Margaret looked away.
“No.”
“It doesn’t.”
“What are you not telling me?”
Margaret’s silence answered first.
Then she reached into the cedar box.
She removed a small digital recorder.
Sophie blinked.
“What is that?”
“Something Nathan doesn’t know I have.”
Margaret pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Richard’s voice.
Older.
Weak.
Sophie recognized the tone of a sick man.
Margaret’s voice came next.
“Tell me where she is.”
Richard coughed.
“You never learn.”
“Richard, you’re dying.”
“Tell me where Emily is.”
Another cough.
Then Richard laughed.
“She isn’t Emily anymore.”
Sophie’s stomach turned.
The recording continued.
“What did you do?”
“I gave her a better life.”
“You stole my daughter.”
“I saved her from you.”
Margaret’s recorded voice cracked.
“Where is she?”
Richard whispered something.
Sophie leaned closer.
The audio was faint.
Then she heard it.
“Ask Nathan.”
The recording stopped.
Sophie stared at Margaret.
