Chapter 5 - The Friend Who Had Been Watching Me
The woman I trusted most had been connected to my mother's death long before we ever met.
I wanted to believe it was a coincidence.
But the look on Priya's face when I mentioned Evelyn told me otherwise.
I found her in the hospital break room.
She sat alone beside the vending machine.
"Priya."
She looked up.
Her expression immediately changed.
"Cora."
I closed the door.
"Your mother knew mine."
Priya lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
My heart sank.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she made me promise."
I stared.
"What promise?"
Priya began crying.
"My mother died three years ago. Before she passed, she gave me a letter."
I sat slowly.
"What letter?"
"She said if I ever met Evelyn Mercer's daughter, I should help her."
My chest tightened.
"So you became my friend because of her?"
Priya shook her head.
"At first, I recognized your name and wanted to understand what happened. But our friendship became real, Cora."
I swallowed.
"Then why were you asking about the party?"
Her face went pale.
"Because someone contacted me."
"Who?"
"Felix."
The room seemed to shrink.
The loan shark who had arranged my night at the auction.
"He knew my mother had treated Evelyn," Priya whispered. "He threatened to expose her involvement in the old hospital records unless I reported where you went."
I stared at her.
"You told him?"
"Only that you were working. I never told him about the locket."
My throat tightened.
"But you knew I was being followed."
Priya nodded miserably.
"And I was afraid."
For a long moment, I couldn't speak.
My best friend had betrayed my trust.
Even if she'd been frightened.
Even if someone had threatened her.
She reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
"Not yet."
Her face crumpled.
"I understand."
Then she handed me a folded envelope.
"My mother left this for you."
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Dear Cora,
Your mother was one of the bravest women I ever knew.
She discovered that vulnerable patients were being used in a scheme involving falsified medical records and illegal financial transfers.
She tried to expose it.
When she realized her own life was in danger, she entrusted me with one secret.
My hands shook.
The next sentence nearly stopped my heart.
May Voss did not die in the emergency department that night.
I looked up.
Priya was sobbing.
"My mother helped move her."
"Move her where?"
"Somewhere the Drescos couldn't reach her."
I stared.
"Then Julian's sister is alive?"
Priya nodded.
"She was when my mother last heard from her."
I could barely breathe.
"Where is she now?"
Priya wiped her cheeks.
"There's an old greenhouse outside the city. My mother visited it every spring."
I remembered the message inside my locket.
The garden remembers everything.
My heart hammered.
"What's the address?"
Priya slowly shook her head.
"I don't know. But my mother left a photograph."
She handed it to me.
The image showed a greenhouse surrounded by white roses.
Standing outside were three women.
My mother.
Miriam Sharma.
And a dark-haired teenager wearing a crescent-moon necklace.
May Voss.
On the back was a date.
Six months after May's funeral.
Then I noticed another person reflected in the greenhouse window.
My father.
Walter Whitaker.
May you like
And beneath the photograph, someone had written:
Walter knows where the girl was hidden.
