Chapter 4 - ROSA’S SECRET
Rosa was shaking so badly she could not hold the glass of water Ethan gave her.
“I heard someone behind me,” she said. “Then the door slammed.”
“Did you see who?” Detective Morales asked.
“No.”
Eleanor folded her arms. “Perhaps she locked herself in.”
Rosa looked at her. Fear changed into anger.
“I have served this family for twenty-three years. I do not lock myself in rooms for attention.”
Victor ordered the guests to leave. Police refused until every statement was recorded.
By sunrise, Hawthorne Manor looked less like a mansion and more like a crime scene. Yellow tape crossed the west hall. Officers searched bedrooms, offices, and vehicles.
Eleanor was taken in for questioning about the push but released pending review. Victor’s ring was seized. He claimed someone had borrowed it.
I did not believe him.
Rosa asked to speak with Ethan and me alone in the pantry.
“Your father knew he was in danger,” she said. “Three days before the crash, he gave me a sealed package.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it. Then Eleanor dismissed half the staff and searched every room. I became afraid.”
“You kept it for eighteen months?”
“I was waiting for you.”
The words hurt.
“I came back for the funeral.”
“You were never alone. Victor watched you. Eleanor searched your bags before you left.”
I remembered my suitcase moved beside the bedroom door. At the time, I blamed grief.
Rosa led us to the old greenhouse. Beneath a loose floor tile, she removed a rusted cookie tin.
Inside was a flash drive, a letter, and a child’s medical bracelet.
The bracelet carried my name.
CLAIRE HAWTHORNE. AGE 8.
I stared at it. “Why would my father save this?”
Rosa handed me the letter.
Claire,
You were told your mother died from an illness. That was a lie. She died after discovering what Victor and Eleanor were doing through the family company. I stayed silent because they threatened you. I thought I could protect you by sending you away.
I was wrong.
The rest of the page had been torn away.
Ethan inserted the flash drive into his laptop. It held one video file.
My father appeared on-screen, older and exhausted.
“If you are watching this, I probably failed.”
A noise sounded behind him. He glanced toward the door.
“Claire must know that Eleanor is not her stepmother.”
The video froze.
The file ended.
I stared at Ethan. “What does that mean?”
Rosa began to cry.
“Because Eleanor is your mother’s sister,” she said.
Before I could process it, the greenhouse doors slammed shut.
May you like
Gas began hissing from a damaged heater line.
She Came Back
