- PART 3
-
The bathroom door stood wide open.
No steam drifted into the hallway.
No lights were on.
No one was inside.
A cold wave rushed through my entire body.
“But… I heard the shower…” I whispered.
Lucas heard me.
“What do you mean?”
“The bathroom is empty.”
Silence.
Not just silence on the phone.
Silence throughout the entire house.
The water had definitely been running. I had heard Chloe speaking only minutes earlier.
I slowly walked toward the master bedroom.
Its door was slightly open.
I pushed it gently.
The room was empty.
The bed was perfectly made except for one side where the blankets looked as though someone had recently sat down. Chloe’s gray sweater lay folded across the foot of the bed.
Her slippers were beside the dresser.
Her purse rested on the vanity.
Everything looked completely normal.
Except Chloe herself was gone.
My breathing became shallow.
“Mom?” Lucas said again.
“I… I don’t understand.”
Then something caught my eye.
The bedroom window.
It was open.
Outside, the curtains fluttered gently in the October breeze.
I hurried over.
Looking down into the backyard, I expected to see Chloe gardening or perhaps talking on her phone.
Instead…
Nothing.
Only the maple tree swaying gently beside the fence.
No footprints crossed the freshly mowed lawn.
No gate stood open.
No sign that anyone had left.
A strange feeling settled deep inside me.
Someone had wanted me to believe Chloe had been upstairs.
But why?
“Lucas…”
“Yeah?”
“You said you actually saw her?”
“I was standing less than ten feet away.”
“You spoke to her?”
“No.”
“Did she see you?”
“I don’t think so. She had sunglasses on, even though we were inside the terminal.”
“Sunglasses?”
“Yeah.”
“Inside?”
“I thought it was odd too.”
I stared at the empty room.
“Mom…”
“What?”
“Something else happened.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“When I picked up her passport…”
“Yes?”
“The man sitting next to her looked straight at me.”
“So?”
Lucas hesitated.
“He smiled.”
“That’s all?”
“It wasn’t a normal smile.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“He smiled like he already knew who I was.”
The words sent chills racing across my arms.
“Then he quietly leaned toward Chloe and said something.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t hear it.”
“And then?”
Lucas exhaled slowly.
“She turned around.”
My pulse hammered.
“It was Chloe.”
“No doubt?”
“None.”
“She looked directly at me.”
“What did she do?”
Lucas’s voice became almost shaky.
“She smiled too.”
My heart stopped.
“But it wasn’t Chloe’s smile.”
I gripped the edge of the dresser.
“What are you saying?”
“It looked like her face.”
“But?”
“It didn’t feel like her.”
He struggled to explain.
“You know when someone looks exactly like someone you love… but something inside tells you they’re a stranger?”
I knew exactly what he meant.
Years earlier, after my husband developed Alzheimer’s, there had been moments when he’d looked at me with completely unfamiliar eyes.
The face was the same.
The person wasn’t.
Lucas continued.
“I almost walked over.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“The captain called me back into the cockpit.”
“So you left?”
“Yeah.”
“But before I walked away…”
He stopped again.
“What?”
“The man picked up Chloe’s passport.”
My heart skipped.
“I thought you said you had it.”
“I did.”
“I was holding it.”
“So how—”
“He had another one.”
I felt dizzy.
“Another passport?”
“Exactly the same.”
“Same picture.”
“Same name.”
“Everything.”
Neither of us spoke.
It wasn’t possible.
There couldn’t be two identical passports.
Not legally.
Unless one of them was fake.
Or…
No.
I refused to let my mind go there.
Just then, my cellphone buzzed in my apron pocket.
The caller ID flashed:
David.
I answered immediately.
“David?”
His voice sounded rushed.
“Mom, have you seen Chloe?”
I blinked.
“She’s supposed to be here.”
“I know.”
“I’ve been calling her.”
“No answer.”
“I figured maybe she left her phone at home.”
I looked around the bedroom.
The phone.
I searched the nightstand.
There it was.
Charging.
Still plugged into the wall.
“Mom?”
“It’s here.”
“What is?”
“Her phone.”
David went silent.
“She left without it?”
“I… don’t know.”
Lucas interrupted through the other line.
“Mom?”
“I’ve got David.”
“Three-way him.”
I quickly merged the calls.
Within seconds, both of my sons were listening.
David sounded confused.
“What’s going on?”
Lucas answered before I could.
“I think I just saw Chloe boarding my flight to Rome.”
David laughed.
“What?”
“I’m serious.”
“Lucas…”
“I’m not joking.”
“I found her passport.”
David interrupted.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“Because Chloe is supposed to be home.”
“Exactly.”
I closed my eyes.
Then quietly said,
“She isn’t.”
“What?”
“I heard her.”
“I answered her.”
“I heard the shower.”
“But there’s nobody upstairs.”
Both of my sons fell completely silent.
Then David asked the question neither of them wanted answered.
“Mom…”
“Yes?”
“Can you check the security cameras?”
I hadn’t even thought about them.
Last Christmas, David had installed cameras covering the driveway, front porch, backyard, and side gate after several packages had disappeared from the neighborhood.
I hurried downstairs into the study where the monitor sat.
My fingers trembled as I opened the recording.
“Tell us what you see,” Lucas said.
I rewound fifteen minutes.
The footage began playing.
There I was.
Walking into the kitchen carrying groceries.
Then Chloe arrived shortly afterward.
She smiled at the front camera as she unlocked the door.
She walked inside.
Exactly as I remembered.
Five minutes later…
She climbed the stairs.
Still perfectly normal.
Then…
The upstairs hallway camera activated.
We watched Chloe disappear into the master bedroom.
The bedroom door closed.
Thirty seconds later…
The bathroom light turned on.
The shower started.
I let out a breath of relief.
“See?” I said.
“I wasn’t imagining it.”
“No,” David agreed.
“Keep watching.”
Another minute passed.
Nothing happened.
Then…
The bedroom door opened.
Someone walked out.
But it wasn’t Chloe.
It was a man.
He wore black clothes, a baseball cap pulled low over his face, and a large duffel bag slung across one shoulder.
He quietly walked down the upstairs hallway.
Neither the bathroom door nor the shower stopped running.
The man descended the stairs.
He never once looked toward the kitchen where I had been washing dishes.
Instead, he slipped silently out the back door.
The timestamp showed he had left less than two minutes before Lucas called.
I felt every drop of blood drain from my face.
David spoke first.
“Who the hell is that?”
Lucas whispered something even worse.
“Mom…”
“What?”
“Where’s Chloe?”
-
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My Son Found My Daughter-in-Law’s Passport on His Flight… But She Was Standing Upstairs in My House
