Chapter 2 - The Duplicate Key
Claire’s second call was to Sarah Klein, a family-law attorney she knew through Daniel’s estate.
Sarah listened without interrupting.
When Claire finished, she asked only one question.
“Has your family ever threatened to take Lily from you?”
Claire almost said no.
Then she remembered Thanksgiving.
Helen had been irritated because Claire planned to leave early.
“A child needs more than one unstable parent,” her mother had said.
At the time Claire assumed she meant Claire was exhausted.
Christmas had been worse.
Vanessa cornered her in the kitchen and asked whether Daniel’s death benefits were “really enough for Lily if something happened to you.”
Then there were the questions.
Who picked Lily up from school?
Did Claire still take medication to sleep?
How often did she cry?
Had she started dating?
Claire had treated them as intrusive family questions.
Now they sounded different.
“They’ve made comments,” she admitted.
“Write down every one you remember,” Sarah said. “And don’t confront them about motive yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if this was planned, you want them explaining themselves before they know what you have.”
The following morning the hotel manager called.
An electronic lock report showed Claire’s room had been opened five times while she was downstairs.
Vanessa’s key had been used twice.
A second duplicate key had been used three times.
“Duplicate?”
“Your reservation only came with two keys,” the manager said. “But another was issued yesterday morning.”
“To whom?”
“According to the desk note, an older woman identifying herself as the guest’s mother.”
Claire sat slowly on the edge of the bed.
Helen.
Her mother had obtained access to Claire’s room before Lily was ever locked outside.
“Did I authorize that?”
“Not according to our records.”
The manager sounded uncomfortable now.
“We’re reviewing how that happened.”
Claire thanked him and ended the call.
Lily was coloring at the little desk near the window.
“Mom?”
“Yeah, baby?”
Lily kept coloring.
“Are Grandma and Aunt Vanessa mad because I told?”
Claire crossed the room and knelt beside her.
“You never get in trouble for telling me something happened to you.”
Lily considered that.
Then she said something Claire had not expected.
“Aunt Vanessa said if people asked, I was supposed to say I got lost.”
Claire felt the back of her neck go cold.
“When did she say that?”
“When you went downstairs.”
“Before she put you outside?”
Lily nodded.
Claire picked up her phone.
The third call she had planned to make had been to cancel dinner reservations.
Instead, she called Sarah again.
“This wasn’t punishment,” Claire said.
“What do you mean?”
May you like
Claire looked at her daughter.
“I think they wanted someone to find her.”
