Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE
I slapped Adrian Vale.
Not hard enough to hurt him.
Hard enough to shock everyone in the hallway.
His security chief looked like he had just witnessed a solar eclipse.
Adrian slowly turned his face back toward me.
“You knew Rebecca was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Nine years.”
I nearly hit him again.
“Claire.”
“Nine years?”
“There are reasons.”
“I am becoming incredibly tired of that sentence.”
He nodded once.
“Fair.”
“Where is she?”
“Wisconsin.”
I stared.
“Ethan has spent nine years believing his mother abandoned him.”
“She didn’t.”
“Then why didn’t she contact him?”
“Because Vanessa would have found him.”
“And you?”
“I moved Rebecca. I paid for protection. I kept her location secret.”
“Why?”
His voice softened.
“Because I promised Michael.”
That stopped me.
Adrian drove me north before dawn.
No security convoy.
No dramatic escort.
Just the two of us.
Three hours later, we reached a small house beside a frozen lake surrounded by pine trees.
A woman opened the door.
She looked older than the photograph.
Thinner.
Gray streaked through her hair.
But I knew immediately.
Rebecca Crowe.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Claire.”
“You know me?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I chose you.”
I froze.
Rebecca pulled me into a hug.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Inside, she told me the truth.
My mother had not merely been her college friend.
She had helped Rebecca disappear.
Vanessa discovered that Michael Vale had secretly gathered evidence against the Crowe network.
When Michael died in what everyone believed was a car accident, Rebecca realized he had been murdered.
She began investigating.
Then Vanessa discovered what she was doing.
“So you sent Ethan away.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I thought it would be temporary.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
“Because Vanessa found me first.”
She lifted her sleeve.
A long scar crossed her forearm.
Adrian looked away.
Rebecca survived the attack and vanished again.
For years, she lived under protection, gathering more evidence.
“And the recording?” I asked.
Her face changed.
“What recording?”
“Adrian says you made one.”
“I did.”
“Where is it?”
Rebecca looked at me strangely.
“I gave it to your mother.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother died two years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then where is it?”
Rebecca’s eyes moved toward the cardigan I was wearing.
For some reason, that made me uncomfortable.
“Your mother promised she would hide it somewhere Vanessa could never search.”
“Where?”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“Somewhere you carried every single day.”
I frowned.
Then I remembered.
The old brass locket my mother had given me before she died.
The one currently hanging beneath my blouse.
My fingers closed around it.
Rebecca whispered:
May you like
“That isn’t a locket, Claire.”
“It’s a data key.”
