Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN IN THE BEIGE COAT
Harper listened to the recording six times.
Each time, her mother's voice sounded exactly the same.
Calm.
Confident.
Impossible to misunderstand.
"Gabriel still trusts me. He has no idea what we're planning."
Harper turned toward Gabriel.
"She's helping Mitchell."
Gabriel studied the footage.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"There's no proof she meant what she said."
Harper felt anger rise through her exhaustion.
"You keep defending her."
"Because something about this doesn't fit."
Gabriel replayed the video.
Elena's face appeared clearly for three seconds.
Then the camera angle changed.
Gabriel paused.
"Look at her left hand."
Harper leaned closer.
The woman wore Elena's wedding ring.
But something was wrong.
"The scar," Harper whispered.
"What about it?"
"It's on the wrong thumb."
Gabriel enlarged the image.
Harper stared.
Her mother's scar had crossed her right thumb.
The woman in the video had a mark on her left.
"That's not her."
Adrian entered the room carrying a folder.
"I found something."
He placed two photographs on the table.
The first showed Elena Monroe.
The second showed a woman who looked almost identical.
"Her name is Evelyn Marsh," Adrian explained. "She's Elena's younger sister."
Harper felt dizzy.
"My mother had a sister?"
"An identical twin."
Harper stared at him.
"Why didn't she tell us?"
Adrian hesitated.
"Because Evelyn disappeared years before you were born."
Gabriel examined the photographs.
"What happened to her?"
"Vincent found her after the fire. He used her resemblance to Elena to confuse investigators and move money through accounts opened in Elena's name."
Harper looked at the video again.
The woman beside Mitchell smiled.
A cold, unfamiliar smile.
"She must have been pretending to be my mother."
"Yes," Adrian said.
Gabriel frowned.
"But why?"
Adrian's phone rang.
He checked the screen and answered.
A woman's voice came through.
"Adrian?"
Harper froze.
Even after eleven years, she knew that voice.
"Mom?"
There was a sharp intake of breath.
"Harper?"
Harper grabbed the phone.
"Where are you?"
Elena began crying.
"Oh, my beautiful girl."
"Why did you leave us?"
"I didn't have a choice. Vincent had people watching you. I thought staying away was the only way to keep you alive."
Harper's tears spilled.
"Please come home."
"I will. But first, you need to listen."
The line crackled.
"Mitchell and Evelyn are preparing something at St. Catherine's Hospital. Vincent believes they're working for him."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"They're not?"
Elena's voice dropped.
"No. They're planning to betray him."
Harper wiped her cheeks.
"Why?"
"Because Evelyn wants something Vincent has kept hidden for eleven years."
"What?"
Elena paused.
"The original evidence from the warehouse fire."
Gabriel's expression changed.
Elena continued.
"And that evidence proves something none of you are prepared to hear."
"What?" Harper whispered.
May you like
Elena took a shaky breath.
"Victoria Rossi was still alive when Vincent walked away from the fire."
