Chapter 15 - Ten Minutes With My Mother
I did not visit Mom immediately.
Emma came first.
We stayed temporarily at a small apartment arranged through a victims’ support program because I did not want to return home until police completed their search.
Emma asked why we were sleeping somewhere new.
I told her we were having an adventure.
She called the pullout couch our camping bed.
For two nights, that was enough.
On the third morning, I met my mother.
She wore county-issued clothing.
Her hair was pulled back.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
No perfectly arranged breakfast table.
Yet she still looked at me like I was the child.
“You look tired.”
Those were her first words.
I almost laughed.
“You have ten minutes.”
“You always were impatient.”
“You have nine minutes and fifty-five seconds.”
Something flashed behind her eyes.
Anger.
Then it disappeared.
“I never wanted Emma hurt.”
“You told Vanessa to handle her.”
“I meant question her.”
“You told her to frighten a preschooler.”
“I was protecting this family.”
“From whom?”
“Andrew.”
“My husband?”
“He was going to destroy your father.”
“Dad destroyed himself.”
Mom leaned closer.
“You have no idea how the real world works.”
“I know how breakfast works.”
Her face tightened.
“You sit down.”
“You eat.”
“You don’t throw cookware at children.”
For the first time, she lost composure.
“I did not throw it.”
There it was.
The shield she had used her whole life.
She never threw the skillet.
She never drove the truck.
She never signed certain forms.
She simply created the conditions.
“You sent me upstairs.”
“I wanted privacy.”
“You knew Vanessa was unstable.”
“She is your sister.”
“She fractured Emma’s shoulder.”
“That was an accident.”
“She threatened her.”
“She was desperate.”
“You threatened Andrew.”
“He threatened us first.”
I stared at her.
“What is the password?”
Mom smiled.
“Andrew knew you would come.”
“You don’t know anything about Andrew anymore.”
“I know he hid the truth from you.”
“So did you.”
“I did it to keep you.”
That sentence affected me more than I expected.
“You didn’t keep me.”
I said quietly.
“You controlled the version of me you could use.”
Mom’s smile vanished.
“You think you’re different from Vanessa?”
“I know I am.”
“She chose family.”
“No.”
I stood.
“She chose fear.”
“You have seven minutes left.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s a bank account Emma will inherit.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“I don’t.”
“It contains more than you think.”
“I came for the password.”
She leaned back.
“Samuel.”
My biological father’s name.
“That’s the password?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because Samuel was not who you think.”
“I don’t think anything about him.”
“You will.”
I waited.
Mom looked at the camera.
Then she gave the password.
Breakfast417.
Investigators accessed the archive within an hour.
The first folder contained Andrew’s notes from the day he died.
The second contained Mom’s private financial ledger.
The third contained a video.
Andrew was sitting in his office.
He looked exhausted.
“If Rachel sees this, then Margaret found at least some of what I hid.”
I covered my mouth.
Andrew continued.
“Rachel, your mother believes the most dangerous thing I discovered was financial.”
“It wasn’t.”
May you like
He looked directly into the camera.
“The most dangerous thing was what she did to Vanessa.”
