Chapter 9 - Rachel May Still Be Alive
Daniel could not process the words.
Rachel survived.
He looked down at Lily sleeping against him.
For six years, he had raised their daughter with photographs and stories
because he believed Rachel could never come home.
“Where is she?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stood so abruptly Lily woke.
“Daddy?”
He softened instantly.
“I’m okay, sweetheart.”
He handed her to Vanessa.
“Take her to the kitchen. Two guards.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Daniel—”
“Please.”
She nodded and carried Lily out.
The moment the door closed, Daniel faced Evelyn.
“Tell me everything.”
Evelyn pressed her palms together.
“The crash was staged.”
“By Rachel?”
“Partly.”
Daniel felt sick.
“She let me believe she was dead?”
“She believed it was the only way to protect Lily.”
“Lily was an infant.”
“Yes.”
“Protect her from whom?”
“Eleanor.”
Charles gave a bitter laugh.
Daniel turned.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“And you said nothing?”
“You would have searched for Rachel. Searching would have led Eleanor to
you.”
Daniel wanted to hit him.
Instead he looked back at Evelyn.
“What happened that night?”
“Rachel called me from a gas station. She said someone had followed her
from Hartford. I met her near the river.”
“The police report said she lost control on the bridge.”
“The car went over the bridge, but Rachel wasn’t driving.”
Daniel stared.
“Who was?”
“A woman from Northstar who agreed to help us.”
“Did she die?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped back.
“You used a dead woman’s body to fake Rachel’s death?”
“No. We didn’t know the car would explode.”
“Then how did Rachel disappear?”
“Vanessa.”
Daniel’s head turned toward the doorway.
Vanessa had returned alone.
“I knew this part would come.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
“You helped Rachel disappear.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me bury her.”
“I watched you bury an empty coffin.”
His face hardened.
“And then you married me.”
“Three years later.”
“As if that makes it better?”
“No.”
Vanessa stood perfectly still.
“Nothing makes it better.”
Daniel looked between the two women.
“Where did Rachel go?”
Vanessa answered.
“Arizona first. Then Oregon. After that, she stopped telling me.”
“When did you last speak to her?”
Vanessa’s silence answered before she did.
“Eight months ago.”
Daniel’s knees almost gave way.
Eight months.
Rachel had been alive while Vanessa slept beside him.
“What did she say?”
“She told me Evelyn had escaped Northstar.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You escaped?”
Evelyn nodded.
“With help.”
“Whose?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Vanessa continued.
“Rachel said Evelyn couldn’t go to police because Northstar still had
people inside law enforcement. She asked me to hide her somewhere
Eleanor wouldn’t search.”
Daniel looked toward the hidden room.
“So you put her in my wall.”
“It was an old Prohibition safe room. Charles built the steel door over
it years later.”
Charles corrected her.
“My father did.”
Daniel ignored him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Rachel said Eleanor was watching you.”
Daniel pointed toward the broken camera.
“She was right.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t excuse imprisoning my mother.”
“I didn’t imprison her. Evelyn had the inside release.”
Daniel turned to Evelyn.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you open the door?”
“The release stopped working three days ago.”
Vanessa looked startled.
“What?”
Evelyn nodded.
“That’s when I began knocking.”
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
For the first time, he believed her immediately.
Someone had deliberately trapped Evelyn.
Someone wanted Lily to hear her.
Someone wanted the wall opened.
The entire discovery might have been engineered.
Marcus voiced the same thought.
“Eleanor wanted us to find Evelyn.”
Charles nodded grimly.
“Finally, someone understands.”
Daniel looked at the video paused on Marcus’s laptop.
“Why?”
“Because she’s moving pieces,” Charles said.
“What pieces?”
“Us.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated again.
Unknown number.
A location pin appeared.
A roadside motel in western Massachusetts.
Then a photograph.
A woman stood outside room 12.
The image was grainy, taken from a distance.
But Daniel knew the way she tilted her head.
Rachel.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
A message appeared.
YOU WANT YOUR WIFE?
BRING CHARLES.
COME ALONE.
Charles stared at the screen.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You’re coming.”
“No, Daniel. You don’t understand Eleanor.”
“I’m beginning to.”
Charles stepped closer.
“No. You still think she wants revenge.”
“What does she want?”
Charles looked at Lily’s photograph on the mantel.
His voice dropped.
“She wants the Mercer heir.”
Daniel followed his gaze.
A cold realization spread through him.
“Me?”
May you like
Charles shook his head.
“Lily.”
