Chapter 3: The Woman Who Looked Like My Wife Was Still Alive
Chapter 3: The Woman Who Looked Like My Wife Was Still Alive
My cousin’s words stayed in the air.
“Your wife has a twin.”
I stared at her.
Then at the frozen image on the laptop.
The woman standing over my father’s body had my wife’s face.
The same hair.
The same height.
The same silver ring.
But there was no way.
“My wife doesn’t have a twin.”
My cousin shook her head.
“That is what she told you.”
“No. I know her family.”
“Do you?”
The question hit harder than it should have.
I thought about every family gathering.
Every photograph.
Every story my wife had told me about her childhood.
She had always said she was an only child.
Her parents had died years before we met.
She had no siblings.
At least, that was what I believed.
My cousin closed the laptop.
“Your wife wasn’t lying about everything.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was hiding something because she was scared.”
“Scared of whom?”
“My uncle.”
I looked at the old photograph again.
“My father’s twin.”
She nodded.
“His name was Victor.”
I frowned.
“I’ve never heard that name.”
“Most people haven’t.”
“Why?”
“Because your father spent twenty years pretending Victor didn’t exist.”
“Why would he do that?”
She looked at the laptop.
“Because Victor was dangerous.”
I felt a chill.
“And my wife knew him?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she had a twin.”
“She does.”
“Where is she?”
My cousin hesitated.
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“She was supposed to be dead.”
I stared at her.
“Supposed to be?”
“Yes.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Who was she?”
“My wife’s twin was named Claire.”
I repeated the name silently.
Claire.
It sounded strangely familiar.
Then I remembered something.
Three years earlier, during our first year of marriage, my wife had received a letter.
She had read it and immediately burned it in the kitchen sink.
When I’d asked what it was, she’d said it was an old insurance notice.
I believed her.
Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Where did Claire die?”
My cousin looked at me.
“She didn’t.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Twenty-seven years ago.”
I stared at her.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you understand what happened.”
She opened her phone and showed me another photograph.
Two little girls stood beside a woman.
One was my wife.
The other was Claire.
They looked identical.
But Claire was holding something.
A small stuffed rabbit.
My wife was holding a red balloon.
I stared at the picture.
“Where was this taken?”
“A hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because they weren’t supposed to leave.”
I looked at my cousin.
“What happened?”
“My aunt gave birth to twins.”
“My wife’s mother.”
“Yes.”
“But everyone was told she had one daughter.”
“Because the hospital records were changed.”
“By whom?”
She looked at me.
“My father.”
I felt sick.
“Why would my father change another family’s records?”
“Because Victor paid him.”
“For what?”
“To make Claire disappear.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What did Victor want with her?”
My cousin shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
“You keep saying we.”
She looked away.
“Because I wasn’t working alone.”
“With my wife?”
“No.”
“With whom?”
She didn’t answer.
Then my phone rang.
My wife’s name appeared on the screen.
I answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
There was silence.
Then her voice.
“Are you with her?”
I looked at my cousin.
“Yes.”
My wife’s breathing changed.
“Then listen carefully.”
“Where are you?”
“Don’t come looking for me.”
“Why?”
“Because they know you found out.”
“Who?”
“Victor.”
I froze.
“Victor is dead.”
“No.”
My wife whispered,
“He isn’t.”
My cousin’s face changed.
I put the call on speaker.
“Tell me what happened.”
My wife was silent for several seconds.
Then she said,
“I didn’t go shopping.”
“I know.”
“I went to meet Claire.”
My heart stopped.
“Your twin?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“She found me.”
“Why?”
“Because she knows what our father did.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
“My father.”
I frowned.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
I looked at my cousin.
My wife’s voice continued.
“Your father and Victor were working together.”
“Working on what?”
“People.”
The word made my stomach turn.
“What does that mean?”
“They were studying how people could be manipulated.”
I remembered what my cousin had said earlier.
Behavioral conditioning.
Children.
Experiments.
It suddenly seemed connected.
My wife continued.
“Claire was one of their first subjects.”
I couldn’t speak.
“She was taken when she was six.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I spent years trying to find her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew what would happen.”
“What?”
“They would come for you.”
I looked toward the front door.
“Who?”
“My father’s people.”
My cousin whispered,
“They’re already here.”
I turned.
Outside the window, a black SUV had stopped across the street.
My heart began pounding.
My wife’s voice came through the phone.
“Do not leave the house.”
“Why?”
“Because they want you to.”
I looked at my cousin.
She was staring at the same SUV.
My wife continued.
“The man you’re looking for isn’t Victor.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Victor died three years ago.”
My cousin looked at me.
“But you just said he was alive.”
“I said someone using his name is alive.”
I felt a chill.
“Then who is he?”
My wife’s voice dropped.
“Your father.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“My father died three years ago.”
“I know.”
“So how can he be alive?”
“He wasn’t the man who died.”
Silence.
I looked at the photograph on the laptop.
My father.
Standing beside Victor.
Both men looked almost identical.
“What are you saying?”
“The body found three years ago wasn’t your father.”
My heart pounded.
“Then whose body was it?”
My wife didn’t answer.
“Tell me.”
She whispered,
“Victor’s.”
I stared at my cousin.
She slowly shook her head.
“No.”
My wife continued.
“Your father killed his own twin.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wanted to expose everything.”
My cousin suddenly stepped toward me.
“Hang up.”
I ignored her.
My wife said,
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Claire wasn’t the only child.”
I froze.
“What?”
“There were four.”
My cousin’s face went pale.
My wife continued.
“Two boys and two girls.”
“Who were the boys?”
“One was Victor’s son.”
“And the other?”
She hesitated.
Then said,
“You.”
My entire body went numb.
“What?”
“You weren’t born naturally.”
I couldn’t speak.
“You were part of the experiment.”
I laughed nervously.
“No.”
“I wish I were lying.”
My cousin grabbed my arm.
“Get away from the window.”
I turned.
The black SUV was still there.
Then its headlights switched on.
My wife whispered through the phone,
“Listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“Your cousin isn’t who she says she is.”
I looked at my cousin.
She was standing completely still.
“What do you mean?”
“She isn’t my cousin.”
My wife’s voice trembled.
“She is Claire.”
I stared at the woman standing in my living room.
My cousin’s face suddenly changed.
Not because she moved.
Because she started crying.
I stepped backward.
“No.”
She whispered,
“I’m sorry.”
The phone slipped from my hand.
My wife’s voice continued from the floor.
“Don’t trust her.”
My cousin wiped away her tears.
Then she looked directly at me.
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Who are you?”
She took off the necklace she had worn for years.
Behind it was a tiny photograph.
Two little girls.
The same photograph I’d just seen.
She turned it around.
There was a handwritten sentence.
Claire survived. Sarah did not.
I stared at her.
“Sarah?”
She nodded.
“My sister.”
“But my wife is—”
“Not Sarah.”
My heart stopped.
She stepped closer.
“The woman you married has been pretending to be Sarah for twenty-seven years.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Then the front door handle began moving.
Someone outside was trying to unlock it.
My cousin grabbed my hand.
“There’s a basement exit.”
I pulled away.
“Who is outside?”
She looked toward the door.
“The people who know which one of us is the real daughter.”
The lock suddenly clicked.
The door began opening.
And before I could move, a man’s voice came from the other side.
“Enough hiding, Claire.”
My cousin closed her eyes.
Then whispered,
“They found me.”
