Chapter 10 - THE GIRL WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE
The gunshot echoed through the mansion, followed by the sharp crash of breaking glass somewhere downstairs.
Eleanor instinctively pulled Lily and Emily against her.
“Stay behind me.”
Daniel moved toward the doorway.
“Everyone stay here.”
“No,” Eleanor whispered.
She could barely see him in the darkness.
“Don't leave us.”
“I need to know who fired that shot.”
Jonathan grabbed his phone and switched on the flashlight.
A narrow beam cut through the darkness.
Rebecca stood frozen near the wall.
Margaret was nowhere to be seen.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
Eleanor looked toward the doorway.
The seventeen-year-old girl was gone.
“Where did she go?”
Nobody answered.
Claire rushed into the room.
“The front entrance is locked.”
Jonathan looked toward the hallway.
“Then she's still inside.”
Eleanor tightened her grip on Lily's hand.
Emily was shaking.
“Mommy?”
Eleanor knelt.
“I'm here.”
Emily pointed toward the floor.
“There.”
A small silver bracelet lay beside the doorway.
Eleanor picked it up.
There was a name engraved inside.
SARAH BENNETT.
She looked at Rebecca.
“What is this?”
Rebecca's expression changed.
“I've seen that bracelet before.”
“Where?”
“In the hospital.”
“When?”
“The night you gave birth.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“That bracelet belonged to the woman who died.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Rebecca's voice trembled.
“Her daughter.”
Eleanor's stomach dropped.
“The seventeen-year-old?”
Rebecca nodded.
“But that doesn't make sense.”
“It does if the birth records were altered.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Mom knew.”
Eleanor turned toward him.
“Knew what?”
“That Sarah Bennett's daughter was alive.”
“Then why did she say the baby died?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Rebecca did.
“Because the baby was never seven years old.”
Eleanor stared.
“What are you saying?”
“The infant who was reported dead was not Sarah's daughter.”
Silence.
Eleanor felt dizzy.
“Then whose baby was it?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“That is what Margaret was trying to hide.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Daniel ran toward it.
Eleanor followed.
They reached the foyer.
The front door stood open.
Rain blew inside.
A black sedan was disappearing down the driveway.
Margaret stood beside the staircase.
Her face was pale.
“Where is she?” Eleanor demanded.
Margaret looked at her.
“She left.”
“Who?”
“You know who.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“The girl with the bracelet.”
Margaret said nothing.
“Who is she?”
Margaret finally answered.
“She is the daughter of the woman you believed died.”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“Sarah Bennett.”
Margaret nodded.
“Then why is she seventeen?”
Margaret looked toward the rain.
“Because Sarah Bennett didn't give birth when you think she did.”
Eleanor's mind raced.
“You changed the dates.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Margaret turned toward her.
“Because the real child was born years earlier.”
“Why hide her?”
Margaret's expression hardened.
“Because her existence would have exposed a crime committed before you ever met Daniel.”
“What crime?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Money laundering.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Through the Whitmore foundation?”
He nodded.
“My father used Sarah's identity to move money.”
Rebecca added quietly,
“And when she discovered it, she threatened to expose him.”
Eleanor felt sick.
“So Charles killed her?”
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Sarah wasn't killed.”
Eleanor stared.
“Then where is she?”
Margaret looked directly at her.
“She's been alive all these years.”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
“Where?”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“Somewhere you already know.”
Eleanor's mind raced through every place connected to her family.
Her father's old office.
His estate.
His foundation.
The hospital.
Then one memory surfaced.
A small cabin in Maine.
Her father had always refused to let anyone go there.
She had assumed it was simply a private retreat.
Now she wasn't sure.
“Pine Hollow,” Eleanor whispered.
Margaret's expression changed.
That was confirmation.
Eleanor turned toward Daniel.
“We're going.”
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where my father kept the records.”
Eleanor froze.
“You've been there.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I didn't know what I was looking for.”
Eleanor pulled away.
“You knew enough.”
She took Lily and Emily's hands.
“We're leaving.”
Margaret called after her.
“You won't find Sarah there.”
Eleanor stopped.
“Why?”
Margaret's voice became almost a whisper.
“Because she left Pine Hollow yesterday.”
Eleanor turned.
“Where did she go?”
Margaret smiled.
May you like
“To find you.”
The words followed Eleanor all the way out of the mansion.
