Chapter 6
For several seconds, all I could hear was the refrigerator humming.
Dad stared at the paper.
I stared at Dad.
Custody.
The word made no sense.
My mother was dead.
There had never been a custody fight.
There was nobody else.
“Dad?”
He folded the document.
Too fast.
“What is that?”
“Nothing.”
Richard Vale gave him a look.
Dad's head snapped toward him.
“Don't.”
I stood.
“Don't what?”
Dad didn't answer.
My stomach tightened.
“What's in the record?”
“Emily.”
“No.”
I hated how my voice sounded.
Small.
Scared.
“Don't tell me it's nothing after everything that happened today.”
Dad closed his eyes.
Dr. Bennett quietly said, “Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“She deserves to hear it from you.”
His shoulders dropped.
The strongest person I knew suddenly looked exhausted.
He sat down.
“When you were six,” he began, “about eight months after your mother died, I got into trouble.”
I swallowed.
“What kind?”
“A fight.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“You?”
“Yes.”
Dad hated unnecessary violence.
He had spent my entire childhood teaching me that self-defense ended the second escape became possible.
“What happened?”
“A man was drunk. He was harassing a waitress. I told him to leave her alone.”
Dad looked at his hands.
“He followed me outside.”
“And?”
“We fought.”
“Were you arrested?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
He had never told me.
“What happened?”
“The charges were eventually dismissed.”
“Why?”
“Security video showed he attacked first.”
I stared at him.
“That doesn't sound like something that would make you lose custody.”
“It wouldn't.”
Richard Vale said quietly, “The sealed record Mrs. Carter obtained wasn't about that arrest.”
Dad looked at him sharply.
Vale continued.
“It was the psychological evaluation afterward.”
I turned toward Dad.
His face had changed.
“Psychological evaluation?”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“I wasn't doing well after your mom died.”
My anger disappeared.
“Dad.”
“I wasn't dangerous.”
“I didn't say—”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“I had nightmares. Panic attacks. I wasn't sleeping. That fight scared me because I realized how angry I was at everything.”
He swallowed.
“So I asked for help.”
My eyes burned.
“You went to therapy?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You were six.”
“Later.”
He gave a sad smile.
“Later, I didn't know how.”
I sat down.
Richard Vale tapped the paper.
“That evaluation was sealed.”
Dr. Bennett asked, “How did Rebecca get it?”
“That's what concerned me.”
Vale looked at Mr. Carter.
“When your wife gave it to me, she said she wanted to know whether it could support an anonymous child welfare complaint.”
Mr. Carter looked horrified.
“She wanted Emily removed from her father?”
Vale nodded.
Dad stood again.
His chair nearly fell.
“Why?”
Vale's voice remained calm.
“If Emily was temporarily removed from your home, she could miss school.”
My stomach turned.
“No.”
“She could also suffer academically.”
“No.”
“And depending on how the situation was framed, the school might have grounds to suspend her scholarship pending investigation.”
Dad walked away from the table.
For a moment I thought he might punch the wall.
Instead, he pressed both hands against the counter.
Mr. Carter whispered, “Rebecca would never—”
Vale looked at him.
“She asked me directly.”
Mr. Carter stopped.
Dr. Bennett stared at him.
“Thomas, how much do you really know about your wife?”
His face broke.
“Apparently nothing.”
Officer Greene had been listening silently.
He spoke.
“Mr. Vale, you're going to need to provide that information formally.”
“I expected that.”
“And explain how you obtained these documents.”
“I didn't obtain them. Mrs. Carter gave them to me.”
Officer Greene looked at Dad.
“Mr. Miller, we may need copies.”
Dad nodded.
I looked at Vale.
“Why are you telling us?”
He hesitated.
That scared me.
“Because today someone called me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they say?”
“They asked whether I still had surveillance photos of your family.”
Dad turned.
“Someone knows you investigated us.”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That I did.”
“And?”
“They offered me ten thousand dollars for everything.”
Mr. Carter's face hardened.
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Vale looked offended.
“I investigate people. I don't sell private files to anonymous callers.”
Dad gave him a cold look.
“You followed my daughter for money.”
Vale accepted that.
“Yes.”
I asked, “Did you ever photograph inside our house?”
“No.”
“Did you come onto our property?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Mrs. Carter where my bedroom was?”
His face changed.
“No.”
Dad noticed.
“What?”
Vale hesitated.
“She asked me.”
The room went silent.
“When?” Dad demanded.
“During the second week.”
“What exactly did she ask?”
“Which bedroom was Emily's.”
My stomach twisted.
Dad's face became terrifying.
“And you answered?”
“No.”
Vale shook his head.
“I told her that wasn't relevant to the investigation she hired me for.”
“Did she know our address?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have photographs of the exterior?”
“Yes.”
Dad stepped toward him.
Officer Greene moved closer.
Vale didn't flinch.
“I didn't break into your house.”
“You gave a woman who wanted to destroy my child surveillance information.”
“I gave her what she legally paid me to collect.”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“That's supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
Vale looked at me.
“That's why I'm here.”
Dr. Bennett asked, “You feel guilty?”
“No.”
That surprised everyone.
Vale continued.
“I feel responsible.”
Those words landed differently.
He opened his phone.
“I terminated the contract when Mrs. Carter asked me to contact child services anonymously.”
He pulled up an email.
“I refused.”
Then another.
“She threatened to sue.”
Another.
“I refunded half the money.”
Another.
“And I kept copies of our communications because I assumed eventually she might try to claim I did something I didn't.”
Mr. Carter read them.
His face grew paler with each one.
Dad asked, “Can we have copies?”
“Yes.”
Vale emailed everything to Officer Greene.
Then to Dad.
Mr. Carter walked toward the living room.
He called his wife.
She answered quickly enough that I heard her voice.
“Thomas?”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Is Vanessa there?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to put me on speaker.”
“Why?”
“Rebecca.”
Something in his voice stopped her.
A moment later she said, “Fine.”
Mr. Carter looked at Dad.
Dad nodded.
Then Mr. Carter said, “Did you hire Richard Vale to investigate Emily Miller?”
Silence.
Finally Mrs. Carter answered.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Vale almost smiled.
Mr. Carter's eyes closed.
“Wrong answer.”
“What does that mean?”
“He's standing in Emily's house.”
Silence again.
Then Rebecca Carter's voice changed.
“Thomas, listen to me.”
“No. You listen.”
“Richard is unstable.”
Vale rolled his eyes.
“He was terminated because he crossed professional boundaries.”
Mr. Carter looked at Vale.
Vale shook his head.
Mr. Carter's jaw clenched.
“Did you give him Daniel Miller's sealed psychological record?”
Mrs. Carter stopped talking.
“Rebecca?”
When she finally answered, her voice was quieter.
“I was protecting Vanessa.”
I felt sick.
“From what?” Mr. Carter asked.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“Emily has been targeting Vanessa for years.”
I stood.
Dad touched my shoulder.
Mrs. Carter continued.
“She manipulates teachers. She humiliates Vanessa academically. She knows exactly what she's doing.”
I couldn't believe it.
I whispered, “By getting better grades?”
Mrs. Carter heard me.
Her voice became sharp.
“Is she there?”
Mr. Carter said, “Yes.”
“Of course she is.”
Something in me snapped.
I stepped toward the phone.
“Why do you hate me?”
Dad looked at me.
Mr. Carter didn't stop me.
Mrs. Carter went silent.
I asked again.
“I never did anything to you. Why do you hate me?”
“You embarrassed my daughter.”
“She tore up my test.”
“You've been competing with her since you arrived.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I was taking classes.”
“You knew what that medal meant to her.”
I stared at the phone.
“You're insane.”
Dad quietly said my name.
But Mr. Carter didn't correct me.
Mrs. Carter laughed.
“You think this is about one medal?”
Dr. Bennett moved closer.
“What is it about, Rebecca?”
Mrs. Carter heard her voice.
“Oh, wonderful. Margaret Bennett.”
“Answer the question.”
Mrs. Carter sighed.
Then she said something none of us expected.
“Ask Margaret why Emily received the scholarship.”
I turned toward Dr. Bennett.
Her face went still.
Dad noticed.
“What does she mean?”
Dr. Bennett didn't answer.
Mrs. Carter laughed softly through the phone.
“Go ahead, Margaret.”
Mr. Carter frowned.
“Rebecca, stop playing games.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Everyone thinks Emily earned her place there purely because she was some brilliant poor little orphan.”
Dad stepped forward.
“She earned every grade.”
“I didn't say she didn't.”
Dr. Bennett whispered, “Rebecca.”
“Tell them.”
I stared at Dr. Bennett.
“Tell us what?”
Her eyes filled with something I couldn't identify.
Regret.
Fear.
Maybe both.
Dad looked at her.
“Margaret.”
She slowly sat down.
Mrs. Carter spoke through the phone.
“Emily's mother wasn't just some random applicant's mother.”
My breathing stopped.
Dr. Bennett looked at me.
“Your mother and I knew each other.”
I stared.
“What?”
Dad looked equally shocked.
“No, you didn't.”
Dr. Bennett's voice became quiet.
“Yes.”
“How?”
She looked at Dad.
“Before Sarah married you.”
My mother's name hit me harder than anything else that day.
Dad shook his head.
“She never mentioned you.”
“I know.”
Mrs. Carter laughed bitterly.
“Of course she didn't.”
Mr. Carter snapped, “Rebecca, enough.”
But she continued.
“Ask Margaret who Emily's grandfather was.”
I stared at Dad.
He looked confused.
My mother's father died before I was born.
At least that was what I'd been told.
Dr. Bennett whispered, “Rebecca.”
“What?”
“Don't.”
Mrs. Carter's voice became almost triumphant.
“Why? You've hidden it for sixteen years.”
Dad slammed his hand onto the table.
“Someone tell me what the hell she's talking about.”
Dr. Bennett looked at me.
For a long moment she couldn't speak.
Then she said, “Emily, your grandfather wasn't dead when you were born.”
My skin went cold.
“What?”
“He died when you were three.”
Dad stared at her.
“Sarah told me her father died before we met.”
Dr. Bennett nodded slowly.
“She lied.”
Dad stepped back as if she'd hit him.
I could barely breathe.
“Why?”
Dr. Bennett looked toward the old photograph of Mom.
“Because she didn't want him to know you existed.”
My voice shook.
“Who was he?”
Nobody answered.
Mrs. Carter did.
Through the phone, she said the name.
“Charles Bennett.”
I looked at Dr. Bennett.
Same last name.
Her eyes filled with tears.
And suddenly I understood.
“No.”
Dr. Bennett swallowed.
“Charles was my brother.”
My legs nearly gave out.
Dad caught my arm.
I stared at the woman who had funded my education.
The woman who had appeared at school just when everything fell apart.
The woman who somehow knew exactly how much danger I was in.
“You're my aunt?”
Dr. Bennett whispered, “Great-aunt.”
The room blurred.
“And my scholarship?”
Her face broke.
“You earned it.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
She looked down.
I stepped away from Dad.
“Did you choose me because I'm family?”
Dr. Bennett's silence gave me the answer.
My stomach dropped.
Mrs. Carter spoke one last time.
“Now you understand.”
Mr. Carter grabbed the phone.
“Rebecca, I'm coming home.”
“Thomas—”
He ended the call.
I stared at Dr. Bennett.
Everything I believed about myself suddenly felt unstable.
My school.
My scholarship.
My mother.
My family.
Then my phone buzzed again.
Another unknown message.
I looked down.
This one contained no threat.
Only a photograph.
A woman standing beside my mother.
Both young.
Both smiling.
The woman was Dr. Bennett.
May you like
Underneath the photo were six words.
ASK HER WHAT YOUR MOTHER STOLE.
