Chapter 4 - THE FIRST CRACK IN THE LIE
Rebecca recovered quickly.
“She had a nightmare.”
Grant remained in the doorway.
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Rebecca stood.
“I was reassuring her.”
“You told her to say Evelyn scared her.”
Lily stared at her father.
Rebecca sighed as though exhausted.
“Grant, Lily is confused.”
“Stop saying that.”
Rebecca blinked.
He had never spoken to her like that.
Grant walked to Lily’s bed.
“Did Evelyn scare you?”
Lily shook her head.
Rebecca’s lips pressed together.
Grant continued.
“Did Rebecca tell you to say Evelyn scared you?”
Lily looked terrified.
Grant saw it.
He took her hand.
“No one is leaving because of what you say.”
Lily began crying.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She looked toward Rebecca.
Then back at him.
“She poured water on me.”
Rebecca’s face emptied.
Grant did not move.
Lily continued.
“She wanted me to call her Mom.”
“Lily—”
Grant raised one hand.
Rebecca stopped.
“She said Evelyn would disappear.”
Lily’s voice broke.
“Like Mommy.”
Silence filled the room.
Grant looked at Rebecca.
She immediately shook her head.
“She misunderstood.”
“She’s six.”
“She has trauma.”
“She has nightmares.”
“She confuses—”
“Get out.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“What?”
“Leave this room.”
“Grant.”
“Now.”
Rebecca walked out without another word.
In the hallway, her hands began shaking.
She had spent two years building her position.
She had comforted Grant when he could not sleep.
She had stood beside Lily’s hospital bed.
She had helped organize Claire’s memorial.
She had slowly turned grief into dependence.
She would not lose everything because a frightened child finally spoke.
She pulled out her phone.
The contact was saved under one letter.
A.
Rebecca typed.
We have a problem.
The reply came almost instantly.
Handle it.
She typed again.
Grant is suspicious.
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
Another message arrived.
Then give him something else to be suspicious of.
Downstairs, Grant found Evelyn packing.
“You’re not leaving.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Rebecca says otherwise.”
“This is my house.”
“She has been making decisions in it for a long time.”
Grant absorbed that.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the water?”
“I tried to tell you about other things.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
Evelyn folded a sweater.
“Do you?”
Grant looked ashamed.
“Tell me everything.”
Evelyn stopped packing.
Then she opened the bottom drawer of her dresser.
From beneath a stack of linens, she removed a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Claire.
Rebecca.
And a black sedan.
The picture had been taken in the Bennett garage three days before the crash.
Rebecca was crouching beside Claire’s car.
Grant stared at it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Your old groundskeeper.”
“He thought it was strange.”
“He gave it to me after Claire disappeared.”
“Why didn’t the police see it?”
“He said he gave them a copy.”
Grant looked up.
“They never showed me.”
Evelyn’s voice dropped.
“Then someone made sure you never saw it.”
At that exact moment, Anna Mercer’s private jet landed outside New York.
She stepped onto the tarmac wearing a charcoal coat and dark glasses.
Her attorney walked beside her.
“Bennett Group still doesn’t know you’re coming.”
“Good.”
“And your identity?”
“Anna Mercer.”
“For now?”
Anna looked toward the waiting car.
“For now.”
Then a child’s voice returned in her mind.
Mommy.
May you like
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, Claire Bennett was coming home.
