Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED TWELVE YEARS AGO
Lily laughed when the officer repeated the name.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the human mind rejects horror by producing the wrong sound.
“That’s not possible.”
Nobody contradicted her.
Her mother had been dead for twelve years.
There had been a funeral.
A grave.
A death certificate.
Photographs of a crushed vehicle Ethan could still see whenever he closed his eyes.
Ethan grabbed the officer’s arm.
“What did she say?”
“Mr. Caldwell—”
“What did she say?”
“That her name is Claire Caldwell.”
“She’s lying.”
“Possibly.”
“Did anyone identify her?”
“They’re working on it.”
Lily looked at Norah.
Her entire face had become childlike again.
Not sixteen.
Six.
Four.
A little girl asking why her mother was gone.
Norah took her hand.
“Don’t believe anything until we know.”
Lily nodded.
But she could barely breathe.
Two hours passed.
Then three.
Norah remained hospitalized.
Noah remained in the NICU.
Police refused to let Ethan leave.
Margaret was still missing.
Finally, at 7:18 a.m., Detective Rosa Martinez entered Norah’s room.
She closed the door.
Lily stood immediately.
“Is it her?”
Martinez looked at Ethan.
Then Lily.
“We ran fingerprints.”
Lily covered her mouth.
“The woman is Claire Bennett Caldwell.”
Ethan sat down so hard the chair scraped.
“No.”
Lily made no sound at all.
Norah stared at the detective.
“How?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
“She died.”
“Apparently not.”
“I saw her body.”
Ethan’s voice was barely audible.
Martinez looked at him.
“Did you?”
Ethan stopped.
Norah turned.
“What?”
Ethan’s face slowly changed.
“I saw…”
He struggled.
“The coffin.”
“Was it open?” Martinez asked.
“No.”
“Did you personally identify her remains after the crash?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“My mother.”
Lily began crying.
Norah felt the room tilt.
Margaret.
Again.
“Where has Claire been?”
Lily asked.
Martinez chose her words carefully.
“She says she was placed in protective custody after the crash.”
Ethan stared.
“By whom?”
“She has not told us everything.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She claims she had evidence implicating people connected to Caldwell Holdings and believed Lily would be killed if anyone knew she survived.”
Lily shook her head violently.
“She left me?”
“Lily—”
“She left me for twelve years?”
Martinez lowered her voice.
“She says she was told you were safer believing she was dead.”
Lily stood and paced.
“Everybody keeps deciding what’s safer for me!”
Norah reached toward her.
Lily pulled away.
Not from Norah.
From everyone.
“Does she want to see me?”
Martinez hesitated.
“Yes.”
Lily froze.
“Did she ask?”
“Yes.”
That destroyed her.
She sank onto the chair beside Norah’s bed.
Ethan stood at the window.
Norah studied him.
“What aren’t you saying?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“You recognized something.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
Then the detective.
“The night of the crash…”
He swallowed.
“My mother wouldn’t let me go to the hospital morgue.”
Martinez’s eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“She said Claire was badly injured.”
“Did that seem unusual?”
“My wife was dead. Nothing seemed normal.”
“What else?”
Ethan pressed both hands against his face.
“The funeral happened quickly.”
“How quickly?”
“Three days.”
Martinez wrote something down.
“Who arranged it?”
“My mother.”
Lily closed her eyes.
Ethan continued.
“She handled the insurance. The police paperwork. Everything.”
Norah thought about Margaret’s messages.
About the shell companies.
About the life insurance policy.
“Ethan.”
He looked at her.
“Did Margaret receive the insurance money?”
“I didn’t know there was a policy.”
“What happened financially after Claire died?”
His face went pale.
“My parents suddenly paid off a development loan.”
Martinez stopped writing.
“How much?”
“Four million.”
The detective looked at Norah.
Five-million-dollar life insurance policy.
Four-million-dollar loan repayment.
The numbers were too close.
“Claire may know,” Martinez said.
Lily looked up.
“Where is Madison?”
“Being treated for dehydration and a head injury.”
“Did Claire hurt her?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Martinez hesitated.
“Madison says Margaret’s associate abducted her after she downloaded archived company files.”
Ethan whispered, “Who?”
“She only knows him as Daniel.”
Walter.
Norah thought suddenly.
Walter had not been mentioned.
“Where’s Walter?”
Everyone went quiet.
Ethan looked at his phone.
No calls.
No messages.
He dialed Harbor Ridge.
A nurse answered.
Then Ethan’s face changed.
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
Norah sat upright.
“Ethan?”
He held up one hand.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Who signed him out?”
Ethan’s eyes widened.
“No. My mother is not authorized.”
The nurse said something.
Ethan turned toward Detective Martinez.
“Dad left Harbor Ridge at 5:40 this morning.”
“With whom?” Martinez asked.
Ethan lowered the phone.
“My mother.”
Lily whispered, “Grandma took Grandpa?”
Martinez was already calling for units.
Norah’s monitor began beeping faster.
Ethan looked at her.
“Stay calm.”
She gave him a murderous stare.
“Do not tell me to stay calm.”
His phone buzzed.
A photo message.
Walter sat inside a car.
His face was bruised.
Margaret was beside him.
Below the picture:
BRING CLAIRE TO THE HARBOR PROPERTY.
NO POLICE.
Ethan’s hands shook.
A second message appeared.
YOUR FATHER KNOWS WHY SHE HAD TO DISAPPEAR.
May you like
Then a third.
HE ALSO KNOWS WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE IN THAT CAR.
