Chapter 4 - the woman erased from the family)
Detective Cole took the photograph of Laura Mercer with him.
By that afternoon, he had confirmed something Daniel had hidden throughout their entire marriage.
Daniel had once had a sister.
Laura Evelyn Mercer.
Born two years before Daniel.
Declared missing at twenty six.
Never found.
Rachel sat at her dining table while Cole explained.
"Daniel was twenty four when she disappeared."
"Why did he tell me he was an only child?"
"I asked him."
Rachel looked up.
"You spoke to him?"
"This morning."
"What did he say?"
Cole paused.
"He said his sister caused problems in the family and they stopped speaking before she disappeared."
Rachel felt sick.
"And Evelyn?"
"She claims Laura left voluntarily."
"Was she ever investigated?"
"Yes. Briefly."
"Briefly?"
"Laura was an adult. There was no evidence of violence."
Rachel thought about the basement.
"What about the bed?"
"The basement existed then."
Rachel stared at him.
Cole continued.
"The previous missing person report mentioned Laura had been receiving psychiatric treatment."
Rachel knew what was coming before he said it.
"Doctor Marcus Vale?"
Cole nodded.
The same doctor named in Rachel's guardianship documents.
Fourteen years earlier, Laura Mercer had been described as paranoid, unstable, and dangerous.
Rachel felt her hands turn cold.
"The same words."
"What?"
"The documents about me. They use the same words."
Cole opened his folder.
He had noticed too.
Unstable.
Delusional.
Paranoid.
Dangerous to herself and others.
Rachel looked toward the stairs.
Oliver was sleeping.
"Laura wasn't sick, was she?"
"We don't know."
"But you think she was drugged."
"I think the similarities deserve investigation."
Rachel stood and walked toward the kitchen window.
Outside, afternoon sunlight made the garden look harmless.
"I married into this family seven years ago."
Cole remained silent.
"Daniel told me his father died when he was young. He said his mother raised him alone."
"His father did die."
"How?"
"Heart attack."
Rachel turned around.
"When?"
"Six months after Laura disappeared."
Rachel laughed once.
A bitter sound.
"That's convenient."
Cole closed the folder.
"Mrs. Mercer, don't make assumptions yet."
"Someone drugged me in a hidden basement. They forged my signature. They planned to declare me mentally incompetent. My husband's sister disappeared after being declared mentally unstable by the same doctor. What assumption would you like me to avoid?"
Cole did not answer.
Rachel's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
No one spoke.
"Hello?"
Breathing.
Then a woman whispered.
"Did you find the room?"
Rachel stood frozen.
"Who is this?"
"Did you find the room under the laundry?"
Rachel looked at Cole.
He saw her expression and immediately activated a recorder.
"Who are you?"
The woman whispered, "Do not trust the police."
Cole's jaw tightened.
Rachel continued.
"Why?"
"Because Evelyn has had years to prepare."
"Who are you?"
Silence.
"Are you Laura?"
The caller inhaled sharply.
Rachel's heart pounded.
"Laura?"
The line disconnected.
Cole took Rachel's phone.
"Don't call back."
"The number is blocked."
"We'll trace what we can."
Rachel sat down.
For the first time, the possibility appeared that Laura Mercer might still be alive.
If she was alive, why had she remained hidden for fourteen years?
And why contact Rachel now?
That night, Rachel moved to her sister Megan's house with Oliver.
Police remained at the Mercer property.
Daniel was ordered to have no contact with Oliver while the investigation continued.
Evelyn had also been served with an emergency protection order.
Rachel expected to feel safer.
She did not.
At eleven forty two, Oliver woke screaming.
Rachel rushed into the guest bedroom.
He pointed toward the window.
"Grandma."
Rachel turned.
No one was there.
Megan checked outside.
Nothing.
Rachel held Oliver until he stopped shaking.
"Grandma isn't here."
Oliver buried his face in her shoulder.
"Grandma said Mommy goes away."
Rachel's body stiffened.
"When did she say that?"
"Yesterday."
"What exactly did she say?"
Oliver hesitated.
Rachel softened her voice.
"It's okay."
Oliver whispered, "She said soon Mommy goes to sleep for a long time."
Rachel closed her eyes.
"And then?"
"Then Daddy gets a new Mommy."
Rachel felt as if someone had pulled the floor from beneath her.
"Did Daddy say that?"
Oliver shook his head.
"Grandma."
Rachel kissed his forehead.
"It's not going to happen."
But when Oliver fell asleep again, Rachel sat in the dark beside him.
A new mother.
A ten million dollar life insurance policy.
A plan to have Rachel declared mentally unstable.
She called Cole.
He answered immediately.
Rachel repeated Oliver's words.
Silence followed.
Then Cole said, "There's something else."
Rachel gripped the phone.
"What?"
"We checked Daniel's financial records."
"And?"
"He transferred two hundred thousand dollars three weeks ago."
"To who?"
"A woman named Sabrina Holt."
Rachel had never heard the name.
Cole continued.
"She's thirty one. Lives two towns over."
Rachel's stomach twisted.
"What is she to him?"
"We don't know yet."
Rachel remembered Oliver's words.
Daddy gets a new Mommy.
"Find out."
The next morning, Rachel did not wait for the police.
She searched the name herself.
Sabrina Holt had almost no social media presence.
But one old photograph appeared on a professional networking site.
Rachel stared at it.
Sabrina was beautiful.
Blonde.
Young.
Familiar.
Rachel zoomed in.
Then she realized why.
Six weeks earlier, during the period Daniel claimed Rachel had suffered her breakdown, Rachel remembered waking briefly on the living room sofa.
She had seen a blonde woman standing beside Daniel.
Daniel had told her later it was a dream.
It had not been a dream.
Rachel printed the photograph.
As the printer finished, her phone buzzed.
Another message from the unknown number.
You are looking at the wrong woman.
Rachel typed quickly.
Who are you?
The reply appeared.
Someone who survived your mother in law.
A second message followed.
If you want the truth about Laura Mercer, come alone tonight.
Then an address appeared.
May you like
Rachel recognized it.
An abandoned motel twenty miles outside town.
