Chapter 5 - room 17)
Rachel told Detective Cole about the message.
She did not tell him she intended to go.
Cole warned her repeatedly.
"Do not meet an unknown person alone."
Rachel agreed.
Then she lied.
At eight thirty that evening, she left Megan's house.
Oliver was asleep.
Megan believed Rachel was meeting Cole at the station.
Rachel drove west.
The motel had been closed for nearly a decade.
A broken sign leaned above the parking lot.
Only one vehicle stood outside.
An old silver sedan.
Rachel parked near the road.
Room 17 was at the far end.
The door was open.
Rachel approached slowly.
"Hello?"
A lamp turned on.
A woman sat inside.
She appeared to be in her early forties, although exhaustion made her look older.
Dark hair.
Thin face.
A scar near her left eyebrow.
Rachel recognized her immediately from the fourteen year old photograph.
Laura Mercer.
Daniel's sister.
Rachel stopped in the doorway.
Laura gave a tired smile.
"You have his eyes when you're angry."
"Daniel's?"
Laura nodded.
Rachel entered.
"Why are you alive?"
Laura almost laughed.
"That's usually the first question."
"Where have you been?"
"Hiding."
"For fourteen years?"
"Surviving."
Rachel remained near the door.
"Tell me what happened."
Laura looked toward the window.
"My mother happened."
Rachel said nothing.
Laura continued.
"Evelyn has always believed that family means ownership. My father was wealthy. Not billionaire wealthy, but enough. Properties. Investments. Insurance. When I was twenty five, he changed his will."
Rachel sat slowly.
"He gave you more?"
"He gave me control of the family trust."
"Why?"
"Because Daniel had gambling debts."
Rachel stared at her.
"Daniel doesn't gamble."
Laura smiled without humor.
"Daniel told you a lot of things."
Laura explained that Daniel had borrowed money throughout his early twenties. Evelyn covered the debts repeatedly.
Their father eventually refused.
He changed the family trust so Laura would control major assets after his death.
Three months later, Laura began getting sick.
Headaches.
Memory loss.
Long periods of sleep.
Rachel felt cold.
"Doctor Vale."
Laura nodded.
"My mother said I was having a breakdown."
Laura looked directly at Rachel.
"She said I was paranoid."
The same word again.
"I tried telling my father."
"What happened?"
"He died before I could."
"Heart attack?"
"That's what they called it."
Rachel leaned forward.
"You think Evelyn killed him."
"I don't know."
"But you suspect it."
"I suspect many things."
After their father's death, Evelyn filed to have Laura declared mentally incompetent.
Doctor Vale supported the petition.
Daniel supported it too.
Rachel's jaw tightened.
"What did they do to you?"
Laura's eyes drifted somewhere distant.
"They kept me downstairs."
Rachel did not need to ask where.
The hidden basement.
"How long?"
"Thirty seven days."
Rachel covered her mouth.
"They drugged me. They recorded me when I was confused. They made videos of me screaming. They told people I had become violent."
"How did you escape?"
Laura looked toward the motel door.
"A nurse helped me."
"What nurse?"
"Her name was Teresa."
"Where is she?"
"Dead."
Rachel went still.
"How?"
"Car accident."
Laura's voice was empty.
"Three weeks after she helped me."
Rachel understood why Laura had disappeared.
"You thought Evelyn would kill you."
"I knew she would."
"So you left."
"I changed my name. I moved constantly. I watched from a distance."
"Why didn't you expose them?"
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"Evidence disappeared. Witnesses changed their stories. Files were lost."
Laura looked at Rachel.
"My mother has friends."
"Police?"
"Judges. Doctors. Lawyers. People who owe her favors."
Rachel remembered the guardianship order.
"Was the order against me real?"
"Legally filed?"
"Yes."
"Probably."
"But my signature was forged."
"That doesn't matter if the right person approves it before anyone asks questions."
Rachel stood.
"You should come to the police."
Laura shook her head immediately.
"No."
"Detective Cole is investigating."
"Marcus Cole?"
Rachel froze.
"You know him?"
Laura stared at her.
"His father investigated my disappearance."
Rachel remembered Laura's warning.
Do not trust the police.
"What happened?"
"Detective Alan Cole wrote the report that said there was no evidence of foul play."
Rachel felt nauseated.
"Marcus is his son."
"Yes."
"That doesn't mean he's involved."
"No."
Laura stood.
"But it means you don't know who you're dealing with."
Rachel paced across the motel room.
"Why contact me now?"
"Because I saw the photographs."
"What photographs?"
"Your son."
Rachel stopped.
Laura pulled a small envelope from beneath the mattress.
Inside were surveillance photographs.
Oliver at preschool.
Oliver in a playground.
Oliver asleep in the back seat of Rachel's car.
"Where did you get these?"
"From a storage locker Daniel rented."
Rachel stared at the pictures.
Laura handed her another photograph.
Sabrina Holt stood beside Daniel outside an apartment building.
Evelyn stood with them.
Rachel looked up.
"You know Sabrina?"
Laura nodded.
"She's not Daniel's mistress."
"Then who is she?"
Laura hesitated.
"Doctor Vale's daughter."
Rachel felt the room shrink around her.
"Why did Daniel give her two hundred thousand dollars?"
"I don't know."
"But I know Vale is still working for Evelyn."
Rachel looked toward the door.
"We need to take this to Cole."
Laura shook her head.
"You can."
"You're coming."
"No."
Rachel stepped closer.
"My son had a chain around his neck yesterday."
Laura's expression changed.
"Evelyn did that?"
"Yes."
For the first time, fear appeared in Laura's eyes.
"Then she's losing control."
"What does that mean?"
"It means she's scared."
"Of what?"
Laura moved to the window.
"Of whatever Daniel has been doing without telling her."
Rachel frowned.
"You think Daniel is acting separately?"
"I think my brother has spent his entire life obeying our mother."
Laura looked back.
"But I also think he's been planning something."
Rachel heard a car outside.
Headlights swept across the motel wall.
Laura immediately turned off the lamp.
"Did you tell anyone you were coming?"
"No."
The vehicle stopped.
A door opened.
Then another.
Laura whispered, "Bathroom window."
Rachel reached for her phone.
Laura grabbed her wrist.
"No calls."
Footsteps approached Room 17.
Rachel's heartbeat became deafening.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then a man's voice spoke from outside.
"Rachel."
May you like
She knew that voice.
Daniel.
