The police reopened Anna Miller's case that afternoon.
Officer Harris contacted investigators who had access to archived records.
The old files were stored in a county building several miles away.
Daniel and Emma waited while Harris searched.
Lily was still at the clinic.
She was safe.
That was the only reason Emma could breathe.
But the more they learned, the more frightening the pattern became.
Children had been approached at night.
A stranger had used food to lure them outside.
A blanket had been involved.
A tree had become part of the scene.
And every child had remembered almost nothing.
Except Anna.
She had remembered enough to frighten someone.
Harris returned with a folder.
"Your father's name appears three times."
Emma stared.
"Why?"
"Because he gave statements after Anna's disappearance."
"What did he say?"
"That he had seen a stranger near the neighborhood."
"Did he identify Thomas Reed?"
"No."
Emma's voice tightened.
"Why not?"
"Because Thomas provided an alibi."
Daniel looked at her.
"Was it verified?"
Harris shook her head.
"Not properly."
Emma closed her eyes.
Thomas had always been trusted.
He had helped her father repair the house.
He had attended family dinners.
He had once given Emma a bicycle.
She remembered him as a gentle man.
But memories could be incomplete.
"Where did Thomas live?" Daniel asked.
Harris checked the file.
"Three streets away."
Emma looked up.
"That's close."
"Very."
They drove to the old neighborhood.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Snow covered the roof.
The windows were boarded.
A rusted mailbox leaned sideways.
Daniel stood beside Emma.
"Do you want to go in?"
She nodded.
The police opened the door.
Inside, the house smelled damp.
Old furniture remained beneath plastic sheets.
The hallway wallpaper had peeled.
A child's drawing was still taped to one wall.
Emma stopped.
It showed a tree.
And a black bowl.
Daniel looked at her.
"That can't be coincidence."
Officer Harris photographed it.
They searched the rooms.
In the basement, they found boxes.
Most contained ordinary household items.
Then Daniel noticed a metal cabinet.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens.
Children.
Neighborhood houses.
Snow-covered yards.
Trees.
Emma felt sick.
"Why would he have these?"
Harris began cataloging them.
Some photographs were old.
Some were recent.
One showed Lily.
Taken from across the street.
Emma's knees nearly gave way.
"When was this taken?"
Harris checked the image.
"Three weeks ago."
Daniel's face hardened.
"Thomas has been dead five years."
Nobody spoke.
Then Emma noticed something.
The photograph was printed recently.
The person who took it was alive.
Someone had inherited Thomas's records.
Or his methods.
A notebook lay beneath the photographs.
Daniel opened it.
Names were listed.
Anna.
Another child.
Another.
Then Lily.
Beside Lily's name was a date.
The night before the incident.
Emma's hands shook.
"Who wrote this?"
Harris examined the handwriting.
"We'll compare it with Thomas's."
A second name appeared at the bottom.
Miller.
Mrs. Miller.
Daniel looked up.
"Why would they target her again?"
Harris turned the page.
There was an address.
Not Mrs. Miller's.
Emma's father's old house.
The house where Emma had grown up.
Emma stared.
"My father knew."
"Maybe," Harris said.
"Maybe?"
"We need evidence."
They drove there.
The house had been sold after Emma's father died.
The current owner allowed them inside.
Emma walked through the hallway.
Memories came back.
Her father's study.
The fireplace.
The old bookshelf.
She remembered a locked drawer.
"Wait."
Daniel followed her.
She pointed.
"My father kept documents here."
The drawer had been removed.
But beneath the desk was a loose floorboard.
Daniel lifted it.
Inside was another box.
Emma opened it.
A letter.
Her father's handwriting.
This time, it was addressed to Lily.
Emma stared.
"That's impossible."
The date was twenty years old.
Before Lily had been born.
Daniel read it.
The letter said that one day, someone might try to repeat what had happened to Anna.
If that happened, the family needed to look beneath the old tree.
Emma felt her heart race.
They returned to the backyard.
The tree was older now.
Its branches were thick.
Snow covered the ground.
Daniel searched beneath it.
At first, nothing.
Then his shovel struck metal.
They dug.
A small metal container emerged.
Inside was a cassette tape.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Emma's father and Thomas standing together.
Between them was another man.
The same stranger from Anna's photograph.
On the back was a date.
The night Anna disappeared.
Emma stared.
"Who is the third man?"
Harris said, "We don't know."
Daniel looked at the cassette.
They found an old player in the house.
The tape crackled.
Then Emma's father's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, something happened again."
Emma covered her mouth.
His voice continued.
"I was wrong to believe Thomas would stop."
A second voice interrupted.
Thomas.
"You promised."
Emma's father answered.
"I promised to protect the children."
Thomas said, "You can't."
Then came silence.
A door slammed.
The recording resumed.
Emma's father whispered.
"The man you are looking for isn't the person who carried the blanket."
Daniel looked at Emma.
"What?"
The tape continued.
"He's the one who decides which child will be chosen."
Emma felt a chill.
"Chosen for what?"
Her father's voice answered.
"To remember."
The tape ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Officer Harris's phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
Daniel watched her.
She lowered the phone.
"Lily is missing."
Emma's face went white.
"What?"
"The clinic."
Daniel grabbed his coat.
"How?"
"Someone entered through a service corridor."
Emma ran for the door.
Harris followed.
Daniel caught her arm.
"We need to stay together."
"My daughter is there."
"I know."
They rushed through the snow.
The clinic was surrounded by police vehicles.
Inside, nurses were running through hallways.
A security guard pointed toward the rear exit.
"She was taken less than five minutes ago."
Emma could barely breathe.
"Where?"
"We don't know."
Daniel saw something on the floor.
A floral blanket.
Lily's blanket.
He picked it up.
A small black thread was caught in the fabric.
And beneath it lay a folded note.
Daniel opened it.
Three words.
THE TREE REMEMBERS.
Emma stared at the note.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Lily stood in the snow.
She was alive.
Behind her was the old apple tree.
And beside the trunk stood a man wearing a black coat.
Daniel looked at Emma.
"We're going there."
Officer Harris shook her head.
"We don't know if it's a trap."
Daniel looked at the photograph.
"It is."
"Then we don't walk into it."
Emma wiped her tears.
"We don't have a choice."
Harris looked at her.
Emma's voice steadied.
"He's already chosen the place."
Daniel nodded.
"We choose what happens next."
They ran toward the waiting police vehicles.
Outside, snow began falling harder.
The old tree waited somewhere beyond the dark road.
And this time, the family knew exactly what they were walking toward.
Click Here to continue read next: PART5: The Snowstorm Hid More Than Footprints, and Daniel Soon Realized the Man Waiting Beneath the Tree Had Prepared for Their Arrival
When Daniel Looked Outside and Saw His Daughter Hanging From the Tree, He Realized the Winter Morning Had Gone Terribly Wrong
Part 4 of 8
