Chapter 6 – The Woman in the Cemetery
Chapter 6 – The Woman in the Cemetery
Three days later, we buried someone who had died fifteen years earlier.
An empty coffin.
No body.
Only Elena's wedding ring.
Vincent insisted on holding the funeral anyway.
"If she's gone," he said quietly, "she deserves a place where her daughters can find her."
Rain soaked the cemetery.
Only a handful of people attended.
Family.
Trusted guards.
My mother.
Me.
Dani stood beside her father's hand, clutching her stuffed dolphin.
She never cried.
She simply stared at the empty grave as though she expected someone to climb out.
The priest had barely finished speaking when Dani suddenly tugged my sleeve.
Her eyes were fixed on a woman standing beneath a black umbrella nearly fifty yards away.
She wore sunglasses despite the storm.
Dark coat.
Gray scarf.
Perfect posture.
I signed.
Do you know her?
Dani nodded.
Then signed something that made my blood run cold.
She visits Mama.
I frowned.
"What?"
Vincent saw my expression.
"What did she say?"
Before I could answer, the woman turned and calmly walked away.
Vincent's instincts took over.
"Stop her!"
Half a dozen guards sprinted through the cemetery.
The woman never ran.
She simply disappeared behind a line of old mausoleums.
By the time security reached the spot...
She was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A white lily.
Freshly cut.
Wrapped around its stem was a small silver charm shaped like a butterfly.
My mother gasped the instant she saw it.
"No..."
"What is it?" I asked.
She looked terrified.
"Elena always wore butterfly charms."
Vincent picked it up carefully.
Something was engraved on the back.
She remembers.
That night, Vincent ordered every security camera from the cemetery reviewed.
Hours passed.
Nothing.
The mysterious woman never appeared on any footage entering...
Or leaving.
It was as if she had stepped out of thin air.
Until one technician noticed something strange.
"There."
He froze the image.
The woman wasn't looking at the grave.
She was looking directly into one camera.
Almost...
As if she wanted to be seen.
Then facial-recognition software returned a result.
Everyone leaned toward the monitor.
Match: 97.8%
Name:
Elena Moretti.
Status:
Deceased.
The room exploded with disbelief.
Vincent grabbed the monitor.
"Run it again."
The technician did.
Same result.
Again.
Same result.
Again.
Ninety-eight percent.
Every time.
The dead woman at her own funeral had just been identified by the system as Vincent's missing wife.
Before anyone could react, every light in the security room went dark.
Emergency generators kicked in seconds later.
The main monitor flickered back to life by itself.
No one had touched the keyboard.
A live video feed appeared.
Not from the cemetery.
Not from the estate.
From inside a small room with peeling blue walls.
A woman stepped into view.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Elena.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then, for the first time in fifteen years...
She spoke.
"Vincent..."
Her voice broke.
"If you're seeing this..."
"They finally found me."
The screen filled with static.
May you like
Then one final sentence appeared in white letters.
DON'T LET HER FIND THE SECOND DAUGHTER FIRST.
