Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD
Nobody spoke.
Detective Collins stared at Andrew.
“Where?”
Andrew swallowed.
“I don't know exactly.”
“Try again.”
“I swear.”
He looked at me.
“She escaped.”
“From Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She had help.”
“From whom?”
Andrew hesitated.
“My father.”
I frowned.
“You said Margaret killed him.”
“She tried.”
He explained.
His father had discovered what Margaret was doing.
He had confronted her.
She attacked him.
But he survived.
He disappeared.
Andrew believed he had died.
Years later, Andrew discovered that his father had been helping women escape the family.
Including Claire.
“Where is Claire now?”
“I don't know.”
Detective Collins placed a photograph in front of him.
“Then explain this.”
Andrew stared.
It showed Claire entering a motel.
Alive.
Taken three months ago.
His face went pale.
“She came back.”
“Why?”
“To expose my mother.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
I interrupted.
“Why would she contact you?”
“She didn't.”
“Then how do you know?”
Andrew looked at me.
“Because Margaret told me.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Claire was coming back.”
“Why?”
“She wanted to finish what she started.”
“What did she start?”
Andrew looked terrified.
“She had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The original ledger.”
Detective Collins leaned forward.
“What ledger?”
Andrew shook his head.
“The ledger that proves everything.”
Before he could say more, the hospital lights flickered.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Andrew answered.
A woman's voice came through.
“Tell Diana the truth.”
Andrew froze.
“Claire?”
The call ended.
I looked at Detective Collins.
“Trace it.”
She nodded.
Thirty seconds later, the technician returned.
“Call came from inside the hospital.”
Everyone froze.
Someone was here.
Detective Collins ordered officers to secure the floor.
Then a nurse screamed from the hallway.
A woman had been found near the stairwell.
Unconscious.
She was wearing a gray coat.
Detective Collins rushed out.
I couldn't move.
Andrew stared at me.
“That's Claire.”
My heart pounded.
Minutes later, Detective Collins returned.
“She was attacked.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Can she talk?”
“Not yet.”
Then Detective Collins placed a small envelope on my bed.
“Her hand was holding this.”
My name was written on the front.
I opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
Diana,
Your mother didn't die naturally.
I stared at the words.
Then I turned to my father.
He was crying.
Detective Collins whispered:
“We're reopening your mother's death.”
The room seemed to disappear.
My mother had died when I was young.
Everyone had told me it was a heart attack.
But Claire's note said otherwise.
May you like
Someone had killed her.
And Margaret had known.
