Chapter 7
We returned to Evelyn’s house after sunrise.
Lily was wrapped in Daniel’s coat.
She refused to let go of my hand.
Police had offered to take her directly to the hospital first, but paramedics examined her and found no serious injuries.
Cold.
Dehydrated.
Terrified.
But alive.
That was the only thing keeping me upright.
Evelyn stood in the doorway when we arrived.
The moment she saw Lily, she started crying.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Lily stopped walking.
Her fingers tightened around mine.
Evelyn took one step forward.
Lily hid behind me.
“No.”
Evelyn froze.
That one word hurt her more than any accusation could.
“I just want to see if you’re okay.”
“No.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Give her space.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Daniel’s voice was flat.
“You hit her.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“She was scared of you before she was kidnapped.”
“I know.”
“When she was in that boathouse, crying for us, she was already carrying fear you put in her.”
Evelyn’s shoulders shook.
“Daniel…”
“You don’t get forgiveness because something worse happened afterward.”
She looked at Lily.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily stayed behind me.
Evelyn whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
Detective Monroe entered.
“We need everyone in the dining room.”
Margaret.
Robert.
Evelyn.
Daniel.
Jonathan, with his shoulder bandaged.
Me.
Lily stayed with a female officer in the kitchen, where she could still see us through the doorway.
Monroe placed Michael’s phone on the table.
“Someone in this house gave Michael access to Lily.”
Robert shook his head.
“None of us would do that.”
“Someone did.”
Margaret began crying.
Evelyn looked at her sister.
“Margaret?”
“No!”
Monroe watched everyone.
“The message came from a prepaid phone.”
Daniel folded his arms.
“So how do we find who sent it?”
“We already did.”
Silence.
Monroe placed a small evidence bag on the table.
Inside was another phone.
“We found this behind the radiator upstairs.”
Margaret gasped.
Robert stared.
Evelyn looked confused.
“Whose room?”
Monroe turned toward Robert.
“Yours.”
Robert stood.
“No.”
Daniel moved toward him.
“Sit down.”
“I didn’t send anything!”
“Then why was the phone in your room?”
“I don’t know.”
Monroe raised her hand.
“There are fingerprints.”
Robert stared at her.
“Mine?”
“No.”
He sagged with relief.
Then Monroe looked at Margaret.
“Yours.”
Margaret stopped breathing.
Evelyn whispered, “Margaret?”
She shook her head violently.
“No.”
Monroe opened a folder.
“Your prints were found on the phone.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Margaret looked at me.
Then Lily.
Then Jonathan.
Her face collapsed.
“I didn’t know he would take Lily.”
I stood so quickly my chair fell.
Daniel grabbed me.
“You gave him access to my daughter?”
“No!”
“You told him where she was!”
“I thought he was coming for the letter.”
“You opened the back door!”
“I didn’t know!”
I lunged forward.
Daniel held me.
“You almost got my baby killed!”
Margaret sobbed.
“I swear I never wanted that.”
“Then what did you want?”
She looked at Evelyn.
“I wanted the truth to come out.”
Evelyn stared at her sister.
“Why?”
“Because you were going to bury it again.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You found Richard’s papers three months ago.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“What papers?”
Margaret laughed through tears.
“See?”
Evelyn whispered, “Margaret.”
“You told everyone you only found photographs.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Mom?”
Evelyn sank into a chair.
“There were documents.”
“What documents?”
“Copies of payments.”
“From Richard?”
“Yes.”
“To Thomas?”
“Yes.”
Jonathan closed his eyes.
Evelyn continued.
“And letters.”
“From whom?”
“Anna.”
I stepped closer.
“My mother wrote Richard?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Over many years.”
“What did she say?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“She begged him to leave you alone.”
I felt sick.
“Why would Richard bother me?”
“Because you were his daughter.”
The room fell silent.
“So it’s true?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Based on the letters, yes.”
Daniel gripped the table.
“And you knew this for three months.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe Claire might be Jonathan’s daughter.”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“I was angry.”
“You thought my wife might be my half-sister.”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“So you decided to announce it at your birthday dinner?”
“I lost control.”
“You slapped Lily.”
“I know!”
Daniel slammed his hand onto the table.
“No, you keep saying that like knowing is enough!”
Lily flinched in the kitchen.
Daniel immediately lowered his voice.
Evelyn started crying again.
Margaret spoke.
“That’s why I contacted Michael.”
Everyone turned.
“You knew him?”
“He contacted me first.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“How did he find you?”
“He said he had been tracking Jonathan.”
Jonathan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Michael believed Jonathan had Richard’s hidden evidence.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Margaret wiped her face.
“Michael told me Richard had destroyed his mother. He said Evelyn had covered it up.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“You believed him?”
“I believed parts.”
“You chose a stranger over your sister?”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“You spent our entire childhood choosing powerful men over everyone.”
Evelyn went still.
This fight was older than all of us.
Margaret continued.
“You married Richard even after I told you he frightened me.”
“You were jealous.”
“I was sixteen!”
Evelyn stared at her.
Margaret’s voice broke.
“He cornered me in the garage.”
The room went silent.
Evelyn whispered, “What?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
“I told you the night before your wedding.”
“You said he yelled at you.”
“Because that’s what you wanted to hear.”
Evelyn’s face crumpled.
Margaret cried harder.
“I hated him. I hated how everyone protected him. And when Michael told me there were documents that could expose Richard, I wanted them found.”
“So you helped kidnap Lily?” Daniel asked.
“No!”
Margaret shook her head.
“Michael said he would sneak in, take Anna’s letter, and leave.”
“You told him Lily was alone.”
“He asked where everyone was.”
“And you answered.”
“I thought he needed to avoid being seen.”
I stared at her.
“You saw my daughter in that room.”
Margaret nodded.
“And you unlocked the door.”
She began sobbing.
“Yes.”
My hands shook.
“You gave a stranger a path directly to a four-year-old child because you were angry at your sister.”
“I didn’t know he would take her.”
“Stop saying that!”
Lily cried in the kitchen.
“Mommy?”
I immediately went to her.
She lifted her arms.
I held her.
Behind me, Monroe told Margaret she was being arrested.
Evelyn screamed.
“No!”
Margaret didn’t resist.
As officers handcuffed her, she looked at Evelyn.
“You want to know the worst part?”
Evelyn stared.
“Michael wasn’t lying about everything.”
“What do you mean?”
Margaret looked toward me.
“Richard didn’t just know Claire was his daughter.”
My heart tightened.
“He tried to take her.”
I stopped breathing.
“When?”
“When Claire was a baby.”
Evelyn stared at her sister.
“How do you know?”
“Because Anna came to me.”
I stepped closer.
“You met my mother more than once.”
Margaret nodded.
“I helped her disappear.”
Jonathan stood.
“What?”
“After Richard found out Claire was his, he wanted custody.”
“He couldn’t just take me.”
“He had money. Lawyers. Police officers who owed him favors.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“Your father could make people disappear on paper.”
Daniel flinched at the word father.
Margaret continued.
“Anna was terrified. She came to me because she knew I hated Richard.”
“So you helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
“New Hampshire first. Then Maine.”
That explained my childhood.
Constant moves.
New schools.
My mother never staying anywhere more than two years.
“She wasn’t running from Thomas.”
“She was running from Richard.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“And you never knew?”
She shook her head.
Margaret laughed weakly.
“She never wanted to know anything that ruined her picture of Richard.”
Evelyn whispered, “Why didn’t Anna tell me?”
“She didn’t trust you.”
That landed hard.
An officer led Margaret toward the door.
Before she left, she turned toward me.
“There is one more thing.”
Monroe stopped.
“What?”
Margaret looked at Lily.
Then at me.
“Anna kept a second set of documents.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You helped her hide them.”
“No.”
“She told me only one thing.”
“What?”
“If Richard ever found her, Claire would know where to look.”
I stared at her.
“I was a baby.”
“She meant when you were older.”
“I don’t know anything.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“She said she hid the truth inside the safest memory of your childhood.”
Then the police took her away.
I stood holding Lily.
Safest memory.
My childhood had not contained many.
Then one came back.
My mother and me sitting beside a lighthouse in Maine.
Every year on my birthday.
She would take me there.
Same place.
Same bench.
Same little metal box where she kept seashells for me to find.
I looked at Daniel.
He saw it on my face.
“You know.”
May you like
I nodded.
“I think I know where my mother hid Richard’s last secret.”
