Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE PEARLS
Eleanor Caruso had been buried eight years earlier.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Roman stood motionless while Rebecca Ellis explained how Vanessa's mother had arrived at the hospital carrying forged guardianship documents.
“She wasn't alone,” Rebecca said. “Detective Mercer escorted her. They told me Lily had been placed in protective custody.”
Norah stared at the photograph.
“Why didn't anyone tell me she survived?”
“Because when you woke up, Mercer had already transferred you to another hospital. Your records were changed.”
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“I tried to report it. They threatened my children.”
Roman asked the question everyone was thinking.
“Are you certain that woman was Eleanor Caruso?”
Rebecca nodded.
“I never forgot her face.”
But something troubled Norah.
She had seen Eleanor before the fire.
Not in person.
In photographs inside Daniel Miller's locked basement.
Eleanor standing beside Teresa.
Eleanor holding a baby.
Eleanor smiling at a Christmas party.
“She knew the Bellandi family,” Norah said.
Teresa slowly lowered herself into a chair.
“She was my closest friend.”
The words stunned the room.
Teresa explained that Eleanor had helped arrange Sofia's sixth birthday party twenty-three years earlier.
She had been there when the girl disappeared.
She had comforted Teresa during the funeral.
And years later, she had introduced Vincent as a businessman capable of handling confidential financial matters.
Roman closed his eyes.
The betrayal reached back further than he'd imagined.
“Vanessa knew,” he said.
Teresa looked toward the stairs.
“Perhaps not everything.”
Norah disagreed.
“She knew enough to hate me before tonight.”
Roman called Marco.
“Find Vanessa.”
The answer came immediately.
“She left the estate through the lake entrance.”
“With whom?”
“We don't know.”
Roman stared at the security monitor.
A black sedan had disappeared into the early morning darkness.
But the passenger door opened briefly before it left.
A woman stepped beneath the garage light.
Elegant black coat.
Dark hair.
A pearl necklace.
Teresa gasped.
Roman enlarged the image.
The woman looked exactly like Eleanor Caruso.
Thirteen years older than the hospital photograph.
Very much alive.
Then Roman noticed something even worse.
Vanessa wasn't climbing into the car willingly.
Her mother was forcing her inside.
May you like
And before the door closed, Vanessa looked directly at the camera and mouthed two words.
Help me.
