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The Substitute
She took a semester-long substitute teaching job in a quiet coastal town. Then she met Milo — the silent nine-year-old who draws the same burning house every day, with the words SHE'S STILL IN THERE. As Nora digs into a twenty-year-old fire, she uncovers a truth about herself she's spent her whole life running from. A 20-chapter mystery with two twists you won't see coming.
Chapter 16 — The Renners’ Secret
“Lena?” Nora’s voice cracked. “Where are you? Are you — is this real?”
“I’m in Portland. I’ve been — I’ve been following the news. The case. I saw —” The voice broke. “I saw your picture. You look like me.”
Rachel was staring, mouthing *what?* Nora put the call on speaker.
“Lena, listen to me. Are you safe?”
“Yes. I’ve been safe for a long time.” A shaky laugh. “I’m — I have a family. A husband. A little girl. She’s three.” A pause. “I named her Eleanor.”
Nora was crying. She couldn’t stop.
“How —” she managed. “How did you get away? Where have you been?”
“It’s a long story. Can we — can we meet? Just us? I need to see you. I need to know you’re real.”
“Yes. Yes, of course. Where?”
“The hospital. Maine Medical Center. The emergency entrance. Tomorrow, noon.” Lena’s voice was firm. “Where I left you. It’s time I stopped running from that place.”
She hung up.
Nora stared at the phone. Rachel stared at Nora.
“That was —” Rachel started.
“My sister.” Nora was laughing and crying at the same time. “My twin sister. She’s alive. She’s been alive. She has a daughter named Eleanor.”
“Nora.” Rachel’s voice was careful. “We need to tell Lindqvist. We need to verify —”
“No.” Nora stood up. “Not yet. She asked for just us. She’s been hiding for twenty years, Rachel. If the police show up, she’ll run. I need — I need to see her first. Just sisters.”
Rachel hesitated. Then she nodded. “Okay. But I’m coming with you. I’ll stay in the car. And you’re calling Lindqvist the second it’s done.”
“Deal.”
That night, Nora couldn’t sleep. She sat at Rachel’s kitchen table and thought about everything she knew.
Lena — the brave one — taken by Thomas. Kept in a house with no windows. Escaped — somehow — and brought Nora to a hospital. Then — what? Gone back? Been recaptured? Or —
Her phone buzzed. A text from Tom Renner:
*Can you come over? We need to talk. It’s about Milo. Don’t bring anyone.*
Nora frowned. It was 11 p.m. She showed Rachel.
“That’s weird,” Rachel said. “Why ‘don’t bring anyone’?”
“I don’t know. But Tom’s a good man. If he says come —” Nora grabbed her keys. “I’ll be quick.”
“Nora —” Rachel started.
“I’ll call you when I get there.” She was already out the door.
The Renners’ house was dark when she arrived. No police cars. No lights. Just the porch light, flickering.
Nora knocked. No answer. She tried the door — unlocked.
“Tom? Sarah?”
Silence.
She stepped inside. The living room was empty. The kitchen — empty. Upstairs —
“Milo?” she called.
A sound from the basement. A thump.
Nora’s heart hammered. She crept down the basement stairs.
The basement was finished — a playroom, with toys and a small TV. And in the middle of the room, tied to a chair —
Milo.
Duct tape over his mouth. His eyes wide with terror.
“Milo!” Nora ran to him, ripping the tape off.
“Lena — behind you —” he gasped.
Nora spun around.
A man stood in the shadows by the stairs. Older now, gray-haired, but she’d seen his photograph. She knew that face.
Thomas Ashford.
Alive.