Chapter 4 - The File With Her Name
Emily stared at the folder resting on top of the others.
Her own photograph had been clipped to the front.
It was not a recent picture.
It had been taken years ago, before she married Daniel, when she still lived in a small apartment near the hospital. She recognized the green coat, the crowded bus stop behind her, and the coffee cup in her hand.
She had never seen the photograph before.
Her fingers went cold.
Someone had been watching her long before Daniel became her husband.
She opened the folder.
The first page contained basic information.
Full name.
Date of birth.
Medical qualifications.
Employment history.
Parents' names.
Previous addresses.
Nothing she could not imagine being found online.
Then the details became more personal.
Preferred route to work.
Typical shift schedule.
Allergies.
Banking habits.
The location of the spare key she kept behind the garden light.
Even the exact date she had first met Daniel.
March 21.
The same number used to lock the suitcase.
Emily turned another page.
A handwritten note appeared beneath a photocopy of their marriage certificate.
Subject remains unaware of Daniel's original assignment. Emotional attachment may compromise extraction.
Original assignment?
Extraction?
She read the sentence three times.
Daniel had not met her by chance.
Their first conversation at the café, the spilled coffee, the charming apology, the unexpected second meeting one week later—had all of it been arranged?
At the bottom of the page was a signature made only of initials.
R.M.
Emily searched the other folders.
Some contained photographs of strangers.
A retired judge.
A police officer.
A pharmacist.
A woman who appeared to be a journalist.
Several files had red stamps across the front.
COMPLETED.
Others said:
ACTIVE.
Her folder carried neither label.
Instead, one word had been printed in black ink.
UNSTABLE.
A sound came from the driveway.
Emily froze.
A car door slammed outside.
Daniel had been gone less than twenty minutes.
He should have been halfway to work.
Footsteps approached the garage.
Emily quickly closed the folder, pushed it beneath the others, and lowered the suitcase lid.
The lock refused to close.
The footsteps stopped outside the garage door.
The handle moved.
Emily grabbed a dusty blanket and threw it over the suitcase just as Daniel entered.
He looked surprised to see her there.
"What are you doing?"
She forced herself to smile.
"Looking for the old vacuum cleaner."
Daniel's eyes moved slowly around the garage.
Then they settled on the blanket.
For several long seconds, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Daniel stepped closer.
May you like
"You didn't touch anything else, did you?"
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