voss’s eyes moved toward Claire.
Then her stomach.
“Poor kid.”
Evan lunged forward.
Two security guards stopped him.
“Don’t talk about my baby.”
Voss’s smile widened.
“I wasn’t talking about your baby.”
The hallway went quiet.
Grace went pale.
Voss looked directly at Evan.
“I was talking about you.”
Torres hauled him upright.
“Take him downstairs.”
As officers dragged him away, Voss shouted over his shoulder:
“Ask your father which baby Judith actually gave birth to!”
Evan stopped moving.
Claire whispered:
“What?”
Grace looked horrified.
“I never heard that before.”
Evan turned toward her.
“You said Daniel was my twin.”
“The records say he was.”
“That man is saying something else.”
Claire’s contractions came closer together.
The doctor returned and insisted everyone clear the room.
This time nobody argued.
Claire needed medical care.
Evan stayed beside her.
Grace waited outside under guard.
Torres contacted state investigators.
Thirty minutes passed.
Then an hour.
Claire’s labor slowed after medication and hydration.
The doctor finally said the baby was stable.
Evan sank into a chair.
For the first time all night, he exhaled.
Claire watched him.
“You should talk to Grace.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m not asking you to leave the building.”
He looked at her.
Claire’s face was exhausted.
“Evan, I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“I may still leave.”
His eyes filled.
She continued before he could respond.
“Finding out your mother abused me doesn’t erase the fact that you helped her by refusing to believe me.”
He nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“I need time.”
“You’ll have it.”
“And when this baby comes, protecting us cannot mean controlling us.”
“I know.”
Claire studied him.
For once, he didn’t argue.
Outside, Grace suddenly entered.
Her face was white.
“Evan.”
“What?”
“They found Dad.”
Evan stood.
“Where?”
“At the old Mercer cemetery.”
“Is he okay?”
Grace didn’t answer immediately.
“He’s alive.”
“Then what?”
“He was sitting beside my empty grave.”
She held out a phone.
“Police found this in his hand.”
On the screen was a video Robert had recorded.
His face appeared in darkness.
He looked terrified.
Evan pressed play.
“Son,” Robert began.
“If you’re watching this, Judith knows I finally told Grace where Daniel is.”
Evan stopped breathing.
Claire sat upright.
Grace covered her mouth.
Robert continued:
“I have lied to you your entire life.”
Then he looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel isn’t your twin.”
The video glitched.
Robert’s next words arrived broken by static.
May you like
“He’s your…”
The recording cut off.
