Chapter 10 - THE TARGET WAS ETHAN
Natalie looked older than thirty-three.
Fear had aged her.
When Ethan entered the hospital interview room, she sat beneath a thin blanket with both hands wrapped around a paper cup.
Detective Pierce remained near the door.
A victim advocate sat nearby.
Natalie looked at Ethan for a long time.
“I’m sorry.”
Those were her first words.
Ethan sat across from her.
“For what?”
“For disappearing.”
“You were afraid.”
“I should have helped Mara.”
“You tried.”
“Not enough.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Tell me what you meant about me.”
Natalie looked toward Pierce.
“I want immunity.”
Pierce answered.
“That isn’t something I can promise.”
“I committed crimes.”
“What crimes?”
“I moved money.”
Ethan felt his jaw tighten.
“For Corinne?”
“For Evelyn.”
“Why?”
Natalie stared into the cup.
“Because they had Derek.”
Ethan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Natalie finally looked up.
“Twelve years ago, I discovered Evelyn and Corinne were using student identities to open accounts.”
“Identity theft?”
“Yes.”
“I threatened to report them.”
“What happened?”
“They made me disappear.”
Ethan went still.
Natalie continued.
“They staged messages saying I wanted to leave.”
“They emptied a savings account so it looked like I took money.”
“They convinced Derek I had gotten involved with criminals.”
“Then Evelyn told me if I went to police, Derek would be arrested for things she had made him do.”
Pierce leaned forward.
“What did she make him do?”
“Move money.”
“Anything violent?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Later.”
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
“Why didn’t you run?”
“I did.”
“More than once.”
“They found me.”
“How?”
“Corinne.”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“She studies people.”
“She finds their weaknesses.”
“She knew Derek was mine.”
“So you helped them?”
“Yes.”
“With money?”
“Yes.”
“Passports?”
“Yes.”
“Forged property transfers?”
Natalie nodded.
“What does any of that have to do with me?”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“At the foundation gala, you were nice to me.”
Ethan frowned.
“I barely remember.”
“I know.”
“You introduced me to an internship director.”
A memory surfaced.
A nervous girl.
A résumé.
Ethan had made a phone call.
“That was you?”
“Yes.”
Natalie almost smiled.
“That internship could have gotten me away from Corinne.”
“But?”
“She sabotaged it.”
“Why?”
“Because she saw you helping me.”
Ethan stared.
“That doesn’t explain why she targeted me.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Corinne became obsessed with the idea that you could rescue people.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That sounds insane.”
“It is.”
“She watched you and Mara start dating.”
“She watched Mara become part of your family.”
“She decided Mara had stolen the life Corinne deserved.”
Ethan’s skin crawled.
“She wanted me before she knew me.”
“She wanted what you represented.”
“What?”
“Safety.”
“Money.”
“Status.”
“A family that opened doors.”
Natalie paused.
“And someone who made other people feel protected.”
Ethan looked down.
After Mara died, Corinne constantly praised him for being protective.
At the time, it felt affectionate.
Now it sounded like research.
Natalie continued.
“When Mara pushed Corinne away, Corinne waited.”
“For what?”
“For a crisis.”
“And Mara’s death gave her one.”
Natalie shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan stared.
“This is the part Mara didn’t know.”
Pierce became still.
Natalie’s voice lowered.
“Corinne originally planned for you to have the accident.”
Silence.
Ethan felt numb.
“What?”
“The payment to Derek.”
“It wasn’t about Mara’s car at first.”
“It was yours.”
Ethan struggled to process the words.
“But Mara drove her own vehicle.”
“I know.”
“Then explain.”
“Corinne wanted Derek to create a mechanical problem with your SUV.”
Ethan glanced at Pierce.
“You were scheduled to drive to the airport that Friday.”
Ethan remembered.
A board meeting in New York.
He canceled the trip because Maisie had a fever.
Mara took his SUV to a pediatric appointment earlier in the week.
Nothing happened.
Natalie continued.
“Derek panicked.”
“He told Corinne he wasn’t going through with it.”
“So what changed?”
“Corinne threatened him.”
“With me.”
Natalie swallowed.
“She said she would tell police Derek had killed me twelve years earlier.”
Ethan stared.
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Then why would he believe her?”
“Because she had evidence making it look possible.”
Natalie rubbed her wrists.
“Blood.”
“Messages.”
“Fake documents.”
“She spent years building insurance against everyone around her.”
Pierce wrote rapidly.
“What happened on the day Mara died?”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Derek interfered with Mara’s car.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“He told me he only wanted to create a warning.”
“A minor problem.”
“Something that would frighten her.”
“What kind of problem?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Did he make the vehicle unsafe?”
Natalie began crying.
“He says he didn’t think so.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Did you believe him?”
“No.”
The word came immediately.
“He knew Corinne wanted Mara scared.”
“He knew Mara was driving to Leah.”
“He knew the weather was bad.”
“He knew enough.”
Ethan’s fists tightened.
“Did Corinne order him to kill her?”
Natalie looked at him.
“She never used those words.”
“Of course.”
“She said, ‘Make sure she doesn’t reach Leah.’”
Ethan closed his eyes.
That was enough.
Not a direct confession.
But enough to understand.
“What did Derek do after the crash?”
“He called Corinne.”
“How do you know?”
“I was with him.”
Ethan stared.
“Where?”
“At Evelyn’s apartment.”
Natalie’s face twisted.
“Derek came in shaking.”
“He said Mara crashed.”
“Corinne asked one question.”
“What?”
Natalie looked at Ethan.
“Is she alive?”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“What did Derek say?”
“He didn’t know.”
“And Corinne?”
“She smiled.”
Ethan looked away.
Natalie continued.
“Later we learned Mara died at the scene.”
“Corinne told Derek the problem was solved.”
Pierce leaned forward.
“Those exact words?”
“Yes.”
“Can anyone corroborate?”
“Evelyn.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“The woman helping Corinne.”
Natalie nodded.
“Evelyn is worse.”
That caught Ethan.
“What do you mean?”
“Corinne learned from her.”
“Learned what?”
“How to steal identities.”
“How to isolate people.”
“How to make someone doubt their own memory.”
Natalie looked toward Pierce.
“Evelyn controlled Corinne when she was young.”
“Then Corinne became better at it.”
Pierce asked.
“Where are they now?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Corinne has a fallback place.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know the address.”
“Describe it.”
“An old property Evelyn used years ago.”
“What town?”
Natalie shook her head.
“I only went once.”
“Anything memorable?”
“A water tower.”
“Train tracks.”
“A church with blue doors.”
Pierce immediately sent the details out.
Ethan stayed focused on Natalie.
“Why did Corinne hurt Maisie?”
Natalie’s face changed.
“She started doing that?”
“Yes.”
Natalie looked genuinely horrified.
“Then she was losing control.”
“What does that mean?”
“Corinne does not usually begin with violence.”
“She begins with stories.”
“What stories?”
“That the person you love doesn’t love you.”
“That everyone else is dangerous.”
“That only she understands you.”
Ethan felt sick.
Exactly what Maisie had described.
“She isolates the child.”
Natalie continued.
“Then she creates fear.”
“She wants Maisie dependent on her.”
“Why?”
“Because Maisie is the last piece of Mara.”
Ethan stared.
“And Corinne cannot become Mara while Maisie remembers who Mara really was.”
The room went silent.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The discarded cards.
The lies about Leah.
The claim that Mara planned to leave.
The warning that Ethan would abandon Maisie.
Corinne was rewriting the child’s memories.
Not just abusing her.
Replacing her mother.
Ethan stood.
“I need to go home.”
Pierce blocked him.
“Wait.”
“I need my daughter.”
“She’s safe.”
“I know.”
Ethan looked at Natalie.
“Is there anything else?”
Natalie nodded.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Corinne keeps trophies.”
Ethan froze.
“What kind?”
“Things from people she replaces.”
“Mara’s necklace.”
“Yes.”
“Letters.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Natalie looked uncomfortable.
“Recordings.”
Ethan’s heart jumped.
“Of Mara?”
“Probably.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Corinne always keeps the most important thing separate.”
“Separate where?”
“With Evelyn.”
Pierce’s phone rang.
He answered.
His eyes sharpened.
“Repeat that.”
He listened.
Then looked at Ethan.
“We may have the property.”
“Where?”
“A town called Bellweather.”
Natalie’s head snapped up.
“Yes.”
Pierce nodded.
“Old textile district.”
Natalie started shaking.
“That’s it.”
“Blue church doors?”
“Yes.”
Pierce stood.
“Units are moving.”
Ethan watched him leave.
Then Natalie grabbed Ethan’s wrist.
“Listen to me.”
He looked down.
“If they find Corinne, she will make herself look like the victim.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Natalie tightened her grip.
“You think you know.”
“She will cry.”
“She will confess to small things.”
“She will blame Derek for Mara.”
“She will blame Evelyn for everything else.”
“She will tell you she loved you.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“I won’t believe her.”
Natalie stared into his eyes.
“She doesn’t need you to believe all of it.”
“She only needs you to doubt one thing.”
“What?”
“That Mara loved you.”
Ethan went still.
Natalie released his wrist.
“That was always the lie she needed most.”
Ethan drove back to Maisie.
He held his daughter for a long time.
That evening, police surrounded the Bellweather property.
Derek Sloan was arrested in a shed behind the house.
Evelyn Vale was arrested inside.
Corinne was not there.
But investigators found a basement room filled with boxes.
One box contained Mara’s belongings.
Another contained documents.
A third contained recordings.
And beneath those boxes sat a small suitcase.
A luggage tag hung from the handle.
ETHAN BENNETT.
Inside were clothes in Ethan’s size.
A passport application with his photograph.
Insurance forms.
Medication records.
And a typed schedule documenting his daily movements for nearly three years.
Corinne had not merely planned to replace Mara.
May you like
At some point, she had also begun planning for Ethan to disappear.
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