Chapter 2 - The Woman Named Pamela
Richard stopped three steps from Claire.
No one moved.
The mansion seemed strangely quiet.
Even the faint hum of the air-conditioning felt distant.
Claire held the memory card tightly in her palm.
“What does Pamela have to do with this?”
Richard stared at her.
“Nothing.”
The answer came too quickly.
Claire noticed.
So did Maria.
Evelyn slowly stepped backward.
Claire turned toward her.
“Mom?”
Evelyn's expression hardened.
“Do not call me that.”
Claire almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the woman standing before her had spent seven years pretending to be concerned about Mateo.
She had attended therapy appointments.
She had sat in hospital waiting rooms.
She had told relatives that Mateo's silence broke her heart.
And now she could barely look at him.
Claire lifted Richard's phone.
“Who is Pamela?”
Richard extended his hand.
“Give me my phone.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
His voice became softer.
That frightened her more than his anger.
“Give it to me.”
Claire looked at the message again.
It contained only a few words.
Did she take it?
Claire's stomach tightened.
She looked at the bottle.
Then at Richard.
“Take what?”
Richard said nothing.
Evelyn interrupted.
“You're becoming hysterical.”
Claire turned toward her.
“My son just spoke for the first time in seven years.”
Evelyn's lips pressed together.
“And you think that means everyone is conspiring against you?”
Mateo stepped out from behind Claire.
“She is.”
Everyone froze.
Mateo's voice was quiet.
But steady.
Richard stared at him.
“You…”
Mateo immediately stepped closer to his mother.
Richard looked almost frightened.
“You've been talking?”
Mateo nodded.
Richard's face twisted.
Then something unexpected happened.
He smiled.
It was the same charming smile Claire had seen at charity dinners.
The smile that had convinced everyone he was a devoted father.
“Mateo,” he said gently. “You've misunderstood something.”
Mateo shook his head.
“You lied.”
Richard crouched.
“Son, come here.”
Mateo backed away.
“You said Mom would go away.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
Claire stepped between them.
“You told him that?”
“I told him nothing.”
“You threatened him.”
“Claire, you're listening to a frightened child.”
Maria suddenly spoke.
“He is not confused.”
Richard looked at her.
“You stay out of this.”
Maria's hands shook.
“I stayed out of it for seven years.”
Claire looked at Maria.
“What happened seven years ago?”
Maria didn't answer.
The phone vibrated again.
Everyone turned.
A second message.
Pamela.
Call me before she sees the rest.
Claire's heart pounded.
She looked at Richard.
“Who's Pamela?”
Richard reached for the phone again.
Claire moved away.
Then she noticed something.
The message had been sent to him from a number without a name.
But underneath it was a small photograph.
A woman's face.
Claire stared.
She knew her.
She had seen her before.
At Richard's office.
At a company gala.
At the hospital.
Claire whispered the name.
“Pamela Reed.”
Richard's eyes widened.
Claire remembered her.
Pamela had been Richard's executive assistant before suddenly leaving the company three years earlier.
Richard had said she moved to another state.
But the photograph was recent.
And there was something else.
In the corner of the image stood a black SUV.
The same model Richard used.
Claire looked toward the driveway.
The SUV was still there.
Then Mateo grabbed her hand.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Don't go outside.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where they took me.”
Claire stared at him.
“Who?”
Mateo looked at Evelyn.
Then Richard.
Then back at Claire.
“They made me promise.”
“Promise what?”
Mateo swallowed.
“Never to tell you what happened in the car.”
Evelyn suddenly shouted.
“Enough!”
Her voice echoed through the foyer.
Everyone turned.
Evelyn's face was pale.
“You are upsetting the child.”
Claire slowly looked at her.
“No.”
She closed her hand around the memory card.
May you like
“You're afraid of what he remembers.”
And for the first time, Evelyn didn't deny it.
