Chapter 13 - The Woman Trent Called Mother
Rachel stared at the woman.
“That’s not your mother.”
Trent closed the door.
The blond-gray-haired woman beside him wore a dark coat and no expression.
Trent smiled.
“Not the one you met.”
Eleanor’s pulse pounded.
Daniel whispered, “Marianne.”
The woman looked at him.
“Hello, Danny.”
Daniel took a step forward.
“You’re alive.”
“Obviously.”
“You disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“For twelve years.”
“I had reasons.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
Marianne’s expression flickered.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“No, you aren’t.”
Agent Marlow moved closer.
“Marianne Mercer?”
Marianne looked at her credentials.
“Federal agent?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps we should all be careful what we say.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“You broke into my house.”
Trent held up the key.
“We used a key.”
“That you stole.”
“Rachel gave me one years ago.”
Rachel shook her head.
“That key was changed.”
Trent smiled.
“Not every lock.”
Eleanor understood.
The old kitchen lock.
Arthur had replaced the main locks but kept one cylinder because the antique door required custom hardware.
Trent had known.
How?
Marianne looked toward the attic.
“You found it.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“The archive.”
Still nothing.
Marianne smiled.
“Arthur always was dramatic.”
Eleanor felt anger rise.
“You do not get to speak about my husband as though you knew him better than I did.”
Marianne’s expression changed.
For a moment, guilt appeared.
Then vanished.
“I knew one part of him.”
“You knew his company.”
“Yes.”
“And stole from it.”
Trent turned sharply.
“What?”
Marianne looked at him.
“Not now.”
“No. You told me Charles was framed.”
Marianne closed her eyes.
Rachel stared at her husband.
“You still believed that?”
Trent ignored her.
Marianne said, “Charles moved the money.”
“But Arthur forced him.”
“No.”
“You said Arthur used him.”
“I told you what you needed to hear.”
Trent stared.
The room went silent.
Eleanor almost felt pity.
Almost.
“What does that mean?” Trent asked.
Marianne removed her coat.
“You were angry.”
“At him.”
“Yes.”
“Because you told me he destroyed my father.”
Marianne’s expression hardened.
“Charles destroyed himself.”
The sentence seemed to strike Trent physically.
He backed away.
“No.”
“He gambled. He borrowed. He stole.”
“No.”
“I helped him.”
Everyone watched.
Marianne continued.
“I created accounts because I believed him when he said we would build a life together.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“You had his child.”
Marianne looked at her brother.
Rachel whispered, “Who?”
Marianne did not answer.
Trent laughed suddenly.
A strange, broken sound.
“Is this another one of your stories?”
Marianne looked at him.
“No.”
He stared back.
Then his face changed.
Understanding.
“No.”
Rachel looked between them.
Eleanor felt the realization coming one second before Trent spoke.
“You.”
Marianne’s eyes filled.
Trent backed away.
“No.”
“Trent.”
“No.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Eleanor felt the entire room rearrange itself around one truth.
Marianne had not been Trent’s stepmother.
Or secret guardian.
She was his biological mother.
Trent stared at her.
“The woman who raised me?”
“Charles’s wife.”
“She was my mother.”
“She loved you.”
“You were my aunt.”
“That was safer.”
“Safer for who?”
“For everyone.”
Trent laughed again.
Then he slammed his fist against the wall.
Rachel flinched.
Agent Marlow stepped closer.
Trent saw the movement and stopped.
Marianne said, “Your father made me promise.”
“My father lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Arthur stole everything.”
“I was angry.”
“So you sent me after Rachel?”
Rachel went still.
Eleanor stared at Marianne.
Marianne did not answer quickly enough.
Rachel whispered, “Sent?”
Trent looked at her.
“I met you because Marianne told me where you worked.”
Rachel’s face emptied.
“No.”
“I didn’t plan to marry you.”
“But you approached me because of my family.”
“Yes.”
Rachel staggered backward.
Eleanor caught her.
Trent continued, almost desperate.
“I fell in love with you.”
Rachel stared as though looking at a stranger.
“You studied me.”
“At first.”
“You knew where I worked.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who my father was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who my mother was.”
“Yes.”
“And every time I told the story about how randomly we met…”
Trent said nothing.
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“It was a lie.”
“At first.”
“There is no ‘at first’ for something like that.”
Eleanor held her daughter.
Marianne looked away.
Agent Marlow finally spoke.
“Why come here tonight?”
Marianne turned.
“Peter disappeared.”
“You were with him.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You left the motel together.”
“He received a call.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
“He left voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“He told me to bring this here.”
Marianne reached into her handbag.
Agent Marlow’s hand moved toward her sidearm.
Marianne stopped.
“Envelope.”
“Slowly.”
She removed a black envelope.
For Rachel.
The one seen in the security video.
Rachel did not move.
Eleanor took it.
“Why did Peter have this?”
“Arthur gave it to him seven years ago.”
Eleanor’s hands trembled.
“To deliver when?”
“When Schedule C was opened.”
“How did Peter know?”
Marianne looked toward the attic.
“Arthur built a notification trigger into the archive.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
Of course he had.
Arthur Whitmore, incapable of installing even a hidden safe without adding unnecessary electronics.
Eleanor handed Rachel the envelope.
Rachel did not open it.
“I don’t want anything else from Dad.”
Eleanor understood.
Too many secrets had already entered the room wearing the disguise of protection.
“Then I’ll keep it until you do.”
Rachel nodded.
Trent stared at Marianne.
“You used me.”
Marianne’s face finally broke.
“I tried to give you what your father couldn’t.”
“A lie?”
“A family.”
“I had a family.”
“Yes.”
“And you poisoned me against people I had never met.”
Marianne said nothing.
Trent looked at Rachel.
“I didn’t know all of it.”
Rachel turned away.
“Please.”
“I love you.”
“Don’t.”
“Rachel.”
She spun.
“You hit my mother.”
Trent stopped.
“You monitored me.”
Silence.
“You controlled our money.”
Silence.
“You knew my family before you knew me.”
He lowered his head.
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“And now every good memory I have has a question attached to it.”
Trent whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Rachel wiped her face.
“For which part?”
He had no answer.
Agent Marlow stepped toward Marianne.
“You need to come with me.”
Marianne nodded.
“I know.”
“For questioning.”
“I understand.”
Daniel moved closer to his sister.
“Before you go.”
Marianne looked at him.
“Why disappear?”
She closed her eyes.
“Because somebody restarted the accounts.”
“T.M.H.?”
“Yes.”
“Who controls it?”
Marianne looked toward Trent.
Everyone followed her gaze.
Trent shook his head.
“Not me.”
Marianne’s voice became quiet.
“I know.”
Eleanor felt cold.
“Then who?”
Marianne looked toward the black envelope in Eleanor’s hand.
“Arthur knew.”
Rachel stared at it.
The envelope suddenly seemed heavier.
Then all the lights in the house went out.
Darkness swallowed the foyer.
Rachel screamed.
A window shattered somewhere upstairs.
Agent Marlow shouted for everyone to stay down.
Eleanor heard running footsteps.
Not inside.
Outside.
Then the unmistakable sound of a vehicle starting.
The lights returned twenty seconds later.
Everyone was still there.
Everyone except Marianne.
The kitchen door stood open.
Daniel ran outside.
Marlow followed.
May you like
Eleanor looked at the black envelope.
It had vanished too.
