“He was arguing with someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened to Lily?”
Daniel looked toward the dark hallway.
“She wasn’t afraid of my father.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
“She was afraid of the woman standing beside him.”
Eleanor suddenly whispered:
“No.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You remember her.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“Daniel…”
“She was wearing a red coat.”
Emily looked between them.
“Who was she?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I never knew her name.”
Eleanor suddenly walked backward.
Her face had lost all color.
“I know who it was.”
Emily turned toward her.
“Who?”
Eleanor whispered:
“My sister.”
Emily stared at her.
“You have a sister?”
“Had.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died before Lily disappeared.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No, Mom.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“I saw her.”
Silence.
“You saw Aunt Claire that night?”
Daniel nodded.
“But Claire had been dead for two years.”
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then Emily heard something.
A faint sound from behind them.
A child’s laughter.
She turned.
At the end of the hallway stood a little girl.
She wore an old-fashioned Halloween costume.
A white dress.
A black mask.
And she was holding a photograph.
Emily stared at her.
The girl didn’t move.
Daniel whispered:
“Lily?”
The little girl slowly lifted the photograph.
Then she pointed toward the wall.
Emily looked.
There was a security camera mounted above the staircase.
She suddenly remembered something.
The house had been renovated many times.
But that camera had been installed only six months ago.
Emily pulled out her phone.
“If the camera has been recording…”
Daniel’s face changed.
“We can see what happened tonight.”
They rushed downstairs.
The security system was connected to a television in the study.
Emily opened the recordings.
10:17 p.m.
The screen showed the upstairs hallway.
Nothing.
10:18.
Still nothing.
10:19.
A figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
Emily leaned closer.
The person was wearing a black mask.
Exactly like the one Lily had worn.
The figure walked toward the camera.
Then stopped.
Slowly, they removed the mask.
Emily’s breathing stopped.
Daniel whispered:
“No.”
The face on the screen belonged to someone they all knew.
Someone who had been downstairs at the party.
Someone who had been smiling and talking to guests all night.
Someone who had been pretending not to know anything.
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Who is that?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Because the person on the screen was Eleanor’s younger sister.
Claire.
The woman who was supposedly dead.
Emily turned toward Eleanor.
“You said she died.”
Eleanor was crying.
“I thought she did.”
The front door suddenly slammed downstairs.
Everyone in the house screamed.
Then the security monitor went black.
For several seconds, there was complete silence.
Then the television turned back on.
A new video appeared.
It wasn’t from the hallway.
It was from outside the house.
The footage showed a car parked across the street.
Inside the car sat an older woman.
She removed her mask.
It was Claire.
But Claire wasn’t alone.
Someone sat beside her.
A young woman.
Maybe in her late thirties.
Emily stepped closer to the screen.
The young woman slowly turned toward the camera.
Emily recognized her face immediately.
She looked exactly like the little girl in the photographs.
Daniel whispered:
“Lily.”
Eleanor dropped into a chair.
“No…”
Emily stared at the screen.
Lily was alive.
She had been alive all along.
But there was one thing none of them understood.
Why had she waited thirty-three years to come back?
The screen suddenly displayed a message.
Three words.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND.
Emily’s heart stopped.
Daniel looked at her.
“Emily…”
She slowly turned toward him.
“What?”
Daniel’s face was filled with fear.
“I never told you everything.”
Emily stared at him.
“What else is there?”
Before Daniel could answer, the front door opened.
Everyone in the house turned.
A woman walked inside.
She removed her black Halloween mask.
It was Lily.
Older now.
But unmistakably the same little girl from the photograph.
She looked directly at Eleanor.
Then at Daniel.
Finally, her eyes settled on Emily.
She smiled.
Not angrily.
Not sadly.
Almost peacefully.
Then she said:
“Happy Halloween, Mom.”
Eleanor began crying.
Daniel stepped backward.
Emily stared at Lily.
And then Lily said something that made the entire room go silent.
“I didn’t come back for revenge.”
She looked toward Daniel.
“I came back because Dad wasn’t the only person who lied that night.”
Daniel’s face went completely white.
Emily looked at him.
“What does she mean?”
Lily reached into her coat.
She pulled out an old cassette tape.
She placed it on the table.
Then she looked at Emily.
“Listen to it.”
Emily stared at the tape.
“What’s on it?”
Lily smiled.
“The truth.”
She turned toward the door.
Emily stopped her.
“Wait.”
Lily paused.
“Who was the woman in the red coat?”
Lily looked back.
For the first time, her smile disappeared.
She whispered:
“You already know her.”
Then she walked outside.
Emily stood frozen.
She looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor was staring at Daniel.
Daniel was staring at the floor.
And suddenly Emily understood.
The secret wasn’t over.
It had only begun.
Because the woman in the red coat wasn’t Claire.
And she wasn’t a stranger.
She was someone Emily had met before.
Someone who had been standing downstairs at the Halloween party the entire night.
Someone who had been watching them.
Someone who knew exactly what happened thirty-three years ago.
Emily slowly turned toward the crowded living room.
Dozens of costumed guests were laughing and talking.
But one woman wasn’t.
She stood completely still near the fireplace.
Watching Emily.
Wearing a red coat.
And smiling.
The Halloween party was never just a party.
It had been a reunion.
And Emily was the last person to realize it.
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