Chapter 5: Hannah
“Why would Hannah give you a letter addressed to me?””
Lauren didn’t answer immediately.
She stared at the envelope as if she regretted placing it on the table.
Mom reached for it.
I stopped her.
“No.””
Her eyes met mine.
“It has my name on it.””
“I know.””
I picked it up.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Dad’s capital M always leaned slightly to the right.
MICHAEL.
Nothing else.
The seal had already been broken.
I looked at Lauren.
“You opened it.””
“Yes.””
“You opened a letter my dead father wrote to me?””
“I needed to know what was inside.””
The casual way she said it stunned me.
“You needed to know?””
“Because your mother wasn’t thinking clearly.””
Mom straightened.
“My mind is perfectly clear.””
Lauren turned on her.
“You were ready to hand over a fortune to someone you met three weeks ago!””
“Because Thomas asked me to find her.””
“You don’t know that woman!””
“Neither did you when you offered her fifty thousand dollars.””
Lauren went silent.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
I recognized Dad’s handwriting immediately.
I couldn’t read more than the first few lines before my vision blurred.
Dad had written it shortly before his final surgery.
He said there was something about our family he had been too ashamed to tell me.
Not because he had done something wrong.
Because his father had.
He explained Rebecca.
Margaret.
The land.
Then I reached the sentence that mattered.
If Rebecca herself would not accept what should have been hers, Dad wanted her daughter to receive half the value someday.
But the letter contained something else.
A warning.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
Mom watched my face.
“What does it say?””
I looked at her.
“He says not to give Hannah anything until her identity is independently verified.””
Lauren threw up her hands.
“Exactly!””
Mom looked confused.
“Of course we would verify it.””
“You were already meeting her,” Lauren said.
“I was getting to know her.””
“You invited her here!””
I turned sharply.
“What?””
Mom froze.
“When?””
“She’s coming tomorrow,” Lauren said.
“Lauren!””
“Stop protecting secrets!””
I stared at Mom.
“You invited Hannah to my house?””
“For lunch.””
“Without telling me?””
“I wanted to explain everything first.””
“When? After tonight’s dishes?””
Her face fell.
I regretted the words immediately.
“Mom, I’m sorry.””
She nodded.
“I understand.””
“No. You shouldn’t have had to hide anything from me.””
Lauren laughed.
“That’s rich.””
I turned toward her.
“You’ve lost the right to criticize anyone for hiding things.””
She folded her arms.
“Fine.””
I returned to Dad’s letter.
At the bottom was a name.
A lawyer.
Samuel Price.
I knew him.
He had handled part of Dad’s estate.
“I’m calling Samuel tomorrow.””
Mom nodded.
“Good.””
Lauren shook her head.
“You should call him tonight.””
“Why?””
“Because Hannah already knows about the new offer.””
I stared at her.
“How?””
“I told her.””
Mom gasped.
“You what?””
“I wanted to see how she reacted.””
“You had no right!””
“She asked for more.””
Mom stopped.
“What?””
Lauren looked at me.
“When I offered fifty thousand, Hannah laughed. She said she knew exactly what the property was worth.””
“That doesn’t prove anything.””
“She knew about the developer.””
“So did you.””
“She knew the offer amount before I told her.””
That changed the room.
Mom slowly sat down.
“How?””
“I don’t know.””
Lauren reached into her purse again.
This time she removed a small business card.
“Someone has been feeding her information.””
I read the name.
GREGORY VALE.
The developer trying to buy Mom’s land.
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you get this?””
“Hannah left it behind when we met.””
Mom looked stunned.
“Why would she be meeting Gregory?””
“I don’t know.””
Lauren sounded almost desperate now.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.””
I studied her.
Even if she was telling the truth about Hannah, it didn’t excuse anything she had done to Mom.
“You could have told me.””
“I tried.””
“When?””
“Three months ago.””
I shook my head.
“No, you didn’t.””
“Remember when I asked what your mother planned to do with her property?””
I remembered.
We had been driving home from dinner.
I had assumed Lauren was asking because Mom had recently updated her will.
“That wasn’t telling me.””
“I was scared.””
“Of what?””
“That you would automatically believe Evelyn.””
Mom looked hurt.
Lauren continued.
“And I was right.””
I stepped closer.
“You stole my key. You opened private files. You contacted Hannah secretly.
You tried to pay her off. Then you bullied my mother when she discovered what you’d done.””
Lauren’s face crumpled.
“I panicked.””
“That explains it. It doesn’t excuse it.””
Silence.
Then the doorbell rang.
All three of us froze.
It was nearly ten-thirty.
Nobody should have been coming over.
The bell rang again.
I walked toward the door.
Lauren whispered, “Michael, wait.””
I looked back.
She had gone pale.
“What?””
She stared at the door.
“I think I know who that is.””
I opened it.
A woman stood beneath the porch light.
Maybe forty.
Dark hair soaked from the rain.
A small suitcase beside her.
She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.
“Michael?””
“Yes?””
She swallowed.
“My name is Hannah Bell.””
Behind me, Mom gasped.
But Hannah wasn’t looking at her.
She was staring at Lauren.
“You lied to me,” Hannah said.
May you like
Then she looked back at me.
“And if you don’t call the police tonight, your mother could lose everything by morning.””
