Chapter 6
I hated the name Julia.
Not because there was anything wrong with it.
Because it represented a life my daughter almost disappeared into.
Julia Hale.
Rachel's daughter.
Daniel's daughter.
Margaret's granddaughter.
A little girl who would grow up with strangers telling her they had always been her family.
Maybe Luke would visit.
Maybe he would call himself Uncle Luke.
Maybe I would become the unstable woman they warned her about.
I couldn't stop imagining it.
At breakfast, my hands shook so badly I spilled coffee across the table.
My mother grabbed a towel.
"Claire, you need sleep."
"I need answers."
"You need both."
Eli pushed his cereal away.
"Who's Julia?"
I froze.
He had heard us.
I sat beside him.
"Nobody."
He frowned.
"Detective Walsh said June was going to be Julia."
I looked at my mother.
She looked helpless.
I chose the truth.
"Your dad and Grandma made papers with another name for June."
His face went white.
"Why?"
"Because they were planning something very wrong."
"Did Aunt Rachel know?"
"I think she knew some of it."
Eli stared at his hands.
"I liked Aunt Rachel."
"So did I."
"Can you like someone who does bad things?"
The question hurt.
"Yes."
"Can you still love Dad?"
I couldn't answer immediately.
Because I did.
Not the man he had become.
Not what he'd done.
But the Luke from my memories still existed inside me.
The man who stayed awake with me after my miscarriage.
The man who built a blanket fort with Eli when the power went out.
The man who cried when we first heard June's heartbeat.
Was all of that fake?
I didn't know.
"I can remember loving him," I said carefully. "But loving someone doesn't mean letting them hurt you."
Eli nodded slowly.
"Do you love me?"
"Always."
"Even though I'm his?"
I pulled him into my arms.
"You are yours."
That afternoon, child services confirmed Eli would remain temporarily with me and my mother pending court review.
It was the first good news I'd received.
Then Rachel asked to see me.
I said no.
She asked again.
No.
Finally she sent a voice message through her attorney.
"Claire, I have something Luke doesn't know I kept."
That got my attention.
Walsh arranged the meeting at the prosecutor's office.
I left June with my mother for the first time.
Walking away from her crib felt almost physically impossible.
I checked the baby monitor app three times in the elevator.
Rachel was waiting in a small conference room.
She looked terrible.
No makeup.
Hair tied carelessly.
Face swollen from crying.
For a second, I remembered her baby shower.
Rachel laughing while she held tiny socks.
Rachel resting her hand over her stomach.
Rachel saying, "Our girls are going to grow up like sisters."
The memory made me angry all over again.
I sat across from her.
"You have ten minutes."
She flinched.
"I deserve that."
"Don't tell me what you deserve."
She nodded.
Then she slid a phone across the table.
"That's my old phone."
"What am I looking for?"
"Messages with Mom."
Detective Walsh sat beside me.
"Have these been preserved?"
"My lawyer made a copy."
Walsh picked up the phone.
Rachel stared at me.
"Mom told me you wanted me to have June."
"I know."
"I believed her."
"You signed a contract."
"I didn't understand what it was."
"You signed a document saying Luke's debt disappeared if he transferred custody of his child to you."
"I thought it was about legal fees."
I laughed.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Her eyes filled.
"I don't expect you to believe anything I say."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because Mom lied to me too."
I leaned back.
"About what?"
Rachel looked at Walsh.
Then me.
"My baby didn't die naturally."
The room went still.
"What?"
Rachel immediately shook her head.
"Not like that. Nobody killed her."
Walsh's voice sharpened.
"Explain."
"Hope had a heart defect. We knew she might not survive. But my doctor said there was still a chance."
I remembered.
Luke had told me survival was almost impossible.
Rachel continued.
"Mom kept pushing me to schedule the induction on the same day as Claire's C-section."
My skin prickled.
"Why did you agree?"
"She said it would be easier for the family. One hospital. One schedule."
"Did your doctor recommend that date?"
"No."
Walsh wrote something down.
"Who changed it?"
"Mom called the office."
"Can she do that?"
"No. But I later confirmed the office received a message through the patient portal."
Rachel swallowed.
"It came from my account."
"You didn't send it?"
"No."
"Who knew your password?"
Rachel looked ashamed.
"Luke."
The room went cold.
"Why would Luke know your medical portal password?"
"He helped me set it up."
Walsh leaned forward.
"Are you alleging Luke changed your induction date?"
"I'm saying I didn't."
My heart began pounding.
Rachel looked directly at me.
"Claire, Mom wanted us in the hospital together."
I whispered, "We know."
"There's more."
Of course there was.
There was always more.
"Two months ago, Mom started telling me you were scared of being a mother again."
I clenched my jaw.
"She said you'd told Luke that if something happened to Hope, you would let me raise June because you already had Eli."
"I never said that."
"I know now."
"You should have known then."
"I should have asked you."
"Yes."
Rachel lowered her head.
"I was desperate."
"And that made my daughter look available?"
She started crying.
"I hate myself."
"That doesn't help me."
"I know."
"What did you keep?"
Rachel pointed to the phone.
"There are messages where Mom talks about making your records 'match reality.'"
Walsh unlocked the device.
We read them.
Margaret: CLAIRE IS EMOTIONAL. DO NOT CONTACT HER DIRECTLY.
Rachel: I WANT TO THANK HER.
Margaret: AFTERWARD.
Rachel: WHEN DOES SHE SIGN?
Margaret: LUKE IS HANDLING EVERYTHING.
Then another exchange.
Rachel: WHAT IF SHE CHANGES HER MIND?
Margaret: THAT IS WHY WE NEED THE HOSPITAL DOCUMENTATION CLEAN.
Rachel: I DON'T LIKE THIS.
Margaret: DO YOU WANT TO BE A MOTHER OR NOT?
My stomach turned.
Rachel whispered, "That's when I started getting suspicious."
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"The same time Luke gave you the bands in the garage."
Her head snapped up.
"You know about that?"
"There's a picture."
Rachel covered her face.
"What was in the bag?"
She lowered her hands.
"Blank bands."
"And you still believed I agreed?"
"Luke said they were needed because you wanted everything private."
I stared at her.
"Rachel."
"I know."
"That makes no sense."
"I know."
"Why didn't you stop?"
Her voice dropped.
"Because I wanted to believe it."
There it was.
The truth.
Not innocence.
Not complete guilt.
Something uglier.
She had seen the warning signs.
She ignored them because the lie gave her what she wanted.
I stood.
"I'm done."
"Wait."
She pulled a folded paper from her purse.
"There's one more thing."
I didn't sit.
She slid it toward me.
It was a handwritten note.
Luke's handwriting.
Six numbered lines.
Maintenance window.
Temporary tag reassignment.
Move C baby.
R to consult.
D vehicle B2.
Delay reporting 8–12 min.
Walsh took the paper immediately.
"Where did you get this?"
"Luke left it in my car three weeks ago."
I read line five again.
D vehicle B2.
Daniel.
Rachel's husband.
"What does D mean?"
Rachel closed her eyes.
"Daniel."
My chest tightened.
"Your husband was involved?"
Rachel nodded.
"He was supposed to drive the SUV."
"Did he?"
"I don't know."
"Where is he now?"
"I thought he was with his brother."
Walsh was already standing.
She stepped into the hallway and made a call.
Rachel stared at me.
"Claire, there's something you don't understand about the debt."
"What?"
"Luke didn't borrow that money for his business."
I turned back.
"What did he borrow it for?"
Rachel wiped her face.
"Mom says he lost it."
"How?"
"Investments."
"Almost half a million dollars?"
"He kept trying to make it back."
My mind raced.
Luke had always handled our finances.
He showed me spreadsheets.
Retirement accounts.
Savings.
College funds.
"You need to check your money," Rachel said.
I felt ice in my veins.
"Why?"
"Because last Christmas, I heard him tell Mom he could replace everything before you noticed."
Everything.
I left without another word.
At my mother's house, I logged into our joint investment account.
Password rejected.
I tried again.
Rejected.
I called the bank.
After identity verification, a representative transferred me to fraud services.
"Mrs. Mercer, are you aware that the investment account ending in 4402 was closed eleven weeks ago?"
My mouth went dry.
"No."
"The proceeds were transferred."
"Where?"
"To another account bearing your husband's name."
"How much?"
There was a pause.
"$212,684.17."
My vision blurred.
"What about June's savings?"
The representative checked.
The account I'd started during pregnancy for future childcare expenses had been emptied too.
Then Eli's education account.
Then our emergency savings.
Luke hadn't just sold my daughter to erase his debt.
He had already taken almost everything else.
And when I checked our mortgage account, I found one final surprise.
Our house had a second loan against it.
A loan I had never signed.
My name appeared on the paperwork anyway.
Luke had forged my signature.
But the worst discovery came from the transaction history.
Three days before June's birth, Luke had transferred $30,000 to a company I'd never heard of.
Walsh searched the name.
Her face hardened.
The company belonged to Owen Price.
The security contractor.
The same man who removed the camera.
The same man who sent me the photograph.
Luke hadn't paid him once.
He had paid him twice.
And suddenly I wondered why Owen had decided to help us only after the plan failed.
May you like
Maybe guilt wasn't the reason.
Maybe he was afraid Luke would tell police the truth.
