Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF MY SISTER
I did call the police.
My mother hated me for it.
That felt increasingly normal.
Detectives traced the prepaid phone.
Nothing.
The call had been routed through three states.
Mom refused to tell them where she was until an agent threatened to treat her as a possible participant in Madison’s disappearance.
Then she finally gave up the address.
A motel forty minutes outside the city.
When I arrived with Evan and two investigators, Mom was sitting on the bed wearing yesterday’s clothes.
She looked smaller.
I had never seen my mother look small.
“Where’s Dad?” she asked.
“Still being questioned.”
She nodded.
Then she started crying again.
Walter Bennett had always been the person she hid behind.
Without him, she looked lost.
I stayed standing.
“Tell me what happened to Madison.”
Mom wiped her face.
“She called me after you went to her apartment.”
“After I found Victor there?”
Mom’s head snapped up.
“You saw Victor?”
“Yes.”
Her expression changed.
Fear.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“He isn’t who he says he is.”
“I’m getting tired of everyone saying that.”
Mom looked at the investigators.
“I want to speak to Claire alone.”
They refused.
So she spoke anyway.
“Victor approached your father six months ago.”
“What did he want?”
“Your company.”
“That part I know.”
“No. Not to buy it.”
She swallowed.
“To control it for one day.”
I stared.
“One day?”
Mom nodded.
“He said he needed access to something at Meridian.”
My skin went cold.
“He told your father Madison’s debt could disappear if you cooperated.”
“So Dad forged my signature.”
“We didn’t know he would do that.”
“You broke into my kitchen.”
“That was later.”
She said it like that improved anything.
“Victor told us your insurer would pressure you to sell if the facility became unusable.”
“Victor lied.”
“I know that now.”
“What happened to Madison?”
Mom looked down.
“She said she was going to meet Victor.”
“He was detained.”
“Not Victor.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“She said there was another man.”
The room changed.
Even the investigators leaned forward.
“Name?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Description?”
“Older. Maybe sixties.”
“Where?”
“A parking garage downtown.”
“Why?”
Mom’s hands shook.
“Because he said he would erase the debt.”
I stared at her.
“And she believed him?”
Mom looked offended.
“She was terrified.”
“No. She was greedy.”
“Claire.”
“She helped destroy my kitchen.”
Mom stood suddenly.
“Your sister could be dead!”
“And forty-two families could have lost their income because you decided she mattered more than all of them.”
Mom slapped me.
The room froze.
One investigator stepped forward.
I raised my hand.
“I’m fine.”
Mom stared at me, horrified at herself.
I felt almost nothing.
Then Evan’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He walked away.
Listened.
Then came back.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“They found Madison’s car.”
Mom stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“Meridian Biomedical’s underground garage.”
I stared at him.
That made no sense.
Madison had never been to Meridian.
She had no badge.
No access.
“No sign of her?” I asked.
Evan shook his head.
“But they found something in the trunk.”
“What?”
He looked at Mom.
Then at me.
“Three Bennett & Bloom catering uniforms.”
My stomach dropped.
“And an employee access badge.”
“Whose?”
Evan hesitated.
“Yours.”
I touched my purse.
My badge was still inside.
The investigators exchanged looks.
Mom whispered:
“They copied it.”
I turned toward her.
“How do you know?”
Her face betrayed her.
“Mom.”
Silence.
“How do you know?”
She started crying again.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Because your father gave them the original last month.”
